Preview

Should Australia re-introuce capital punishment

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
655 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Should Australia re-introuce capital punishment
By Ava Diepeveen
Should Australia Re-introduce the Death Penalty?

Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the practise of executing someone as punishment for a serious crime after a legal trial(s).
Humans are not perfect, humans are not always right, imperfect humans cannot give out perfect justice. As much as we may abhor another human beings action, is executing someone for killing someone else really the right thing to do? Two wrongs don’t make a right. When a country abolishes the death penalty it isn’t plunged into criminal chaos and countries that use the death penalty don’t have lower crime rates compared to those that do. The death penalty can kill the innocent and can target those with darker skin. The death penalty tortures and kills, no matter how heinous the crime no human deserves the death penalty. Is it paramount that Australia re-introduces the death penalty? Just because capital punishment is legal in other countries, it doesn’t mean that it should be here.
If Australia re-introduced capital punishment many would assume that crime rates would decrease, however statistics show that this is untrue. In the United States of America in 2011 the rate of homicides in the states where capital punishment was legal was 4.7% per 100,000 American citizens. In the states where capital punishment was illegal the amount of homicides was 3.1%. During the last twenty years in America, homicide rates in the states with capital punishment have been 48% to 101% percent higher compared to the the states without capital punishment. This statistical evidence proves that capital punishment will not lower crime rates, but even if it did does it still make it right?
The death penalty can be injust and can target minority groups or those who look different. There have been an ubiquitous amount of cases in America where Asians, Hispanics, African Americans and many others, have been convicted of crimes they did not commit and then prosecuted.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Capital punishment has been part of the legal system of Australia since British settlement. During the 19th century, numerous capital offences saw about 80 people hanged each year throughout Australia. Before and after federation, each state made its own criminal laws and punishments.…

    • 851 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Should the death penalty be banned as a form of punishment? Balanced Politics (https://www.balancedpolitics.org/death_penalty.htm) illustrates proponents and opponent’s points of views. Select adversary viewpoints say “Financial costs to taxpayers of capital punishment is several times that of keeping someone in prison for life. It is barbaric and violates the "cruel and unusual" clause in the Bill of Rights. The endless appeals and required additional procedures clog our court system. Society needs to move away from the "eye for an eye" revenge mentality if civilization is to advance.” Some death penalty advocates say “The death penalty gives closure to the victim's families who have suffered so much. It creates another form of crime deterrent. Justice is better served. Our justice system shows more sympathy for criminals than it does victims.” https://www.balancedpolitics.org/death_penalty.htm Capital punishment comes with large amounts of gray area, so to say I am personally on one side or the either would be unfair. I believe in moving away from the “revenge mentality.” I also don’t believe murder victim’s families ever receive justice after losing a loved one. The death penalty teaches nothing, it’s just a means to an end. Repeating history lingers until society and law adapt better criminal punishment…

    • 991 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Capital punishment is the legal authorisation of killing a criminal. The death penalty was abolished in 1965 ; the last British death penalty case was closed on August 13th. Serious offences that would consequent to capital punishment are: Murder , drug trafficking , drive-by’s , murdering a police officer ,treason, terrorism and espionage. Some examples of execution methods are: Lethal injection, the gas chamber , electric chair , hangings and many more.…

    • 825 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Historically there is no clear evidence that the death penalty has decreased the murder rate or acted as an effective deterrent to murder. Capital punishment is a violation of natural rights. This is wrong for everyone who is involved: The prosecuted innocent, the criminals, the victim’s family and our nation. The death penalty does not guarantee safety for the innocent. Nothing good comes out of hate, and nothing good can ever come from capital punishment.…

    • 534 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    My first point is the deterrent effect that capital punishment would have upon crime. The threat of execution is enough to ensure that criminals think twice about committing any serious crimes, because at the end of the criminal rainbow, there is definitely no pot of gold. Today’s society is more than aware of the consequences of their actions; therefore, the existence of the death sentence can guarantee that criminals consider their actions carefully. While I understand that it’s irrational to assume that a criminal is going to carefully weigh the consequences of their actions against the benefits before committing a criminal act, it’s important to consider that the criminal has clearly already disregarded any other form of punishment that Australia’s justice system may hand down, such as life imprisonment. The criminal is already assuming that if they are caught, they will receive a light sentence from a weak justice system, but we must consider that they are anti-social individuals disrupting the daily lives of law-abiding citizens! Therefore, taking one life is justified because it prevents the destroying of other innocent lives, or even through the deterrence of other potential criminals.…

