Is Death Penalty a Cruel and Unusual Punishment?

"Jesus Christ, whose way of life I try to follow, refused to meet hate with hate and violence with violence.... I cannot believe in a God who metes out hurt for hurt, pain for pain, torture for torture. Nor do I believe that God invests human representatives with such power to torture and kill." ~ Sister Helen Prejean

You may or may not agree to the above quote as people across the world have their own opinions and beliefs about death penalty. If you are asking is the death penalty cruel punishment, then well, there is no single right or wrong answer that can satisfy every person's point of view as it is one of the most multifaceted disputable social issues. I would prefer to highlight both pros and cons of death penalty that will help you take your stand.

Arguments For Death Penalty

Some people believe that purpose of the capital punishment is to send a right message to the society. Such harsh punishment implies that no grave crime will be tolerated and the guilty must be punished for his or her crime. In short, according to this pro death penalty argument, death penalty acts as a deterrent for society and prevents further crimes. According to some people murders committed in the rage of anger or in a drunken state can be still excluded from death penalty. But people who commit crime in the conscious state of mind have no right to live. If you analyze the last sentences of the criminals you would realize that they all were scared of dying. It proves that death is the most scary punishment they could be allotted with. And this point makes clear that death is one of the most scary things people fear. So other punishments, be it life imprisonment, etc. are milder for criminal minded people and hence death penalty is the only way to deteriorate their criminal motives. One of the other death penalty pros comes from victims and families of victims who believe that death penalty is the only justice they could get, which is their right and not a privilege. If you think from their point of view, you would come across various emotional issues that would force you think that life for life is the ideal punishment.

Arguments Against Death Penalty

One of the biggest argument that anti death penalty people make is, is that death going to bring back the life of a victim, which is true. Whatever you do with the criminal, the victim has already suffered it all and gone probably. As someone rightly said that to take a life when a life has been lost is revenge, and not justice. One of the other argument against the death penalty is that there is no point in punishing a criminal with death penalty as most of the time they knew what they were doing was wrong and they also knew the punishment for it. The very fact that the criminals are aware of the grave consequences of serious crimes, they are probably ready to face death, which is one of the notable death penalty facts. According to anti death penalty philosophy, criminals need to be given a second chance to understand their mistake. They should be kept under government surveillance if they are really sorry for what they did. This is one of the strong reasons against capital punishment that could be considered in case of juvenile crimes or crimes committed under drug or alcohol influence. Iowa State Supreme Court Justice has put this thought in a simpler manner in 1840. It says, "Crime indicates a diseased mind in the same manner that sickness and pain do a diseased body. And as in one case we provide hospitals for the treatment of severe and contagious diseases, so in the other, prisons and asylums should be provided for similar reasons."

I would like to conclude this write up with my personal opinion. Well, Even I am against the capital punishment but for the different reasons. Not because I think the criminal has soul and needs to be given a second chance but I feel that death is an easy and milder punishment for any crime. I feel that a criminal who deserves to be killed should be tortured mentally and physically to an extent that he himself pleads for death, repenting for what he did. And this is the time he will experience death but would not get it and this would be the biggest punishment for him.

These were some of the pro and against argument on is death penalty cruel and unusual punishment. If you have some other opinions and ideas regarding capital punishment pros and cons, then post them on the comments box provided below. I hope this write up helped you take your own take on death penalty.