Persuasive Essay On Capital Punishment

According to the National Geographic, there has a been a steady decline of capital punishment around the world as there were only twenty-one countries out of 195 that still practiced the death penalty as of 2012. Many people around the world are foregoing capital punishment and have turned to more civil means of justice. All countries around the globe have flaws in their justice system which leaves too much room for error when capital punishment is implemented. Also, when societies turn to the death penalty to solve their problems, they teach their younger generations immoral behaviour as well as hypocritical values. Furthermore, capital punishment diverts the main issues and concerns from a society that focuses too much on the death penalty.

When given the power to end a person’s life, a perfect justice system would expect that there is no reasonable doubt on that person’s guilt. Although many justice systems around the world may seem adequate, there are still mistakes and unknown factors that cause innocent people to die of crimes that they did not commit. Capital punishment would only be ideal in a system that made no mistakes when determining the guilty party in crime investigations. But, this reality does not always occur in real life. As seen in a case from the United States, “a person was executed for a crime he did not commit, and his name – Carlos DeLuna” (Pilkington). Carlos was arrested for the murder of a young woman- a crime that he consistently claimed that he was innocent in. If the justice system had taken Carlos’ input more seriously and had more thorough investigations, crucial mistakes such as the ones found in the DeLuna case

Instead of investing resources and research into solving the root problems of certain crimes, certain societies would much rather invest in the maintenance and sustainability of capital punishment. Societies would do much better if there was a focus on eliminating the cause of all the crimes that occur. For example, there are people around the world that are executed for petty crimes such as stealing food due to hunger and poverty. Instead of punishing the people for their actions, societies should instead prevent future instances from occurring by researching viable solutions such as a welfare program. This type of action would benefit society much more than capital punishment since there would be an emphasis on improving the environment that people live in instead of hiding the real issues. Another issue that is accustomed to capital punishment, is the emotional cost of victims of crime and their families. Many good people struggle to move on from their past as they never find closure and contentment regarding past incidents and crimes. When a criminal is executed, they no longer carry any burden for their actions whereas the surviving victims and their families must cope with their new lifestyles. To illustrate, a person could have been involved in a physical assault where they survive with life-changing injuries. The