    • 967 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Society demands that punishment should fix the harm it has done. By sentencing a person to death no harm has been fixed. As long as capital punishment exists in our society it will continue to spark the injustice, which it has failed to curb. The death penalty is morally and socially unethical, should be construed as cruel and unusual punishment, has no proof of acting as deterrent, and risks the appalling and unacceptable injustice of executing innocent people. It does not matter who does the killing as long as a life is taken by another, it should always be considered…

    • 1955 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Some may say that the death penalty is helpful to society because it intimidates criminals into committing less crimes, particularly murders, when in reality, studies like one done by Benjamin S. Tyree of the University of Richmond show that there is no correlation between the use of the death penalty and lower murder rates, and if anything, states that do not use the death penalty, have lower murder rates than those that do (Deter, Tyree). If that is the case, then it is obvious that the death penalty does not benefit our country.…

    • 863 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Human rights have existed for thousands of years. Ever since there were people, there were some form of human rights observed by the masses. Although human rights can vary based on tradition and culture and may be constantly changing according to the norm in society, there is now a universal understanding of what human rights are and how they should be observed. One of the many topics relating to human rights that has been of great controversy throughout all of history is capital punishment, or the death penalty. While it was used by all nations in the past and was once a norm in society, civilizations have grown to disagree with the taking of another person's life under any circumstance.…

    • 847 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Death Penalty In Canada

    • 1420 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Should Canada reinstate the death penalty for murder? Reinstituting the death penalty is not optional. If Canada wishes to prosper and flourish under God's blessing, we must reintroduce the death penalty. The foremost reason for the death penalty is God's mandate. Other reasons include the practical deterrent that the death penalty constitutes and, as a comparatively minor reason, the economic sensibility. I would also argue that the death penalty still applies to crimes other than murder and that our current penitentiary system is unnecessary and unbiblical.…

    • 1420 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Capital punishment is a punishment that results in death usually caused by capital crimes or capital offenses. It is commonly referred to as the death sentence. According to an article “Buzzle” not all countries accept capital punishment but there are still a lot of states who do (par.1). Capital punishment has been around for thousands of years, this punishment is said to have helped keep crime level down and alter the minds of future criminals to prevent them from committing atrocious crimes such as: murder, terrorism, and in some situations aggravated kidnapping.…

    • 365 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sentencing Paper

    • 603 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Capital punishment is the death penalty. Capital punishment is the most extreme of all sentencing options (Schmalleger, 2011). Capital punishment is sentenced when someone comments a capital offense. In 2008, for example, a twenty eight year old man was sentenced to death in the atrocious murder of a ten year old girl in what authorities said was an elaborate plan to cannibalize the girls flesh (Schmalleger, 2011). Today, the federal government and 35 of the 50 states permit execution for first degree murder, kidnapping, aggravated rape, the murder of a police or corrections officer, or murder while under a life sentence (Schmalleger, 2011).…

    • 603 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Capital Punishment, legal infliction of death as a penalty for violating criminal law. Methods of execution have included such practices as crucifixion, stoning, drowning, burning at the stake, impaling, and beheading. Today capital punishment is typically accomplished by lethal gas or injection, electrocution, hanging, or shooting.…

    • 880 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Research has shown that racial discrimination has influence on capital punishment, according to the General Accounting Office, over 80% of studies have shown the race of the victim is closely correlated with receiving the death penalty. Other studies have shown that the defendant is four or five times as likely to get the death penalty if the victim was Caucasian than if the victim was African American. It’s not just that some defendants don't get the right to a fair trial just because of a person’s skin tone. Death row is the ultimate punishment, and should be issued out with the utmost extreme caution and fairness. The “death penalty” is just another way of saying an ‘eye for an eye’. Victims Deserve retribution, but over time society’s version of retribution has changed dramatically. People today believe that the taking of one's life in exchange for another’s is the only way to achieve true justice for the victim, but all they’ve achieved in the end is the loss of two lives. There are other ways, that do not involve ending a life, that are used to acquire justice all the same. Life without parole is much cheaper and more efficient way to attain Justice for the victims and their loved…

    • 1055 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Capital punishment has not been proven to deter crime and it opens the possibility of executing innocent people. That is why the United States of America should abolish the death penalty.…

    • 971 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The death penalty is something that has many countries in the world divided. In my opinion, I believe that the death penalty should be legal throughout the country. There are many reasons as to why the death penalty should be legalized in the country including retribution, deterrence, and morality. Also, because opposing arguments do not hold up, I will discredit the ideas that the death penalty is not constitutional, irreversible mistakes are made, and that race and income will face disproportionality.…

    • 798 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays