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Is the Death Penalty Justice?
Julio Rosario
Eastern University
Faith Reason and Justice
Prof. Cara Blouin
June 18, 2021
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Is the Death Penalty Justice?
Capital punishment is a form of reprimand where the convict is executed for committing
a particular crime after a vigorous legal trial (Hood 2021). It is used in many countries to punish
serious offences such as murder, treason, arson, terrorism, genocide, and rape (Hood 2021). In
some countries, however, some trivial crimes such as fraud, adultery and drug trafficking are
termed capital and can be punished by the death penalty (Unklesbay, 2019). The means of
executions vary depending on the states. The primary means of execution in the United States
include lethal injections, use of electric chairs, gas chamber, hanging and firing squad (Hood
2021). Recently, some of these methods have been found to be against the law and thus have
ceased to be used. Lethal injection remains to be the predominant means of execution in all states
(Unklesbay, 2019). Since its establishment, capital punishment has attracted severe criticism
worldwide, especially from civil liberty and democracy agencies (Abramowitz 2018). Questions
as to why there any offence that justifying death penalty continues to elicit debate in the
corridors of justice and civil right groups.
What is unfair about Death Penalty Justice?
Arguing from a humanitarian point of view, death penalty as practiced in America and
other countries in the world is unjust, unfair, and inhumane. In most instances, it denies people
the right to undergo sufficient trial for them to be proven guilty or otherwise (Abramowitz 2018).
While some people argue that this form of punishment is effective is doing away with dangerous
criminals, it denies such individuals a chance to redeem themselves and become beater members
of society.
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Where this injustice happens
The death penalty happens in countries with laws supporting it and is not exercised in
countries without such rules. Many countries, which applied the laws, have long ceased to use
it(Abramowitz 2018). However, this is not the case in some countries such as China, Taiwan,
Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, Egypt, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nigeria, India, Japan, and the United
States (Unklesbay, 2019). It has been established by Amnesty International, that as of May
2012, 141 countries have abolished the death penalty either in law on in practice. For instance,
Norway, Nicaragua, and Luxembourg are among countries that completely did away with the
death penalty for all crimes (deathpenaltyinfo.org). In addition, Fiji, Brazil and Peru declared
that negligible offences did not deserve the death penalty. This is to mention just a few counties
where changes in this practice are being witnessed (Unklesbay, 2019).
History of the injustice
The death penalty has existed since the Eighteenth Century. Different countries had
different codes that ordered the death penalty. In the eighteenth century, the Code of King
Hammurabi of Babylon existed, which allowed the death penalty for a number of crimes (Reggio
1999). In the Fourteenth Century B.C.’s, the Hittite Code lived and codified capital punishment.
Roman Law of the Twelve Tablets reigned in the Fifth Century B.C (Reggio 1999). The means
for carrying out capital punishment was so barbaric and backward to the extent that people
would be crucified (Unklesbay, 2019). Hanging went on to become the primary method of
execution, especially in Britain (Reggio 1999). The trend of capital punishments continued to
grow. In the sixteenth century, as many people as seventy-two thousand people were estimated to
be executed by the reigning king in Britain, Henry VIII. Methods of execution kept on worsening
and methods such as boiling and beheading would be used to execute people (Reggio 1999).
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America’s use of the death penalty was adopted from Britain. When the Europeans
started grabbing colonies, they would impose their practices in the new territories, including the
method of capital punishment . Captain George Kendall was the first recorded execution in the
new colonies in 1608 (Reggio 1999). The trial got popular in 1612 when minor offences such as
stealing grapes, trading with Indians, and killing poultry would be punished by death
(Unklesbay, 2019). However, the practice started to diminish due to the increasing public outrage
and legal challenges such that by 1967, capital punishment was halted in the United States
(Unklesbay, 2019). Laws regarding the death penalty were suspended in June 1972 but revived
in 1977 when Gary Gilmore was executed by a firing squad in Utah (Unklesbay, 2019).
The laws authorizing the death penalty still exist in the U.S. today, although the
implementation depends on the jurisdiction of every state. Some states completely abolished the
