Abolition of Capital Punishment
At present, there are thirty-six states in the United States and over one hundred countries that have legislation enforcing capital punishment for crimes of murder or rape. In Canada the death penalty was abolished in 1976, due to the fact that it infringes on the rights of Canadians as documented by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.1 Also, there was much influence from the citizens of the country to debate this very serious topic. Capital punishment regardless of the crime committed is legally wrong, and represents a total disregard for human dignity. By examining issues of discrimination, the severity of the punishment, the fact that retribution is unjustified, and concerns with deterrents, illustrates that the death penalty violates the basic rights of individuals. In viewing the legal rights of citizens particularly in Canada supported by the morality of this judgement, it is easy to see why this punishment no longer exists in Canada. >From established statistics it was found that there seems to be a striking correlation between the race of the offenders and the probability of them receiving a death sentence. In capital cases, black defendants statistically receive the death sentence more
rs to determine whether the punishment is too harsh. 5 The racial discrimination demonstrated by the judges and juries supports the unjust arbitrariness that exists within the legal system. It seems that the likelihood that an individual is executed based on how they are perceived in society and not by the law is quite common. An example of this was the case against O.J. Simpson, who supposedly killed two innocent people. He was found not guilty, with much influence from his reputation in society as a hero. As an opponent, it is easy to see that the death penalty is an unusually severe punishment, and also disregards section twelve of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This section states that no person should be subjected to harsh and unusual punishment proving this issue legally wrong in Canada. The severity of this crime in a whole varies greatly from one country to another. In some countries in the middle east a person can be executed for something as trivial as robbery. Governments' have been debating this issue for many yea! "Deterrents in the legal system are defined as a principle of criminal sentencing to discourage both convicted offenders form repeating offenses, and other individuals form committing the same or similar crimes".13 The theories that capital punishment acts as a deterrents is simply a myth. Society as a whole must understand that the majority of criminals have many psychological disorders."very often violence comes out of emotional wounds, psychiatric troubles of inadequate moral development." The criminals are doubtfully going to contemplate their crimes before they commit them. They do not contemplate what punishment they will face for they are more controlled by the heat for emotions or passions. Therefore there is no need for a serious punishment of death to scare a criminal from either committing a crime of from doing it again.14 Hopefully, Canadians are assured enough to believe in the success of the justice system that it will prevent from crimes being repeated without s! '. These concepts and all others related, are totally disregarded in today's society for they are dismissed as basically ridiculous. Today people and justice systems follow the concepts outlined in the new testament of the bible. An example is the philosophy of 'turn the other cheek'. This therefore symbolises the second chance of individuals. Society should be living the teaching of Christ as presented. For revenge and retribution are not a part of Christs message. Part of his knowledge should be translated and be somewhat ingrained in our laws to avoid a contradiction. This possible contradiction lays on the fact that in the courts it is a rule that the witness' must swear to oath upon the bible. "Just as criminal codes so not sanction the raping of rapists of the burning of arsonists homes, still less is the deliberate taking of life by the state as appropriate punishment for murder".10 For supporters of Capital punishment, retribution is a key argumentive issue. They find ! "Fourteen times since nineteen seventy three, justice in amend has come to a close. Judges sentenced innocent men to die. Only the labourious appeals saved them."7 Unfortunately, not all of the errors made have been corrected. "A nineteen eight seven study shows that at least twenty three innocent people were executed in north America during this century". At present twenty two hundred inmates await execution in the states, unlike Canada where no one has been sentenced to death since nineteen- sixty- two.8 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ .17 This opinion on deterrents was additionally touched upon by the famous Soviet dissident Anorie Sacharev whom is a person familiar with suffering. He said, settled by prejudices and sentiments or by emotion. When they are settled they do not stay settled for the emotions change as new stimuli are applied to the machine."20 onstitutional. The unequal distribut
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 4355
Approximate Pages = 17 (250 words per page double spaced)
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