Reasons Against Capital Punishment

The history of capital punishment dates back to the time of Spanish colonial rule wherein the most common execution methods were shooting by the firing squad. In 1926, under the colonial administration of the United States the method of killing was by the electric chair which was introduced by the Americans during their rule in the Philippines.

Meanwhile on the bigger aspect, three quarters of execution due to capital punishment worldwide occur in Asia. 95% of Asians live in jurisdictions that carry out capital punishment. China alone accounts for 90% of all executions in Asia. China also executes the highest number of people annually but the Chinese criminal code explicitly forbids the death penalty for offenders who are under the age of 18 at the time of the crime.

At present time, there are people who are supporting the death penalty all over the world but there are also others who are trying to abolish the death penalty including the people in the religious and non-religious sectors of the society. Thus, in our own opinion, there are a lot of reasons why capital punishment should not be implemented but the foremost reason is because it violates the major human right of a person which is a person's right to live.

If we believe that murder is wrong and is not admissible in our society, then it has to be wrong for everyone, not just for individuals but for the government as well. Capital punishment should not be implemented for the main reason that it is violating one of the major human rights of a person which is a person's right to live. Everyone should be able to value the dignity of every human person and should guarantee full respect for human rights regardless of the person's criminal act.

Furthermore, we should also take into account that everybody has the right to defend himself before he could get executed by the state, for the promotion of social justice. Most of the time, genuinely innocent people get executed for the crime they didn't even commit because of the lack of righteousness and there is no possible way of compensating them for thismiscarriage of justice.

Moreover, just punishments can occur without resorting to capital punishment because the death penalty only evokes moral outrage and a call for justice among the people, which will eventually lead to the lack of equality and justice in the country.

Another reason why it shouldn't be put into operation in our society is because it won't make any difference at all if you kill the murderer because that can't bring back the life of the person who was killed. Besides, if you killed the murderer yourself, that doesn't make you any different from the murderer. And you're just making another crime which is punishable by law.

Also, even criminals deserve a second chance to change themselves and to repent for what they have done, and they're not going to be able to start all over again if they're going to be sentenced to death.

Going to the other side of the argument, others might approve of capital punishment for the reason that the only way the murderer could pay for the crime that he committed was to take away his own life through capital punishment, which is quite pointless since that wouldn't bring back the life of the victim.

Capital punishment can also lower the crime rate of a country and permanently removes the worst criminals from society and should prove much safer for the rest of us than long term or permanent incarceration. Like for instance, countries who have implemented capital punishment experience lower crime rates than the countries who haven't implemented capital punishment. But that doesn't mean that our only option to eliminate the growing rate of crimes here in the Philippines is by capital punishment because just punishments can occur without resorting to the death penalty.

In summary, capital punishment violates one of the major human rights of a person which is a person's right to live. Every person has the right to defend himself before he could get executed by the state and shouldn't be exempted from that right. Just punishments can occur without resorting to the death penalty and there would be no difference at all if you kill the murderer because that can't bring back the life of the person who was killed. And lastly, even criminals deserve a second chance to change themselves just like other people do.

On the contrary, other people might think that the only way the murderer can pay for the crime that he committed is to take away his own life through capital punishment. Capital punishment can also lower the crime rate of a country through its injustice ways of killing the criminal, but there are other just punishments that can be carried out by the criminal without resorting to the death penalty.

Therefore, we think that it's best if capital punishment should not be implemented in our country because although it can lower the increasing crime rate in our society, it still isn't a humane way to punish a criminal because there are other alternative ways of punishing a criminal through just punishments rather than using the death penalty. But most importantly, it shouldn't be implemented because it violates the major human right of every person which is a person's right to live.

       Posted  by                                                                         Jenny Mae Casanova