Death Penalty

Nowadays, there are some controversial topics such as: abortion, homosexual marriage, legalization of drugs and the topic that I'm bringing up right now: “The Death penalty”.In some countries it is legal, while in other ones it is not. There are a lot of different perspectives about it but I am going to talk about why I am against death penalty. In this way I will talk about: 1.We can't play God. 2. It is very difficult to find someone 100% guilty, 3. There is always another alternative.

First, we don´t own the right or the power over someone to take a human life, therefore we can´t play God and decide if someone is will live or not.  Only God can do that, and we are giving power and freedom to the judges to remove someone from the earth if they want to. How can we choose a judge if everybody is human and like human beings, we all commit mistakes? 

In addition, it is very difficult to determine if someone is completely or utterly guilty. In the legal system there may be errors, and in this case we can kill an innocent person as has happened in the past years, when, after trial and death warrant, the person is discovered as an innocent person. At that point there is nothing we can do to solve it because the person is dead, like the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, an innocent person executed in Texas.

And last, but not least, there is other ways to punish criminals. We can´t act with the principle “eye for an eye and tooth for tooth”, this was the concept of justice in the first civilizations and centuries, but now we are more rational. Due to this, we have to respect the human rights and the way to still punished criminals and respecting human rights is “Life imprisoned”.

I know that some people believe that murderers, rapists and kidnappers that make inhuman actions, deserve to die because they killed and ruined too many lives (kids, mothers, families, etc), and they don´t have values and respect for human life. In spite of this belief, I think we cannot use justice as revenge. We have to make justice in a rational way because, if we let our feelings and emotions to lead our path, we are getting to the same level of those criminals and giving them death not only will it save them from their real punishment, and snatch their freedom out of their hands, but also will put us in their same situation, we'd be criminals such as them.

In summary, we can´t let be the death penalty as a punishment of the justice system. There is always another way of punish such as life imprisoned.

By: José Lacouture

Bibliography

Flanders, C. (2013). THE CASE AGAINST THE CASE AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY. New Criminal Law Review, 16595.

Koch, L., Galliher, J. F., & Wark, C. (2012). The Death of the American Death Penalty : States Still Leading the Way . Boston: Northeastern University Press.

Meranze, M., McGowen, R., & Garland, D. (2011). America's Death Penalty : Between Past and Present. New York: New York University Press.

All information related to the case of Cameron Todd Willingham - Innocent and Executed is available on:

< http://www.camerontoddwillingham.com>