Should capital punishment be abolished?

I. Arguments from other scholars

Argument 11:

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, called for the abolition of capital
punishment at the opening of the biennial high-level panel discussion on the death penalty, which was
organized as part of the Human Rights Council session for 2017. He listed 3 main reasons for ending
capital punishment:

1. It violates human rights by its “capricious and frequently discriminatory application”.

International and national bodies have determined that several methods of execution are likely
to violate the prohibition of torture, because of the pain and suffering they are likely to inflict on
the convicted person

2. In comparison with other punishments, it does not demonstrate any more deterrent effect.

3. It inflicts severe mental and physical suffering on the person concerned and family members.
Zeid further explained by pointing out the long and highly stressful period that most individuals
endure while waiting on death row for years, or even decades, and frequently in isolation, for an
uncertain outcome.

Argument 22:

In her article, “Capital Punishment Is Morally Justified”, Casey Carmical, a professional translator and
blogger about current social and political issues, argues that “the death penalty is a morally acceptable
punishment” for 2 main reasons:

1. The morality of capital punishment:

 Humans deserve praise and punishment, and punishment must fit the crime. So, murderers
must be executed, morally.
 Executing murderers prevents them from committing their crime again, and thus protects
innocent victims.
 Prisons are somehow nice places with free meals, recreational time and regular visits from
friends and family. Those expenses are financed indirectly by victims’ family through taxes.
2. Capital punishment is more than just revenge:
 The point of the death penalty is just bringing murderers to justice, not revenging.
 The pain experienced by murderers cannot compensate for the pain of victims, so executing
cannot be called a kind of revenge.

Casey also refutes the 5 common reasons for the abolition of capital punishment:

1
Zeid, R. A. H. (2017). Biennial high-level panel discussion on the question of the death penalty. Retrieved from
www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21258&LangID=E
2
Carmical, C. (2011). Capital Punishment Is Morally Justified. In C. Watkins (Ed.), At Issue. The Ethics of Capital
Punishment. Detroit: Greenhaven Press. (Reprinted from The Death Penalty: Morally Defensible?, Casey's Critical
Thinking, 2010, January) Retrieved from
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010313215/OVIC?u=plan_smcol&xid=5a3c562e
 1&2. Capital punishment is racist and unfair for poor people: This should be an argument to improve
the justice system.

3. The capital punishment condemns innocent people to die: The possibility of an innocent person
being executed is very small and continues to decrease.
4. Capital punishment cannot deter crimes: Capital punishment isn’t necessarily a crime. It is
totally effective because murderers will never commit a crime again.
5. Capital punishment is cruel and unusual: Lawmakers are now making effort to ensure the
constitutionality of the death penalty executions by focusing on particular methods of execution
to determine whether they were too cruel to pass constitutional muster.

Argument 33:

In their article, “Death Penalty Lessons from Asia”, David T. Johnson and Franklin E. Zimring summarize
their main findings from their book about capital punishment in Asia, which based on case studies in 12
Asian countries. While still calling for more comprehensive insights before reaching any concrete
conclusion, the authors point out that the direction of political change and of death penalty policy in
Asian countries seems consistent with a long-term shift away from executions and toward lesser
punishments, suggesting the abolition of capital punishment is linked with political change and
economic growth. Based on their current study results, it seems that the transfer of power in a leftward
direction and economic growth may lead to a decreased use, or even complete abolition of executions:

 Since the late 19th century, there has been a general trend of dramatic execution declines in 18
Asian countries and territories.

 For about half a century, the execution rates in China remained the country with the most
executions in the world (about 6000 executions in 2007). However, even the four and five-digit
execution volumes in recent years are a substantial decline from the levels of execution that
prevailed during the revolutionary decades of the early People’s Republic.

II. Our approach

Main idea: The scope of capital punishment should be gradually limited, and ultimately, abolished in
accordance with each country’s circumstances and levels of development.

Outline:

1. The importance of capital punishment in developing countries:

 In countries with medium to low levels of public education, capital punishment plays a vital role
in crime reduction and prevention.
- Supporting details: Figures in Vietnam & South Africa

 Developing countries usually have poorly invested prison systems, thus the capital punishment
enhances the safety of the rest of the prisoners or inmates.

3
David, T. J. and Franklin, E. Z. (2009). Death Penalty Lessons from Asia. The Asia-Pacific Journal (Japan Focus).
Retrieved from http://apjjf.org/-David-T.-Johnson/3228/article.html
 - Supporting details: Figures for how poorly invested prisons in some developing countries are

2. Reasons for limiting the scope of capital punishment in accordance with levels of social
development:
 When the society is safer and crime rate reduces, public support for capital punishment drop
considerably. The deterrent effect of capital punishment therefore declines.
- Supporting details: Figures of crime rates & capital punishment support in New York City from
1950 – 2014
 Life sentence proves to be a more effective and money-saving alternative to capital punishment
in developed countries.
- Supporting details: Figures of the cost of capital punishment in comparison with that of life
sentence imprisonment in the USA
 Abolition of capital punishment is an international trend towards ensuring human rights.
- Supporting details:
+ The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has long been calling for abolition of capital
punishment.
+ It is compulsory for countries to abolish capital punishment in order to join the EU.
+ Just a handful of countries are still executing people on a large scale, with just four countries
responsible for 87% of all recorded executions).