Death Penalty

In my opinion the death penalty represents a controversial issue nowadays, given both
the advantages and the disadvantages which it presents. The death penalty (known as the
capital punishment) is the killing, prescribed by law, of a person as a punishment for a
murder, rape, espionage which the person was proven guilty for. Usually, it is preceded by a
judicial process which ends with a death sentence. It is implemented through execution.

The death penalty can be found since ancient times, being applied for many crimes,
some of them trivial. Nowadays, the death penalty is considered to be specific to
undemocratic countries and there exists almost 50 countries which had not abolished it among
which USA (some states), China, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Japan and in Europe only Belarus.
Regarding our country, it has known the same type of punishment, with the last convicts
being Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu on 25 december 1989. Since 1990, the capital punishment
has been abolished, being replaces with life detention, considered worldwide as the best
alternative. Also, ECHR states that the death penalty is abolished and anybody neither can be
sentenced to such a punishment, nor executed.

There are arguments both for and against the capital punishment. Regarding its
advantages, from an economical point of view, it is more useful to eliminate a dangerous
criminal from the society, than locking him in a prison, where large amounts are allocated for
that person. Moreover, the death penalty would discourage the potential criminals, being
much more frightening than a prison sentence, even for the entire life. Another argument for
the capital punishment is represented by the difficulty of replacing it with another punishment
when its abolition would be taken into account. This reasoning has been removed by the
practice existing in many countries, which have replaced the capital punishment with the life
imprisonment.

However, there are people who are against this punishment. A first argument reffers to
the unjust and inhuman nature of the death penaly, this being supported by some ethical and
religious reasons, according to which the life has been given to the human by God and,
therefore, only God can take someone’s life. Also, the fact that someone who murdered is
countered back makes us worse and under no circumstance better.

The existence of errors and staged trials represents a very powerful motivation for
abolitionists, who rely on the irreparable nature of the death penalty and the irreversibility of
death. In other words, if in the case of life inprisonment, a mistake cand be repaired and the
convict can released from prison, in the case of the death penalty there is no ”cure”,
everything being ended in the moment of the execution. In this context we can mention the
case of George Stinney, a child of color who was executed in 1994, at the age of 14, although
he was innocent. He had been sentenced to death by the jury because he would have murdered
two white girls, but, after 70 years, the judge cancelled George Stinney’s conviction, this case
representing one of the greatest injustices made due to racism. Although it is still practiced
globally, constant efforts are made so as that the capital punishment would be completely
abolished. The most recent initiative in this respect was the International Appeal signed on 10
October 2013 by 42 european countries: ”The justice which kills is no justice. Convinced by
the inherent inhumanity of the death penalty, the 42 countries represented here totally oppose
to its practice, anywhere in the world”.

Regarding the death penalty in our country, it is mentioned as being prohibited in the
22nd article, paragraph 3 from the Romanian Constitution. Between the years 1965 and 1989,
104 people were sentenced to death and executed through shooting in Romania, this
punishment being used to indimidate the people. The cases of Râmaru and Bachus were
extremely publicized in the newspapers, with purpose of lowering the number of crimes
commited on the romanian teritory.

In conclusion, the society can have enough methods instead of the death penalty,
through which it can protect people against the most serious crimes and the most dangerous
criminals. For a higher efficience, it must analyse carefully the reasons that determine the
increased criminality in order to remove it as much as possible. From judicial regulations at
national and international level, the orientation towards the abolition of the death penalty in
most countries of the world certainly derives, since it contributes to the growth of human
dignity, the highlighting of the importance of the fundamental human rights.

There are opinions according to which the death penalty should be reintroduced, even
though it is a violation of the fundamental human rights, for serious crimes, such as first-
degree murder commited against more people or by a person who had commited another
murder, against pregnant women, murder commited by cruelties, crimes against national
security, genocide crimes, war crimes or against humanity, but there are also opinions which
do not support the death punishment, this being a delicate subject nowadays.

Bibliography

 The Romanian Constitution

 The European Court of Human Rights
 www.wikipedia.com
 www.historia.ro
 www.crestinortodox.ro