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Capital Punishment

Capital punishment

Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty is "the execution the execution of a convicted criminal by the state as punishment for crime" – (Riegelhaupt, Christie). At first, capital punishment was applied all over the world beginning in the 18th century. Some of the first countries to get rid of the capital punishment included Venezuela and San Marin in 1863-1865. Capital punishment is a huge controversial topic that arouses many arguments both with and against it. Some people argue that two wrongs do not make a right and that capital punishment is immoral. Others believe that it is a deterrent to crime and maximizes security.

There are many arguments in favor of capital punishment. Almost everyone in the world fear death and think about it almost each day in their life and would do anything to prevent it or stay away from what can cause it. When people are aware that they will be punished with death if they commit a crime such as murder, their fear of death deters them from committing crimes. However, it is difficult to prove that capital punishment deters crime. It's true that criminals would think twice before committing a crime if they knew their own lives are on the line. However, in most countries very few people are executed therefore the death penalty may be a deterrent but only in countries where capital punishment is applied a lot. For example, Singapore carries out a lot of executions, and so, as statistics show, the crime rate decreases.
Another example is Britain, ever since the abolition of the death penalty in 1964 the killings have doubled from 0.68 per 100,000 of the population to 1.42 per 100,000. "Home office figures show around unlawful killings 300 in 1964 which rose too 565 in 1994 and 833 in 2004."- (Tanny, Robert)   in America statistics show that "the murder rate in the US dropped from 24562 in 1993 to 18209 in 1927 during a period of increased use of the death penalty."- (Snell L. Tracy).

Those in...