Do you think that death penalty should be allowed in our country?
Death penalty has been debated in many countries for decades. According to Essays, UK, death penalty, also called as capital punishment, is the legally severest punishment putting murderers to death. Based on social justice, 58 countries around the world legalize the inhuman punishment according to their domestic justice system. However, death penalty obviously contradicts with Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which emphasizes the right to life. Opposers of death penalty also denounce that victims cannot get rid of the shadows of violation via capital punishment. Although execution of criminals remains controversial, it should be abolished based on three reasons.
What is restorative justice?
First, death penalty should not be allowed because it doesn’t help relatives out of sorrow. According to an interview written by Fang Jie (2013), New Zealand is the best model of practicing restorative justice, which refers to an approach repairing the trauma caused by crimes and emphasizing offenders’ accountability making amends. The report points that a female relative, whose mother was brutally murdered, attended restorative conference with the offender. After four visits, she told all committees “I won’t come here again. For me, I will progress in my life. I realize he is not a devil but a human.” If the government simply executes criminals, the hatred of assailants might ruin the victims’ life. Consequently, execution of criminals should be abolished because it does not provide a friendly communication channel between victims and offenders.
Life cannot back again
Secondly, judges would probably make wrong decisions due to subjective partiality. For example, according to Carolina Justice Policy Center (2019), Walter, an intern of Criminal Justice Policy Coalition, points that death penalty for a black offender is three times more than a white offender in several American states. Another study in North Carolina conducted by Dr. Isaac Unah (2001) suggests the same problems. If the victims are white men, the possibility that offenders receive a death abruptly increases to 3.5 times, which shows that racism immensely affects sentence and judgements in western countries. What’s worse, in North Carolina, Walter reports that 75 percent of convicts waiting for executions in 1960s to 1970s would be sentenced to life imprisonment if based on modern laws. Moreover, Jiang Guoqing, the first person die from injustice, is representative of misjudged case in Taiwan. All cases mentioned above absolutely prove the standard of death penalty is vague, injustice and subjective. Thus, abolishment of death penalty can prevent innocent lives die from injustice.
Stop the crimes by death penalty is a myth!!!
However, some promoters of capital punishment may insist that it reduces the crime rates and facilitate safer environments. In fact, this is not completely accurate. The report (2000) published in San Francisco Chronicle indicates the homicide rates in the states with non-death penalty is lower than those with death penalty on average. Moreover, in this report, Steven Messner, a criminologist at the State University of New York, claims that the factors affecting in homicide rates operate differently from death penalty. Also, up to 88% of criminologists do not think that execution of criminals would be deterrent to homicides according to a survey (2009) published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. Since capital punishment ineffectively decreases the homicide rate, it has no reason to be legalized in Taiwanese justice system.
To sum up, abolishment of death penalty is righteous for three reasons. First, execution cannot fix the gap between victims and assailants. Additionally, no one is able to promise that judges or juries can judge impartially. These data also points out it has been ineffective to stop people from committing crimes. In my point of view, the justice system in Taiwan is not well-developed enough to execute condemned criminals. In the future, I hope the criminal justice system will pave the way repairing for victims, not just killing for revenge.
References:
"The Introduction To Death Penalty Philosophy Essay." UKEssays.com. 11 2018. All Answers Ltd. 04 2020
Retrieved from:
Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (2013), 修復式正義-懲罰的另一選項：紐西蘭的修復式司法
Retrieved from: https://www.taedp.org.tw/story/2555
Walter, L. (2019). The Death Penalty: Going Beyond Moral Arguments.
Retrieved from: https://www.cjpcenter.org/the-death-penalty/
Unah, I., Boger, J. (2001) Race and the Death Penalty in North Carolina
Retrieved from:https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/resources/publications-and-testimony/studies/race-and-the-death-penalty-in-north-carolina
Bonner R., Fessenden F. (2000), States Without Death Penalty Have Lower Homicide Rates. Retrieved from: https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/States-Without-Death-Penalty-Have-Lower-Homicide-2737766.php
Lopez G. (2015), Justice Scalia: The death penalty deters crime. Experts: No, it doesn’t.
Retrieved from:https://www.vox.com/2015/6/29/8861727/antonin-scalia-death-penalty