I think that we should not use the Death Penalty (hereinafter referred to as “DP”) nowadays. This is due to many factors: the risk of executing innocent people, being extremely inhumane, not providing justice and it is totally against reformation.

Basically, the DP is the lawful execution of a criminal. It is administered for the most heinous offences such as treason, homicide and genocide. Since it is a very broad issue, the DP has become a debatable issue globally.

Humans are bound to make mistakes; no one is perfect. Thus, as long as the DP exists, there are also risks of executing an innocent person. Thus, no justice system in the world is completely perfect. If the justice system is full of lying prosecutors, incompetent defence counsels and/ or bias judges, the possibility of mistaken executions will increase drastically. No matter how slight the risk is, as long as there is such a possibility, innocent people can be killed. Even the loss of one innocent life is totally unacceptable. Furthermore, the DP is irrevocable. Should a person be found innocent after his execution, there is nothing that can be done to turn back the time - the law has taken its course; the wrong sentence has been carried out. If you put yourself in the prisoner’s shoes, how will he be feeling prior to his date with the executioner? How will his family members feel?

The methods of execution are certainly an issue to be concerned about. Way back in the olden times, the methods of execution can be as horrible as: breaking at the wheel; burning at the stake; boiling; crucifixion; sawing; hanging, drawing and quartering. Although the main methods of execution used nowadays (hanging, lethal injection, lethal gas, electrocution, firing squad and beheading) claims to bring doom on the prisoner in a quick and painless manner, it is still very inhumane. For instance, electrocution has on occasions caused extensive burns and needed more than one application of electric current to kill the condemned. This is an absolute violation of the most basic of human rights – the right to live. The existence of botched executions, such as the drop used for hanging being too short thus resulting in the condemned suffering a slow and painful death due to strangulation, actually does not support the claim of a quick and relatively painless death at all. Thus, I conclude that the DP is not at all humane.

The DP does not provide any form of justice. It leaves no one better off. On the victim’s side, their setback is the loss of their family member. However, on the offender’s side, it is the loss of his life. There are many more things a person can do as a punishment when he is alive. I believe that the offender should be made to compensate to the victim’s family members using his own income and community service. There is no need for compensation for the offender’s work as money is of no value in jail. This way, the offender pays back to society. Instead of aggravating the whole situation, it actually led to the society being better off.

The DP is absolutely against reformation of the criminal. Let’s take Singapore’s Changi Prison for example. The motto of Changi Prison is: Rehab, Renew, Restart. This is to help the offenders to rid their passion for crime, to allow them to turn over a new leaf, to aid them to leave their past behind and to look ahead to the future. By implementing the DP, it blatantly goes against renewing the criminal and allowing him to restart. This is because once an offender is executed he can no longer have a chance to improve from his mistakes. Although some people may belief that the correct way to restart is to start life afresh, I do not agree. Why not let the offender resume life afresh upon his release from long-term imprisonment instead? Not all people believe in afterlife. As a result, I conclude that the DP is against the reformation of the criminal, as it prevents the offender from being able to turn over a new leaf.

According to the people who are in favour of the DP and think that it should still be used nowadays, their reasons are that the DP is more economical, aims to seek avenge for the victim and that it serves as deterrence.

In my view, although life imprisonment is very costly, it is nothing as compared to the DP. Once a judgement of death has been passed on the accused, there will definitely be appeals to the higher courts and to seek clemency from the President of the country. There can be countless appeals, which concurrently places the condemned in jail. Such appeals will incur costs. An execution can only take place once all appeals are exhausted. Thus, in some cases, especially in America, an execution can only begin after a long time. The period when the condemned spends in Death Row can be as long as seven years or more. During the period, the condemned still goes through the normal prison routines, which has to be sponsored by the government. Furthermore, the materials used for most types of execution are expensive as well. For example, the process of lethal injection involves the usage of about 4 chemicals: saline solution, sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride. Such chemicals are not cheap to obtain. Once the execution has been carried out, the state will also have to spend money for the funeral services, should it be conducted by the state. Moreover, the maintenance of the equipments and apparatus used for the execution also incur high costs. Such maintenance, endless appeals and legal machinery far outweighs the expense of maintaining in prison the tiny fraction of criminals who would otherwise be slain.

People who are pro-DP also feels that the DP serves to seek avenge for the victim. This is merely an eye for an eye. I do not agree with this because if such revenge exists, there will be no end to it worldwide. Let’s say, person Y killed person Z. Person Y is then killed by the state. This shows that the state is, in someway, committing murder too. If murder is deemed as barbaric, the DP should also be deemed that way, as it is no different from murder – it causes death, only that this time, the victim is the felon. Once it happens, there can be much political unrest, especially if the person executed is a foreigner. The political ties between the country which conducted the execution, and the country where the prisoner is from, will be severely affected. The usage of revenge is actually the usage of violence, which does not deter crime at all. Violence will only get worse, thus resulting in it being endless. Hence, I feel that the DP is merely an act of revenge and should never be used.

The hypothesis that the DP deters crime is not true at all. For example, statistics have shown that although Texas tops the list of the number of executions per capita, it still has the highest crime rates in America. Take murder for example. The vast majority of murders involve passions of the moment, violent conflict and other such circumstances wherein the killer is not at all thinking of what might be at stake should they kill someone. Such examples of provocation and diminished responsibility show that the cause of the murder is mostly due to those reasons, and not necessarily due to the person’s passion to do so. Sometimes, people commit murder unintentionally. Hence, it can be deduced that it is not prudent to accept the hypothesis that the DP deters murder.

Generally, I feel that all offenders should be given a second chance in life. Remember, everybody will make mistakes. No one is born to be a criminal. The only reason why they committed crimes is because they succumb to the curiosity of doing that. Some offenders commit crimes due to pressure, provocation, stress and diminished responsibility. Not everyone have the intention of committing crimes at all. Hence, if are to condemn them, they can never be given the chance to turn over a new leaf.

Even if some offenders (hardcore criminals such as drug addicts) are beyond rehabilitation, their right to live should still be respected. They should at least be put on life imprisonment, so as to allow them to be able to move on in life. Prisoners, who have proven themselves worthy to be back in society, can also have a chance to be released due to parole after serving a minimum number of years in jail. Furthermore, it also allows the prisoner to be discharged once his innocent be found. As a result, I find that all criminals should be given a second chance instead of finishing them off.

If only violence does not exist in the world (the DP is considered as violence too, as it involves pain), imagine how peaceful and tranquil this planet can be. No one, except God, has the right to control people’s life. By the existence of the DP, it shows that the state is deciding to play God, which I feel, is totally wrong and sinful.

In summary, the death penalty has been a gross failure. Beyond its horror and incivility, it has neither protected the innocent nor deterred the wicked. The recurrent spectacle of publicly sanctioned killing has cheapened human life and dignity without the redeeming grace which comes from justice meted out swiftly, evenly, humanely.

Due to the abovementioned reasons and factors, I conclude that we should not use the DP nowadays. To be more precise, it should not even be done in the first place.