Q: Death penalty is not a deterrent, it is a murder. Do you agree?

R: My stand on death penalty is that it is murder and not a deterrent. This opinion is attributed by several factors, such as the cruel forms of capital punishment and irreversibility in miscarriages of justice.

Death penalty includes a whole range of inhumane forms of putting a person to die. On the list, there is the electric chair, lethal injection, hanging, gas chamber poisoning and many others. These are all terrifying ways of dying and paying for one’s irreparable crimes, as the pain induced is beyond words. From a prosecuted convict’s point of view, he experiences two types of pain. The feeling of emotional pain before the actual execution, when the convict knows of his impending death penalty, and the torment of physical pain during the procedure of his execution. Hence, capital punishment is not a deterrent but murder as it is a process of causing immense hurt to one before ending his life prematurely.

The death penalty should not be used as two wrongs do not make a right. Some may think that since the convict is guilty of raping or killing someone, he should be put to death to repay his sins. However, executing him would not correct his irrevocable mistake as all that is done is put a quick end to his life. To quote, Mahatma Gandhi once said that “an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind”. Furthermore, death penalty is quick and brings about less suffering than a jail term sentence. Instead, to make a convict truly repentant for his heinous crime, he should be locked away behind bars in a small cell. Thus, capital punishment is murder and should not be carried out as it cannot undo the convict’s past.

Since death penalty cannot correct what is already done by the convict, rehabilitation should be carried out. The alternative should be favoured as convicts may not be mentally sound or there is the possibility of human errors in the process of the convict’s trial. By this, it means that the people who sentence out capital punishments may be prosecuting the wrong person. In such cases, miscarriages of justice are permanent. What is done, cannot be undone, and the person may die an unrightfully death. Therefore, the death penalty may murder someone for another’s crime.

We make mistakes all the time, even in setting down justice and carrying out sentences. Humans should never play the role of God; thinking that we have the power to end a person’s life because of his mistake. Also, death penalties over the years have seen countless blunders made by prosecutors. As in the case of Jimmy Lee Gray in Mississippi, USA, 1983, the executioner was drunk, causing the incomplete release of poisonous gas. Gray’s agony was prolonged before his death due to the executioner’s irresponsibility. Consequently, death penalty is murder as humans, including convicts, are not perfect by nature.

However, some may argue that the death penalty is right and can be used as a deterrent for others. Those who support capital punishment give reasons such as justice and vengeance, and public safety.

Death penalty is implemented because some treat it as avenging the victim. In this situation, capital punishment serves as fulfilling justice and vengeance. Many feel that killing convicted murderers will satisfy their need for justice and/or vengeance. People believe that death is the only thing convicts deserve for their immoral crimes. Certain crimes are so wicked that executing the criminal is the only reasonable response. Thus, death penalty is not murder but a deterrent because it ends a convict’s life for a reason and warns others as well.

In addition, death penalty is put into action in consideration of the public’s safety. For example, once a convicted murderer is executed, there is no chance that he will break out of jail and kill or injure someone again. This would ensure the people that their lives will not be in danger by any deranged escape convict. Hence, death penalty is not murder as it has a purpose of protecting the welfare of the public.

Therefore, in conclusion, death penalty is murder as the inhumane forms of execution do not make right a convict’s crime. It becomes murder when human errors come into play. Since everyone makes mistakes of all degrees, should they be executed?