Argumentative Essay

Over the last decade the crime ratio has been growing at a threatening
rate. The situation is alarming along with an unprecedented feeling of
insecurity among the common people. These circumstances have
revealed that there are many political activists and social media
influencers who are debating on the argument that whether imposing
death penalties is a good way to control crime or not. Now just before
approaching towards the details of this argument, is it not important to
highlight the meaning of the terms ‘death penalty and crime’? Yes, it
absolutely is so generally death penalty or execution, is the sentence of
death imposed by courts as punishment for a crime while crime refers to
an act that is intentionally committed and is specifically punishable
under criminal law.
I support not to consider the excuses and irrelevant ideology under the
banner of death penalty and it should truly be abolished.

“The death penalty is a symptom of a

culture of violence, not a solution to it.”
In the view of supporting my thesis statement I would rightly discuss
five lines of arguments. Firstly, many countries execute people
commonly with the objective to introduce terror among the community.
However, this claim has been repeatedly discredited, for instance, the
statistics from the Death Penalty Information Center indicate that in the
past forty years, a total of 1,184 people in the South US have been
sentenced to death compared to just four in the Northeast, and yet
figures of murders in 2015 were nearly 70 percent higher in the Southern
states. Secondly, execution is the ultimate, irreversible punishment
which may also affect innocent people for example since 1973, about
160 prisoners were sentenced to death in the USA have later been
released from death row on grounds of innocence.
Thirdly, law enforcement officials should fulfill their responsibility in
discovering the root causes of crime. The origin of crimes are related to
mental health, access to education and sustainable employment options
which highlight that a brutal execution in the middle of the night would
not eradicate violence. Fourthly, in US most death penalties were not
conducted fairly as most of its victims included people belonging to a
religious, social and ethnic minority for example in California (a state
that is only six percent black) more than one third of the defendants
sentenced to death were black. Lastly, there are some authorities like
Iran and Sudan who misuse their power and practice the death penalty to
suppress the opposition against them as well as intimidate political
opponents.
Recognizing the ideology of my opponents I believe they advocate that
death penalty discourages violent crime and makes society safer
however, there is no evidence that the death penalty is any more
effective in reducing crime. Likewise, the opposition may support the
view that the threat of execution is an effective strategy in preventing
terrorism however, people willing to commit large-scale acts of
fierceness do so knowing that they could come to serious physical harm
and therefore demonstrate no regard for their own safety. Also, the
opposition may comment that executions provide the most cost-effective
solution to violent crime. Considering this view we must understand that
a society cannot overlook evil and sacrifice human rights at a cost-
cutting measure. So, the decision to take a human life should not
comprise of financial motives.
If our society is to change it should be designed in a way not just to
punish but also to rehabilitate those who have committed crimes. The
basic system should be based on corrective measures rather than
punitive. We should manage the capacity to hold the accountable and
separate dangerous people from the society but we should not execute
them as it would truly deny the opportunity for their rehabilitation,
redemption and grace. To conclude, death penalty is an old-fashioned,
outdated and harmful practice which must be abolished.