Death Penalty History, Fact, Definition

Death Penalty

The death penalty is the maximum level of punishment given by the law of the country to criminals. The death penalty is also referred to as capital punishment. The death penalty results in the death of the accused of committing some heinous crime.

The method by which the death penalty is given varies country by country. The method adopted to give the death penalty includes hanging, electrocution, the gas chamber, firing squad, and lethal injection. This type of punishment is given in order to decrease the number of heinous crimes. This type of punishment creates terror in the mind of criminally minded people.

Death Penalty History, Fact, Definition

Types of Death Penalty

The death penalty is used since ancient times which includes the following methods to kill the culprits.

1. Hanging: This is the most widely used method in this method culprit is hanged by the rope around his neck which strangles the culprit resulting in the death of the culprit.
2. Electrocution: In this method culprit is tied to a chair and a current of high voltage is passed through the body which results in death.
3. Beheading: This method is mostly used in Islamic countries in this method the head of the person is chopped off his shoulders.
4. Gas chamber: This method was widely used in Nazi Germany by Hitler in this method, people were locked in a chamber and were killed by releasing gas in the chamber.
5. Firing Squad: In this method, a person is made to stand in front of the firing squad and is shot by multiple guns.
6. Lethal injection: In this method toxic are injected into the body of the culprit by injection to give his slow death.
7. Stoning: This method was used in ancient times in Arab countries in this method stones are thrown at a person by the mob until the person dies.

The people who commit cruel crimes such as murder or rape this type of people are dangerous to society. if we do not punish them then they may commit this type of crime again and again. To kill such dangerous people legally death penalty is used.

History of the Death Penalty

In India, the method adopted to give the death penalty is hanging. According to the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) 1898, death was the default punishment for murder, and judges have to give written reasons if they want to give life imprisonment in place of Death-penalty. The Amendment to CrPC in 1955 removes the condition to give the death penalty instead of life imprisonment.

In 1973 When CrPC was amended further life imprisonment became the standard punishment and Death-penalty was given in exceptional cases and required special reasons. The CrPC 1973 divided the trial into two stages with separate hearings, one for conviction and another for sentencing.

The number of crimes is increasing in India. Especially in the case of women and children. We read news of teenage girls getting raped every day. The most recent execution is of four men who were convicted of gang rape and murder of Jyoti sing in Delhi in December 2012 were hanged in the Tihar prison complex in Delhi. But are the number of rapes stopped after these hangings? The answer is no. The crimes are still increasing in India.

The Debate whether to abolish the death penalty or not is long-lasting and unending. Some people which support the eye for eye policy consider the death penalty right they think that the evil person who has committed a heinous crime can commit this type of crime again if he is released. And it is stupidity to keep such a person on life imprisonment on taxpayers’ money.

Some people believe that an eye for an eye will make the entire world blind. it is always inhuman to kill a person and the death penalty is like killing someone legally. The people who support the abolishment of the death penalty consider the death penalty a non-rigorous punishment. The People who commit such a cruel crime love neither their nor others’ life. Hence instead of giving the death-penalty life imprisonment should be capital punishment. And capital punishment should be cruel and tough. The culprit should feel guilty for his crime in life imprisonment punishment.

Besides this, there is a chance that innocent people may get the death penalty. Because our judicial system is not very transparent. We see corrupt judges and lawyers and officials of the judicial department. The basic motto of our system is that we can allow a hundred criminals to be set free but one innocent should not be punished. I personally feel that it should be something like this The guilty should be punished and the innocent should be realized.

Justice is a very subjective thing. Justice is different from revenge. The purpose of justice is to make criminals realize their mistakes and prevent inhuman crimes from happening again. Does the death penalty reduce the number of crimes the answer is no. Statistics show that there is no solid evidence that the death penalty decreases the number of crimes.

In fact, if we want to decrease the rate of crime we always forget it is not the responsibility of not only the police and judicial system to fight crime but it is the responsibility of the whole society to fight crime. In a country that are developed educationally and economically in those countries, the crime rate is very low. Proper education and equal opportunity for the people in jobs, freedom of speech, no discrimination on the basis of caste, language, and gender, National integration among the citizen of the country, and the ban on alcohol are the things required to keep the country free of crimes.

In India the situation is terrible. In India people of different caste, communities, races, cultures, and religions live together. We have seen violence in the name of caste and religion is very common in India. India rank 2 in the case of population and 7 in the case of the land area hence consequently population density is very high in India. People don’t get equal opportunities in jobs as a result of the economic disparity among the people in increasing India. The education system of India is just a money-making machine that is creating greedy and corrupt politicians. In India, the rich become richer and the poorer become poorer. And people have this tendency when they don’t get what they want they try to still it. because of all these reasons, the state of mind of people is not stable and they are becoming psychopaths who will do anything to satisfy their needs either legally or illegally.

If we want to keep our society free of crimes. Then no doubt we must have strong laws to fight crimes death penalty should not be banned because hard criminals don’t deserve to live among humans. But at the same time, we should also give importance to moral values children should be taught not only in school but also at home the importance of love, sacrifice, satisfaction, and respect. The social and School Environment plays an important role in shaping a human being. If we want to decrease the rate of crime we must first improve our education system and our society only then crime rate will decrease in the country.

Conclusion:

The death penalty is a harsh reality of today’s world. I personally think that the death penalty should not be abolished because before committing a crime the criminal will think at least twice before committing a crime. But at the same time, we must improve the education system of our country. People commit serious crimes when they are not mentally healthy hence case studies should also be done on why people are losing their minds and committing crimes. In the school syllabus teaching, only science and maths is not enough we should also teach moral values, ethics, and their importance in life. We should treat each other with respect and gratitude. Our parents are our teachers remember rapists are also someone’s brothers and sons.

Death Penalty Quiz