Ethics Paper (Essay Sample)

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Introduction
If there has been any controversial topic with regards to the justice system is the idea of the death sentence. To some, this sends cold chills down their spine as they ponder the ethical rationality of the death penalty. There are those who support it with the justification that some crimes are only but well punished by killing the criminals. Death penalty as a criminal offence wmay be used interchangeably with the term ‘death sentence.’ It is a punishment that has been in practice from the Roman Empire times and was even passed against criminals in the early stages of development of the Chinese people. However, despite many rejections and condemnation of this form of punishment from the Christian community and other bodies, some countries have kept on practicing this kind of punishment on capital offenders. In fact, offenders were punished more harshly in the early times as compared to these days.In view of all these, this paper discusses the ethical concerns of this form of punishment.
One of the notable persons in history to be a victim of death sentence was Socrates. He was made to drink poison for commission of inter alia, corruption offences. In recent years, the best example of a man sentenced to death and indeed killed by hanging was the one Saddam Hussein the former president of Iraq. As such, this kind of punishment has been faced by criticism from many who question the integrity of the whole idea. There have been so many ethical concerns about executions. Starting from Bentham, who said that it was not a good idea from the onset, many havealso kept onquestioning the legality and morality of executing offenders as a form of punishment.
When explaining his Principle of Goodness, Ron House suggests that the universe is never perfect and that there would always be an excuse for every rule (House, R., 2007). He goes ahead to point out that problems such asdeath penalty cannot be solved by one solution. Morally, itis wrong to kill someone in the name of punishing a crime especially when the truth is that no one canprecisely prove that the alleged offender is 100% guilty. This can be related to instances that led to the crucifixion on the Biblical Jesus Christ.
Inasmuch as there could be a justified execution, there are many gaps in the justice system that could lead to unjust executions (Llyod, S., 1998). Regardless of the fact that there are those in support and those that disprove the idea of death sentence, there are many questions that are yet to be answered concerning execution of offenders. Among the questions is, if the penalty is equivalent to committed offences, or if death sentence actually prevents crimes carrying the death punishment. Further, it is difficult to ascertain the effectiveness of the penalty in deterring murders.
(Kyte, R., 2010) explains why he thinks the death penalty needs to be reviewed. He proposes four ways that may be employed to determine whether an action should be taken to be morally right and acceptable. One of the rationales he puts across is that of looking at the fairness of the action. If the action, he explains, treats different people equally and with some respect then that may be to some extent considered morally acceptable. In the current judicial systems, there are various factors that would discredit the death sentence for instance,criminal proceedings that lack integrity. This is because there are other factors that contribute to the convictions, factors that are not in any way related to the offence. Factors such as race have been highly raised as a concern on the many convictions for crimes committed against a particular race (Kyte, R., 2010).
Poor legal representation is also another factor to consider when passing such sentences. This leaves many unanswered questions concerning the whole process as it implies that the poor could be easily fabricated and sentenced to death for offences they are not really liable. Kyte, in a parting shot, says that he should be considered adissenter of any move to justify death sentence as long as there is no truthful method to carry out the death sentence in a manner that is effective, fair and just. Indeed much is questionable under this controversial topic. Not only does the death sentence violate the people’s right to life but it also shows disrespect for human dignity.
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