Capital Punishment

Capital Punishment is also called “Death Penalty” it is the execution of an offender or a criminal
sentenced to death after conviction by a court of law of a criminal offense. 
Example of a capital punishment are “hanging, electrocution, the gas chamber, firing squad, and
lethal injection.”
Hanging- to put to death by suspension by the neck, to suspend by the neck until death
especially as a form of execution
Electrocution- death by electric shock, electric current passing through the body.
Gas chamber- an airtight room that can be filled with poisonous gas as a means of execution.
Firing squad- a form of execution usually reserved for military personnel. The concept is
simple: a prisoner either stands or sits against a brick wall or some other heavy barrier. Five or
more soldiers line up side by side several feet away, and each one aims their firearm directly at
the prisoner's heart.
Lethal injection- is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a
barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium solution) for the express purpose of causing rapid death.
Another example of Capital pusnishment is Tokhang, which is implemented by our President,
Rodrigo Duterte, where people are killed for using drugs.
Places that still practice death penalty or Capital punishment is legal
 Legal — Death penalty is legal and in use.
 Rare — Death penalty is legal, but no executions have taken place in at least 10 years.
 Serious — Death penalty is legal, but only used in extreme cases such as war crimes.
Country Type Country Type Country Type
Afghanistan legal Guyana legal Peru serious
Algeria rare India legal Puerto Rico legal
Antigua and Barbuda legal Indonesia legal Qatar legal
Bahamas legal Iran legal Russia rare
Bahrain legal Iraq legal Saint Kitts and Nevis legal
Bangladesh legal Israel seriou Saint Lucia legal
s
Barbados legal Jamaica legal Saint Vincent & legal
Grenadines
Belarus legal Japan legal Saudi Arabia legal
Belize legal Jordan legal Sierra Leone rare
Botswana legal Kazakhstan seriou Singapore legal
s
Brazil seriou Kenya rare Somalia legal
s
Brunei rare Kuwait legal South Korea rare
Burkina Faso seriou Laos rare South Sudan legal
s
Cameroon rare Lebanon legal Sri Lanka rare
Central African Reublicrare Lesotho legal Sudan legal
Chile seriou Liberia rare Syria legal
s
China legal Libya legal Taiwan legal
Comoros legal Malawi rare Tajikistan rare
Cuba legal Malaysia legal Tanzania rare
Dominica legal Maldives rare Thailand legal
DR Congo legal Mali rare Tonga rare
Egypt legal Mauritania rare Trinidad and Tobago legal
El Salvador seriou Morocco rare Tunisia rare
s
Equatorial Guinea legal Myanmar rare Uganda legal
Eritrea rare Niger rare United Arab Emirates legal
Eswatini rare Nigeria legal United States legal
Ethiopia legal North Korea legal Vietnam legal
Gambia legal Oman legal Western Sahara rare
Ghana rare Pakistan legal Yemen legal
Grenada rare Palestine legal Zambia rare

Guatemala seriou Papua New Guinearare Zimbabwe

s

Pros and cons

Pros of Capital Punishment
- It deters criminals from committing serious crimes - Common sense tells us that the
most frightening thing for a human being is to lose their life; therefore, the death penalty
is the best deterrent when it comes to discouraging people from carrying out the worst
crimes.
- It is quick, painless, and humane. Methods of execution have gradually become more
humane over the years, so the argument that the death penalty is cruel and unusual is not
valid.
- The legal system constantly evolves to maximize justice. That the legal system may
make a wrong decision doesn’t mean that the death penalty is wrong. Every effort is
made in the US to give death row prisoners opportunities to challenge the court's
decisions. Modern methods of crime detection, such as DNA testing, also give greater
certainty of guilt than existed in the past.
- It appeases the victims or victims' families. The death penalty can provide families of
victims with some closure, which may help them to deal with their suffering.
- Without the death penalty, some criminals would continue to commit crimes. It
deters prisoners who are already serving life sentences in jail from committing more
serious offenses.
- It is a cost-effective solution. The idea put forward by abolitionists that it costs more to
execute someone than imprison them for life is simply not true, and there is plenty of
evidence to show this.
 - Retribution is not the same as revenge. Retribution is a necessary part of the
punishment process—without it, the friends and family of the victims, as well as the
public in general, would not feel that justice had been served.

Why capital punishment is right?

Capital punishment is often defended on the grounds that society has a moral obligation to
protect the safety and welfare of its citizens. Murderers threaten this safety and welfare. Only by
putting murderers to death can society ensure that convicted killers do not kill again.

Death Penalty Cons

 There is no credible proof that the death penalty works as a deterrent. In the US, in states
where the death penalty has been abolished, there has been no significant change in the rates for
serious criminal offenses, such as murder.
 It is a cruel and unusual punishment, where basic standards of human dignity are
compromised or undermined.
 It continues the cycle of violence. Retribution is just another word for revenge—it is essentially
just a form of the flawed thinking that two wrongs can make a right. The pro-death-penalty
argument is that killing people is wrong, and therefore, you should kill people for killing, which
makes no sense. . .
 It affects the poorer segments of society and racial minorities disproportionately, in part
because they cannot afford the costs of good legal support. In the USA, although only 13% of the
population is African-American, 50% of death row prisoners are African-American.
 It is an old-fashioned and ignorant solution. America’s image would be improved in places
like Europe if the death penalty were abolished. The places where executions happen regularly
include repressive regimes like Iran, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia.
 The justice system is bound to make mistakes. People who are wrongly imprisoned can be
released from prison and given compensation, but a wrongful execution can never be righted.
 The death penalty is not cost-effective. When all the practical and legal costs are taken into
account, it is clear that execution is more expensive than imprisoning for life.
 A life spent in prison is a worse punishment than an execution. A prisoner on a life sentence
has many years to endure their punishment, as well as experience remorse and reflect on his or
her crimes.
 There are strong religious arguments against the death penalty. Life is sacred and God-
given. Divine judgment comes in the afterlife.

Why we should not agree in death penalty

The death penalty violates the right to life which happens to be the most basic of all human
rights. It also violates the right not to be subjected to torture and other cruel, inhumane or
degrading treatment or punishment. Furthermore, the death penalty undermines human dignity
which is inherent to every human being.

Why is it called capital punishment?

The phrase 'capital punishment' comes from the Latin word for the head. A 'corporal'
punishment, such as flogging, takes its name from the Latin word for the body. In 2008, there
was a growing reluctance among those countries that do retain the death penalty to use it in
practice.

For us Catholics death penalty is immoral

capital punishment is immoral because it is wholly disproportionate to the harm done.
Abolitionists also claim that capital punishment violates the condemned person's right to life and
is fundamentally inhuman and degrading.
Also rsearch proves that the death penalty is ineffective; it does not deter crime, and it is
extremely expensive to administer. While most incarcerated individuals – on death row or
otherwise – are guilty, we cannot risk executing the innocent individuals wrongfully sentenced to
death.

History of capital punishment

The first established death penalty laws date as far back as the Eighteenth Century B.C.
in the Code of King Hammurabi of Babylon, which codified the death penalty for 25 different
crimes.

What was the first form of capital punishment?

The first death sentence historically recorded occurred in 16th Century BC Egypt where the
wrongdoer, a member of nobility, was accused of magic, and ordered to take his own life.
During this period non-nobility was usually killed with an ax.

The odds of receiving a death sentence are nearly four times higher if the defendant is
black than if he or she is white. A defendant's likelihood of receiving the death
penalty correlates with the victim's race. Of people currently on death row, 82% were
convicted in cases involving white victims.