The Capital Punishment is a Crime

Introduction

Capital punishment is a form of retribution carried out by judicial systems in various countries, which involves sentencing criminals to death. This punishment is often carried out in a variety of forms such as beheading, electrocution, lethal gas, hanging, use of lethal injection and firing squad among others. Capital punishment is practiced sparingly and only in a few countries around the world which consider it a suitable way of punishing and rooting out the deviant members of the society involved in such crimes as murder, drug trafficking, adultery, terrorism, sodomy, blaspheme and apostasy as some of the outlawed religious crimes, sorcery, robbery and other related economic crimes, among others.

Although the countries have not yet agreed on a uniform style of executing this form of punishment and on cases when it should be used, the punishment has been seen to bear positive fruits in those few countries that have adopted it. This is evident from the variations in laws of different countries regarding certain capital crimes. Considering the turbulence caused by these crimes in the contemporary society, capital punishment ought to be used more often, as it discourages people from committing capital offences, thereby cultivating a just and impeccable society.

Why Capital Punishment Must Be Upheld

The enforcement of capital punishment by a number of nations such as China, Iran, Sudan, Somalia and some states in the United States is an indication of how these countries are committed to making their territories safe and secure for the law abiding citizens (Steiker 2012). The first threat that this kind of punishment has been used to combat is terrorism (Wilson, 2013). Terrorism has been on the rise in the recent past and has affected nearly all the world nations. This crime has been associated with indiscriminate killing of innocent people in designated places. Melusky & Pesto (2011) affirm that crime has also caused untold destruction of people’s property as well as damaged important infrastructure. Moreover, a number of people who survive usually sustain massive injuries treatment of which cost them a fortune and some even become completely disabled. Reflecting on the animosity of this magnitude, most will agree that the perpetrators ought to be sentenced to capital punishment to prevent others from committing the same acts in future.

Another situation which requires capital punishment is drug trafficking. This is the act of buying, transporting and selling all kinds of outlawed drugs and substances to various people in a country. Different countries have different laws pertaining drugs that are considered unlawful (Mandery, & Mandery, 2011). Drugs have dire consequences for users, their relatives and friends as well as the entire nation. First, people who get addicted usually cease being productive in their roles either at work or home. This means that the same people will become dependent on others for the most part of their lives. Finally these addicts become a big liability to the government as it will be obliged to spend a colossal amount of funds rehabilitating these addicts; a process that rarely bears fruits. Some addicts can even become vandals causing untold damage to personal, family and state property or even become anarchists lynching fellow statement. It is therefore better for any country to execute those individuals who are involved in the circulation of these lethal drugs because those are the enemies of their own country and people.

Moreover, people committing economic crimes such as extortion, robbery and scams among others should also be sentenced to capital punishment. According to Wilson (2013), this is because the acts make a country or even affected individuals retrogress instead of realizing economic progress. In other words economic crimes perpetuate the poverty that the countries are committed to eliminate as a form of providing their citizens with a secure and comfortable future.

Another scenario that demands capital punishment is related to crimes against humanity. According to Mandery & Mandery (2011), these crimes have been on the rise in the recent decades as most people, especially politicians, attempt to thrive on people’s vulnerability to clinch power and amass wealth. Some of the political revolutions have resulted in serious transgressions against a group of people from particular regions or having some religious or political affiliations. As a result most people lost their lives, lost their loved ones, got their properties damaged and their lives in general were affected beyond repair. It is very sad to see perpetrators of such heinous acts going scot free. It is therefore only through capital punishment that such people can be brought to book, an act that will also ensure justice to the victims.

In the same breath, capital punishment is the only way that helps in restoring peace and order in a society. This is because usually there might be a carefully networked and coordinated system of affiliate perpetrators whom the law may never catch up with because of their concealed operations. It is therefore prudent to sentence leaders of such networks to capital punishment, thus preventing other members from committing such heinous acts (Till & Vitouch, 2012).

Notably, death sentence is also the best way of deterring and uprooting rogues from the society. When these rogues realize that their eventuality is nothing but capital punishment, some of them will come back to their senses and even confess. The worst happens when they realize that no matter what they do, they may face only feeble punishments. This is what stimulates criminal activities as perpetrators will continue committing crimes with no fear.

Regarding serious juvenile crimes, some countries such as Korea, Sudan and Tehran usually execute juveniles, who commit serious offences such as serial killing, arson, homicide and terrorism among other (Steiker, 2012). This is adopted to completely exterminate all wrong elements in the society. When young people are engaged in grievous crimes such as the above mentioned ones, it poses a threat to the wellbeing of a nation. Natives of the affected region, territory or country become apprehensive and cannot contribute fully to the development of their country leave alone their own projects. Such criminals also cause a lot of damage to property as well as infrastructure of an area and therefore cause the development of the area to dwindle.

Similarly, capital punishment of the errant young people is the perfect way of discouraging deviance among others (Till & Vitouch, 2012). More often than not children get spoilt by wrong examples that are displayed by other children in the vicinity. In case wrong elements are spared, the influence will have far reaching effects, but if the few rotten elements are ruthlessly dealt with, then even the majority of the children will be eventually straighten up behaviorally. It is therefore true that countries which execute young criminals endeavor to cultivate a safer future for all the people as well as to secure the development projects that are envisaged to improve the lives of all the citizens (Mandery, & Mandery, 2011). It will also save a country a lot of funds that it will have to spend on rehabilitation of these roguish criminals as well as replenishment of the damaged facilities.

Counter Arguments

There has been a general feeling among some part of the society that capital punishments are practiced in total contradiction to the scriptures. Most religious people, especially the Christians, have often faulted the judicial systems for perpetuating the practice, terming it contrary to the teaching of Jesus Christ, whose teachings were more focused on reconciliation and forgiveness. According to Christians, capital punishment breaches God`s intentions for humanity and nobody is supposed to sentence person to death as no one created life and therefore no one is permitted to terminate it (Claessen, 2012).

Similar sentiments are also held in certain communities which hitherto hold an opinion that death penalty violates human rights. These communities oppose capital punishment terming it the way of lowering value and dignity of human life. According to such communities, death sentence as a punishment for such crimes as murder and terrorism is tantamount to revenge; which contradicts a belief in human capacity to change. Such people would rather sentence a criminal to a tougher punishment that can help and make him or her change his/her behavior but not put him/her to death as a punishment. Death sentence is viewed as a permanent change in the human existence and cannot therefore suffice to cause a change in a criminal`s behavior. At the same time, skeptics argue that capital punishment cannot be used as a way of teaching others a lesson (American Civil Liberties Union, 2015). Instead, these people say it is a way of suppressing bad behavior but not a good way of eliminating it. The fact that criminals are made to fear committing crime does not assure the society that bad behavior is eliminated in them (Koch, Wark, & Galliher, 2012). Their argument is that such a criminal may only be waiting for an opportunity to commit a crime.

Conclusion

Capital punishment has caused a lot of controversy in the contemporary society even as the society is experiencing a myriad of criminal acts that keep causing anxiety among people. While some countries consider some crimes to be capital, other may not have outlawed similar crimes in their own judicial systems. These discrepancies have caused great contradictions when it comes to the implementations of capital punishment. It is evident that some communities, especially religious ones, criticize the practice of capital punishment. However, all countries of the world should be committed to combating serious crimes so as to assure the majority of good people lead a happier life, free from anxiety and turbulence.