Effects of Death Sentence on Innocent People- myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theEffects of Death Sentence on Society and Innocent People. Answer: Death penalty is a government sanctioned practice by putting people to death as a punishment for a crime that they have committed. The sentence is called death sentence while the real act itself is known as execution. Crimes that call for death sentences are capital crimes that are seen as being so great to the extent that only death can be a worthy penalty(Schabas, 2002). Arguments have been labelled against the effects of death sentence on the society. The criminal justice system is supposed to protect the society and thus this means that individual life should be protected. Robinson (2011) suggests that death penalty handed to individuals has different effects on the social life of individuals. It has been argued that the risks and effects associated with this penalty vary from society to society, family to family and individual to individual. This essay analyses the effects of death penalty on the society by analyzing how it affects the innocent. Arguments against death sentence have been pointed on the need to protect and promote a culture of life. From the social point of view and the biblical view, life is sacred and thus no individual should be allowed to take another personal life. Many countries have abolished death sentence systems because of pressure from human right groups that seek to protect life(Donohue, 2009). Christian teachings on the common good suggest that each individual should pursue the good for everyone and that of society. According to Kennedy-Kollar Mandery (2010) when states carry out death sentences on individuals, resources that are used are from the tax payer. Death sentence is thus a lethal alternative of treating violence for violence. When individuals lives are ended by the state, the question asked is how the society benefits from the death of such criminals. The role of the law is act as an intermediary between individuals in the society by reducing chaos and maintaining law and order. This means that the law needs to be in pursuit of the common good for both the criminal and the person that has been offended. This means that the law needs to protect the sanctity of life and protect individuals life from being taken away by the state or any other element (Dezhbakhsh Shepherd, 2006). There are people who are willing and ready to lose their lives since they can do any crime without considering the punishment that they may get. This means that they can do certain crimes while expecting the same punishment from the state. Rehabilitation is used to change individual lives and give offenders a second chance to change their lives. When death penalty is handed to an individual, the opportunity for such individual to change and be better persons is not given to them. Such individuals can be worse if they get another chance to interact with the society (Onyango, 2015). They can carry out larger crimes like killing, raping and torturing others. The need to determine the cause that drives such individual to carry out these crimes is denied to the society. When offenders are killed the society loses the opportunity to understand the reasons behind such offences. Research has shown that there are factors like genes and bad childhood that can drive individuals to commit capital offences. Capital offenders need to be protected so that the society can learn from their mistakes and put strategies in place for correcting them. Studies have indicated that death sentence does not reduce crime in society but rather may increase crime and make criminals more hardened. Studies that have been carried out in the US have shown that states which have abolished capital punishment have reported lower rates of capital crimes while those that have resumed this punishment have reported increased offences. This means that capital punishment is a burden to the society since it does not prevent such behaviour within the society. Some criminals who commit such offences do not realize the burden of their mistakes and the punishment that they can get. This is because such individuals do not value life and thus need to be rehabilitated and helped to appreciate life. This because death sentences end wrong messages to the public that increase homicide rather than reducing it. On the other hand, the justice system is not perfect and may incriminate innocent people for wrongs that they did not do. Corruption, biases and discrimination can lead to incriminating innocent people for punishment. Muller (2016) argues that when such sentences are handed to these people, then they will be suffering a punishment that they do not deserve. This makes families of innocent individuals to suffer as they witness the execution of their family members. When the family discovers that their keen is innocent and they have been wrongly executed, this burden causes a lot of trauma that may never end(Eberhardt, Davies, Purdie-Vaughns, Johnson, 2006). The pain of losing a loved one through execution is heavier than forgiving them for the crime that they have committed. Many people who have been on death have been set free because new evidence has exonerated them. The reason why death sentences are delayed is the fact that the criminal justice system understands the gaps that may exist in evidence and thus the need to protect human life. Although death sentence is part of the law that is used to protect the public, it fails to protect offenders and at the same time consider the effects on the society. Death sentence does not have any effect on crimes nor does it make offenders to fear punishment. Utilitarian theorists oppose punishments that make individuals pay for the crimes that they have committed. They argue that the law needs to produce the best judgment by allowing individual to change through preventing future crimes(Kennedy-Kollar Mandery, 2010). This means that capital punishment is not the best option since it affects both the society and innocent people. The reason for capital punishment is to cause fear and prevent future crimes. However, this has not been the case since crimes have never stopped. The way is to teach the society to uphold the rule of law and respect the value of life. References Dezhbakhsh, H., Shepherd., J. M. (2006). The Deterrent Effect of Capital Punishment: Evidence from a Judicial Experiment. Economic Inquiry, 44, 512-535. Donohue, J. J. (2009). Estimating the Impact of the Death Penalty on Murder. American Law and Economics Review, 2(2), 249-308. Eberhardt, J. L., Davies, P. G., Purdie-Vaughns, V. J., Johnson, S. L. (2006). Looking Deathworthy: Perceived Stereotypicality of Black Defendants Predicts Capital-Sentencing Outcomes. Psychological Science, 17(5), 383386. Kennedy-Kollar, D., Mandery, E. (2010). Testing the Marshall hypothesis and its antithesis: The effect of biased information on death-penalty option. Criminal Justice Studies, 23(1), 65-83. Muller, R. (2016). Death Penalty May Not Bring Peace to Victims' Families,. Journal of Law Reform, 49(4). Onyango, O. J. (2015). The capital offenders punishment and death sentence dilemma in Kenya. International Journal of Research in Social Sciences, 4(9), 95-98. Robinson, M. (2011). Is Capital Punishment Just? Assessing the Death Penalty Using Justice Theory. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Criminology, 3(2), 27-66. Schabas, W. (2002). The Abolition of the Death Penalty in International Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.