“An eye for an eye. ” These are the words the justice system followed long time ago. One who killed was killed.
This system had managed to spread tranquility and peace among people. Unlike today, with all the technologies we have and all the evolution we have made, one would think that we have become more civilized and that the world has become a safer place to live in. However, the crime rate seems to be rising and the world seems to have more ignorant and brutal people than the civilized and educated people. Consequently, we should all go back to the older system, “An eye for an eye” to slow down the rate of crime.
Thus, capital punishment should be imposed because of its deterrence effect and it should be specifically imposed on rapists, murderers and country traitors. There are many of those who think that capital punishment is an inhumane act and a violation of human rights. Capital punishment is a violation of human rights when the person executed is a completely innocent person. But when you kill a criminal who tortured and ripped the souls of many others, then the least he deserved is to be killed.
Poor, innocent victims of rape would never feel safe unless they know that their attacker had gotten what he deserved and vanished from earth.A person who leaks information to the enemy of his/her country which he grew up in deserves nothing but death. Your country is what represents and identifies you. When someone betrays his country, he betrays his identity; therefore, there is no reason for him to live. Thus, capital punishment is fair under the acts mentioned above. Not only is capital punishment fair but it also prevents criminals from committing their crimes again.
The essay “In Defense of the Death Penalty” by Paul G. Cassell (2004) explains how capital punishment prevents criminals from committing their crimes again .Cassell writes about the criminal Kenneth Allen McDuff who raped, tortured and killed many women and teenagers. McDuff who said “Killing a woman’s like killing a chicken” had escaped three death sentences. Each time he was sentenced to death, he miraculously ended up only in prison and was then released back to the streets committing more of his horrible crimes. Until 1994 when McDuff raped and tortured a completely innocent woman, Colleen Reed, and did things too horrible and awful to be mentioned on this paper was McDuff finally sentenced to death and was executed.
Sadly, had McDuff not escaped death penalty three times, all the women and teenagers he brutally murdered and tortured would be alive. As capital punishment should be imposed on rapists and murderers, it should be also applied to country spies. When someone betrays his own home country, he betrays his identity. He betrays himself. If that person’s country exiles him, other countries would have difficulty accepting that person in fear of him betraying them again. Recently, a Yemeni was sentenced to death because he sent an e-mail to the Israeli Prime Minister, Uhud Olmert, offering his services to work with the Israeli state.
2009, Khaleej Times).When the Yemeni authorities found all about him, they sentenced him to death. A man like him deserves to die because his act is not only a shame to his country but to the entire Islamic world. Just like many other religions and holy books, the Quran and the Bible are in support of capital punishment. Life is sacred to both yet both imply that one’s life should be taken if he/she had done too horrible of a crime.
The Holy Bible states “Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man” (Genesis 9:6).And the Holy Quraan states: "... If anyone kills a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he killed all people.
And if anyone saves a life, it would be as if he saved the life of all people" (Qur'an 5:32). It is clear that both impose the death penalty when the crime is serious and horrific. No one would agree on the execution of a person who stole an apple from a grocery store but if he/she “sheds a man’s blood” or “spread mischief in the land”, then the death penalty is applicable.Spreading mischief in land simply means doing harm to people such as rape, terrorism, or even spying on your own land to help your enemy. Both religions believe in the deterrence effect of capital punishment.
Deterrence effect means scaring people by imposing severe punishment so that they would not commit a certain crime. Although the Holy Bible and Quraan believe in the deterrence effect of capital punishment, many do not believe that capital punishment has a deterrence effect on people.However, the article “The Deterrent Effect Of Capital Punishment: Evidence From A "Judicial Experiment" by Hashem Dezhbakhsh and Joanna M Shepherd (2006) proves exactly the opposite of the people’s claims and supports the Quraan’s and Bible’s beliefs. Dezbakhsh and Shepherd prove the deterrence effect of capital punishment by comparing the crime rate in the United States between the 1960s until 2000.
In the early 1960s when the execution rate was high, murder rates were falling, yet in the late 1960s and mid 1970s, murder rates were rising because of the very few executions.Finally, the period between 1990 and 2000 had “soaring executions” with “sharply declining murder rates”. A common law in economics is “People respond to incentives. ” These numbers show how people respond to the execution law. When a country applies an execution law and executes criminals who deserve to die, the murder rate falls. This shows that capital punishment does have a deterrent effect on people.
Other than its deterrence effects, capital punishment brings satisfaction to those whose relatives, friends, or spouses had been brutally murdered or raped by some horrible person.Moreover, capital punishment is the right thing to do when wanting to eliminate and abolish filthy criminals from earth. Our great ancestors used the “An eye for an eye” theory many years ago which worked for them; therefore, there is no reason to think that it will not work today. As people respond to incentives, the only way to reduce crime is to impose capital punishment since it has a deterrent effect and reduces crime rate.
For those who think that capital punishment is savage and brutal, ironically it might be the one thing that will actually make people civilized.
