One of the most heavily debated topics, capital punishment was used in the UK from 1707 until 1969 and is still used in other countries one of the most notable is America. For all the facts about capital punishment see Wikipedia’s page on the subject. With there being stories about overcrowding in prisons, as well as there being stories of horrific murders people are often heard saying “I wish that they would bring capital punishment back.” I don’t know if people are looking back with rose tinted glasses, but society was not perfect then, it was just different problems. They also believe that it would reduce taxes because you wouldn’t have as many people being detained in prisons, however they don’t take into consideration the fact that it is probably no cheaper to impose the death penalty. There are still approximately 50% of the world that still use the death penalty. There are more specific statistics on the internet however Wikipedia has the most concise version Capital punishment by country.
I personally don’t feel that capital punishment is the answer:
- In some cases people are wrongly convicted, if they are executed there is no way to put it right.
- Isn’t ending someone’s life essentially making you as bad as the person who committed the crime in the first place?
- There is also the fact that if you end that person’s life they don’t have to live with what they have done
- Most executions are done publicly which to me seems like a barbaric spectators sport.
I think this is going to be one of those topics that is never going to be resolved one way or the other.