Death Penalty

The use of the death penalty as a means of deterring crime has not been successful. Some people have argued that passing death penalties to capital offenders can reduce the levels of capital crime (Siegel, 2010). People believe that criminals will shy away from engaging in criminal acts particularly those that will put their lives in risks. This has been the main reason as to why some people advocate the use of death penalty. However, the article proves that the numbers of capital crimes are high in the United States despite the use of death penalty in some states.

The increase in crime rates in the United States demonstrates the death penalty is not a sufficient condiion to deter crime if used alone.The issue of death penalty has received mixed reaction from different countries. In some countries, death penalty has been embraced and is in full operations. This use of death penalty is in line with believed that this form of punishment will reduce criminal acts. Some countries have also objected the use of death penalty citing that this this form of punishment is cruel and non-effective.

The argument raised by those against the death penalty has been in line with the call for the abolitionist of death penalty (Chenwi, 2007). In my own opinion, death penalty should be abolished because it is not serving the purpose of reducing crriminal acts. Given that crimes rates have been on the rise despite death penalty being in force, I am convinced that death penalty is ineffective in combating crimes. Furthermore, I believe that there are other alternatives that can be used to punish those who commit crimes rather than subjecting them to death penalty which is cruel. Death penalty should therefore be abolished from use.

The issue of youths already convicted for crimes cannot be wished away. Given the fact that death penalty is cruel and not a better form of retribution, I believe that it should be scrapped and the youths waiting to face death to be given other forms of punishment like life sentence.