The debate on the morality of capital punishment has been going on for many years. But reading through the author’s thoughts, he introduces another aspect on capital punishment which may even be more controversial than capital punishment itself. The author advocates public executions. He argues that public executions can be a source of revenue for the government and the victim’s family.
One vehemently disagrees with the proposition of the author. First, one believes that capital punishment is morally wrong. Televising it would even make things worse. If one wants to help the victim’s family, turning the execution into a circus is definitely not an alternative. One does not think that the victim’s family would welcome any financial support that comes from the humiliation of their family member. Helping a victim’s family may be done in other ways such as giving scholarship grants to the victim’s children. On the other hand, the Criminal Justice System should not also benefit from public executions.
Public executions sensationalize the death penalty. Although inmates have committed a crime against society, government does not have the right to dehumanize them. If prisoners watch the execution, it could agitate them, which may lead to prison disturbances. For the victim and their families, making public the execution is a violation of their privacy.
Death is not a form of entertainment and it will never be, no matter who the recipient is.
Works Cited
Gamble, A. (n.d.). Why it's not a good idea to televise executions. Retrieved from standdown.typepad.com: http://standdown.typepad.com/GUEST-POST-AllisonGamble-NotGoodIdeaToTeleviseExecutions.pdf
Lappin, H. G. (2001, April 18). Should executions be made public? Retrieved from deathpenalty.procon.org: http://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=000995
Leighton, P. (2010). Televising executions: Overview of the arguments. Retrieved from pauljusticepage.com: http://paulsjusticepage.com/cjethics/6-emergingissues/tvexecutions.htm
