Death Penalty is still being enforced as a punishment in many countries, like China and the USA. In this post we’ll discuss the pros and cons of capital punishment and whether or not it should be abolished. If you are concerned about this issue, leave your comments and contribute in the debate.
We have gathered death penalty pros and cons and mentioned below. Let’s take a look about pros and cons of death penalty.
Death Penalty Pros and Cons:
 One of the most general rationalizations for death penalty in the modern world is that it acts as a prevention of precarious crimes, as the horror of being executed and fear of death may stop people from committing brutal crimes.
 Death Penalty is considered to be a suitable reprisal and justified punishment for dreadful crimes. Criminals who commit such crimes are usually at a point where rehabilitation is not possible and for some of them life in prison may add to criminal behavior. Therefore, the death penalty stops crimes from recurring and in due course protects the general public.
 Additional moral opinions advocate that death penalty provides closure to the families of victims and in order for justice to be served for the crime that punishment must also fit the crime.
 Lastly, we propose few practical arguments. The death penalty acts as a means to ease overpopulation in penitentiaries and prisons and it makes sure that a smaller amount tax payers’ money would be spent for preservation of those who have acted against humanity in the most brutal way.
These moral and practical arguments about death penalty pros and cons are reprimanded by opponents of death penalty.
 They argue that executions are immoral and cruel. Human life is priceless and everyone has a right to live. Nobody has the authority to take a human life away, not even the government or the court.
 Human rights activists disagree with the moral arguments in favor of death penalty adding to the death penalty pros and cons they say it is a type of vengeance against lawbreakers and vengeance is not essentially about social justice.
 One more important argument propped up by abolitionists is that the capital punishment shows favoritism against the poor and minorities, as people belonging to these groups are more probable to be sentenced to capital punishment. For instance, although African-Americans compose approx 13% of the population in the US, yet, almost 50% of offenders on death row are found to be African-American.
 There is always a possibility of an unfair judgment that may irretrievably sentence innocent people for death penalty.
 To conclude, opponents of death penalty argue that pragmatic realism disproves the arguments by defenders of capital punishment. There is no evidence that death penalty has a restraint effect. In countries enforcing death penalty crime rates is no lower.
 Moreover, the expenses of implementing a death sentence is much more costly than keeping a convict in prison, as a result of legal costs, security and imprisonment costs.
 Considering all of these death penalty pros and cons the opponents of capital punishment ask for death penalty to be abolished.
Death Penalty is at the center of a momentous moral debate in current society. The question of whether or not it is ethically tolerable for the government to execute convicts, and if so under what state of affairs, has been debated for decades and different countries have reacted to it in different manner.
Even though the capital punishment has been abolished, either by practice or law, in over 140 countries, it is still enforced in other parts of the world. Over the last few years is 22 countries have continued to implement executions.
China has the most executions and the USA is amongst the top 5 executioners. Crimes like drug-trafficking and murder are liable to be punished by death penalty, while in other countries witchcraft, adultery or political activism may also be punished by death penalty. Hanging, poisonous injections, shooting, and electrocution are some of the common methods employed for enforcing death penalty.
What is your stand in this debate? After going through death penalty pros and cons, do you think that it is an appropriate and fair measure for horrific crimes or is it merciless and ought to be banned?
