Essay task

Some people believe that capital punishment prevents people from committing gruesome crimes. However, others feel that it has failed to act as a deterrent. What is your opinion?

Student’s response

Capital Punishment has always been a subject of long and grueling debates amongst intellectuals and philosophers since the dawn of history.
Supporters of capital punishment argue that such a method of punishment is very effective in deterring criminals from committing murder. Also, from justice point of view, capital punishment is regarded as the just and logical punishment for murderers. As for the victim’s family, it serves as an opportunity to take revenge for their murdered loved ones.

However, critics view capital punishment as immoral. Since killing as an act on its own is a condemned one, this exclusive right of the government to kill would spark many moral dilemmas. In addition, statistics have proved that capital punishment, regardless of the method, has failed to control the number of murder cases in many countries.

In reality, there has been no established pattern that would support the claim that capital punishment serves as a tool to reduce murder cases. For example, in Scandinavian countries, where capital punishment had been abolished, the number of murder cases per capita is one of the least in the world. Hence, it is hard to say that capital punishment was the reason for this astounding result. In a country like the USA, murder cases are numerous despite capital punishment.

In conclusion, Capital punishment has failed to serve its purpose. This established through facts and statistics. In addition to being an immoral method of establishing order, it portrays governments as criminals. It is rather prosperity that can control violence in the world. After all, humans tend to do the right thing; it is circumstances that compel them to commit the evil.

(273 words)