Arguments Presented Against the Continued Practice of Death Penalty

Arguments Presented Against the Continued Practice of Death Penalty
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A great number of countries worldwide have so far abolished death penalty whereas a reasonable number of them still maintain and retain it in their laws or even practice it. For instance, countries that have continued to maintain and practice death penalty include United States, China, and so on where convicts are mainly executed through lethal injections. In the recent past there has been a heated debate as to whether death penalty should be abolished or continued in countries that are still retaining it in their laws. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and a great number of national constitutions together with other international instruments of human rights recognize an individual’s right to life and the right not to be subjected to degrading, cruel and inhumane treatment or punishment and have therefore discouraged all forms of human life termination.
A great number of people are opposed to death penalty globally. However, a commendable number of countries have continued to believe that using it makes them capable of solving urgent political and social problems when hardcore prisoners are executed. There are also so many people in the world who are still not aware of death penalty and usually do not offer societal protection despite the continued brutalization. The abolition of death penalty has recently been gaining ground, but has not yet been embraced by many countries which have not yet been fully convinced that its continued practice does not significantly deter serious crimes.
There have been numerous arguments raised against death penalty among which is the argument that it is an ultimate denial of human rights. Death penalty is cold-blooded and premeditated killing of the victims in the name of administering justice. This has lead to the total violation of people’s right to life, a cry that has been echoed by article three in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Death penalty serves as the ultimate degradation, cruelty and inhumane punishment by whichever form it takes, whether it is by hanging, electrocution, gassing, beheading, shooting, lethal injection or by stoning. Moreover, there is no justification for any cruel treatment or torture of criminal offenders. Like torture, execution also leads to extreme physical and mental assault of the victim. The physical pain caused by the act of executing a human being is unquantifiable. It is also a psychological torment resulting from foreknowledge of execution by the state.
Death penalty is an irrevocable process. However, as long as every judicial system has a chance to make mistakes, and with persistence of death penalty, there are high chances that innocent people will continue to be executed as a result of mistakes which occur in the judicial systems. Therefore, with human justice remaining fallible, the risk associated with executing innocent people cannot be eliminated.
Moreover, death penalty is discriminatory since it is frequently used disproportionately against the p...