Good Example Of Capital Punishment Book Review

A lot of fuss has been raised over this severe penalty for some felonies in many nations around the world. Great debates have been held over the same on whether to legalize it or not. Very strong, convincing reasons have been put across, both at national and international levels, supporting the mentioned topic of discussion and also its discouragement. Capital punishment has quite a number of reasons for its legalization but under well elaborated system of its administration. For crimes such as aggravated murder, there is no other form of punishment that would satisfactorily account for it other than the ultimate punishment of a death penalty. This essay, therefore, seeks to give more reasons in favor of capital punishment as a method of dealing with crimes that deserve this extreme measure against it.
According to John Stuart Mill, murder is a serious offence against humanity of which only depriving the offender of his/her life is the most appropriate way of punishment. Not only does this approach affect the murderer, but it also serves to show the society the consequences of such crimes. In an attempt to give an alternative solution, such as life imprisonment accompanied by daily hard labor, he disqualifies this solution because, first of all, it is not severe enough to show the criminal enough suffering. Secondly, the satisfaction of still being alive in prison grows day by day and, due to the human behavior, the diet improves and hence makes the criminal not to feel the weight of his/her offence. This is not in any way comparable to the impact that the death penalty will have upon the rest of society. Arguments may be raised from an ethical point of view that killing is not morally right. It is true that taking the life of another is ethically wrong, but capital punishment is just but basically administered on the same grounds where by the criminal is judged according to his/her actions of taking the life of a fellow human being. By doing the same to him/her, is enough justice and in the long run it is not in any way ethically wrong.
For such serious offences like murder and all crimes in general, the punishment administered should be more severe and tougher than it seems or sounds in order for its effects to be felt and help shape the society to be a better place. If a told the society is to come up with a more severe punishment than death, then it would sufficiently replace capital punishment. Until then, nothing is worse than that. Bodily suffering is close to that, but in the end death is what follows. This, in fact, can be considered only that its result is the same as of the capital penalty, so no big difference comes from it. Suffering, however, is something the society doesn’t admire. According to utilitarianism, suffering or pain is not an aspect that counts. Ethically no one is susceptible to pain or suffering, and its infliction is considered wrong. Capital punishment is somewhat close to suffering only that death is faster and suffering is not felt at a great level by the victim.
In an effort to argue against capital punishment, one may bring in the issue of sanctity of human life. That human life is sacred, and its sanctity is to be preserved and respected. It is not only human life that should be respected. Human feelings deserve the same treatment. It does not mean that no punishment should be administered just because of respect for human life and feelings. If capital punishment is to be rejected because human life is not being given its sanctity, then all other forms of punishment should be rejected and not administered as well since it is disrespecting human feelings, on the basis of the same ground of argument for human life. In order to preserve the ethics of a society, punishment is key to ensure that values are upheld highly.
As much as the death penalty is advocated for, it is an irreparable form of punishment. Taking into consideration that an innocent person might face capital punishment, this form of punishment comes with a great deal of responsibility whereby the judges and juries have to be perfectly sure of the guiltiness of the suspect/accused. This is not reason enough to disavow capital punishment since it is clear that some guilty criminals will have escaped the ultimate punishment.
In conclusion, punishments should be made strong (more severe) and not strive at weakening them. As long as a crime has been committed, it should be addressed and dealt with accordingly in the form of punishment. Enforcement of capital punishment is vital in any country to enable the citizens and the whole society deter from crimes against humanity. Ethics is conserved in the end as a result of the existence of a well established punishment system.