Capital punishment, also referred to as the death penalty, execution of an inmate guilty of

a criminal offense following conviction by a court of law. This extreme punishment has been
used numerous times for a number of crimes in the Western world for thousands of years, like
rape, murder, horse stealing, abduction, rebellion, sodomy, espionage, heresy, witchcraft, among
several others. Retribution, incapacitation, rehabilitation, and deterrence are the main objectives
of the death penalty. With retribution, punishment in exchange for a wrongful act is a matter of
what is deserved. There are various methods of execution used among countries, these includes:
hanging, firing squad, beheading, lethal injection, and electrocution.

Utilitarianism is a moral theory that advocates actions that promote happiness or

enjoyment and opposes actions that cause misfortune or harm. For serious crimes, such as
murder, a utilitarian approach to justifying capital punishment appeals only to the consequences
or effects of death being the penalty. A utilitarian ideology would aim for the improvement of
society as a whole whether it is geared at making social, economic or political decisions. In
utilitarian ethics, decisions are decided for the vast majority of the population based on the
greatest amount of benefit received. Utilitarians believe that for the greatest number, the most
ethical choice is the one that will produce the greatest good.

Death penalty might work on other countries with fair justice system but if it were to be
implemented in the Philippines, I strongly believe that it will not be effectively executed. Under
utilitarianism, we can say that death penalty will cause greater good for the majority as death
penalty can be used as a very effective deterrent to minimize heinous crimes, however, I also
believe that if not properly applied, death penalty will cause greater harm for the majority and
just be favorable for the wrongdoers. For example, there are cases wherein people underwent
death penalty but was proven innocent after execution, with that, an innocent man was killed and
the true offender is free of charge.

Since 1973, more than 8,700 people in the U.S. have been sent to death row. At least 182
weren’t guilty—their lives upended by a system that nearly killed them (Morris, 2021). In the
Philippines, there are cases like this, based on California Innocence Project, A new documentary,
“Give Up Tomorrow,” brings the spotlight to an international wrongful conviction by focusing
on the Paco Larrañaga case in the Philippines. In 1999, Larrañaga and six others were convicted
for the July 1997 kidnapping, rape and murder of 23-year-old Marijoy Chiong and her 20-year-
old sister Jacqueline. But Larranaga’s case gets much more complicated and demonstrates how
deeply flawed a justice system can be. Aside from this, there are even more cases similar to this
that happened in the Philippines and countries within the world. Because of these wrongful
convictions, I do believe, if I were to base it on utilitarianism, cases like this will cause the
greater majority, fear and injustice. Therefore, I stand against death penalty.

“The death penalty is a symptom of a culture of violence, not a solution to it” (Amnesty
International, 2021).