Death Penalty Essay Introduction Example For Students

Death Penalty Essay Introduction Fifty years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the trend towards worldwide abolition of the death penalty is unmistakable. When the Declaration was adopted in 1948, eight countries had abolished the death penalty for all crimes; today, as of November 1998, the number stands at 63. More than half the countries in the world have abolished the death penalty in law or practice, and the numbers continue to grow. Amnesty International opposes the death penalty as a violation of fundamental human rights the right to life and the right not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment. Both of these rights are recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, other international and regional human rights instruments and national constitutions and laws. Defense of life and defense of the state may be held to justify, in some cases, the taking of life by state officials; for example, when law-enforcement officials must act immediately to save their own lives or those of others or when a country is engaged in armed conflict. Even in such situations the use of lethal force is surrounded by internationally accepted standards of human rights and humanitarian law to inhibit abuse. The death penalty, however, is not an act of defense against an immediate threat to life. It is the premeditated killing of a prisoner for the purpose of punishment a purpose that can be met by other means. The cruelty of the death penalty is manifest not only in the execution but in the time spent under sentence of death, during which the prisoner is constantly contemplating his or her own death at the hands of the state. This cruelty cannot be justified, no matter how cruel the crime of which the prisoner has been convicted. The cruelty of the death penalty extends beyond the prisoner to the prisoners family, to the prison guards and to the officials who have to carry out an execution. Information from various parts of the world shows that the role of an executioner can be deeply disturbing, even traumatic. The right to life and the right not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment are the two human rights most often cited in debates about the death penalty. But the death penalty also attacks other rights. In many cases prisoners are sentenced to death in trials which do not conform to international norms for a fair trial. Prisoners facing a possible death sentence are often represented by inexperienced lawyers, and sometimes by no lawyer at all. The defendants may not understand the charges or the evidence against them, especially if they are not conversant with the language used in court. Facilities for interpretation and translation of court documents are often inadequate. In some cases prisoners are unable to exercise their right to appeal to a court of higher jurisdiction and the right to petition for clemency or commutation of the death sentence. In some jurisdictions, capital cases are heard before special or military courts using summary procedures. The death penalty is often used disproportionately against members of disadvantaged social groups, and thus in a discriminatory fashion, contrary to Articles 2 and 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is the ultimate d enial of the dignity and worth of the human person, affirmed in the preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. There is no criminological justification for the death penalty which would outweigh the human rights grounds for abolishing it. The argument that the death penalty is needed to deter crime has become discredited by the consistent lack of scientific evidence that it does so more effectively than other punishments. International human rights standards have developed in a way that favors even tighter restrictions on the scope of the death penalty. This progressive narrowing of the death penalty is mirrored by actual practice in most states which still use the punishment. The Necklace: A Closer Look at Character EssayIn resolution of 3 April 1997, the UN Commission on Human Rights expressed its conviction that abolition of the death penalty contributes to the enhancement of human dignity and to the progressive development of human rights. Protocol No. 6 is the most widely ratified of the three in comparison to the number of states parties to the parent treaty; as of October 1998 it had been ratified by 28 states and signed by another five. The Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR had been ratified by 33 states as of the same date and signed by another three, while the Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights to Abolish the Death Penalty had been ratified by six states and signed by one other. Sixty-three countries today have abolished the death penalty for all crimes. Another 16 have abolished the death penalty for all but exceptional crimes such as wartime crimes. Alongside the countries which have abolished the death penalty for all cr imes or for ordinary crimes only, there are 24 which can be considered abolitionist de facto, in that they retain the death penalty in law but have not carried out any executions for the past 10 years, or have made an international commitment not to do so. As Roger Hood has stated, the death penalty in these countries has a far greater symbolic than practical significance .The trend to abolition seems inexorable, yet the battle has to be fought over and over again. Each country has to go through a process which is often long and painful, examining for itself the arguments for and against, before finally we hope rejecting the death penalty. The decision to abolish the death penalty has to be taken by the government and the legislators. This decision can be taken even though the majority of the public favour the death penalty. Historically, this has probably almost always been the case. Yet when the death penalty is abolished, usually there is no great public outcry; and once abolished, it almost always stays abolished. This must mean that although a majority of the public favours the death penalty in a given country, it is also the case that a majority of the public is willing to accept abolition. This is a feature of public opinion which is not usually revealed by polls asking respondents to state their position on the death penalty. If the questions were more sophisticated, the polls would probably give a better sense of the complexities of public opinion and the extent to which it is based on an accurate understanding of the actual situation of criminality in the country, its causes and the means available for combating it. As the UN Secretariat suggested as long ago as 1980, governments should take on the task of educating the public on the uncertainty of the deterrent effect of capital punishment. A better public understanding of crime prevention and criminal justice would produce more support for anti-crime measures which are genuine and not merely palliative. At the very least, politicians should not make demagogic calls for the death penalty, misleading the public and obscuring the need for genuine anti-crime measures. Often the national debate on the death penalty is conducted in purely national terms. The international dimension needs to be brought in. Countries can learn from other countries experience. Over the centuries, laws and public attitudes relating to torture have evolved. It is no longer permissible to use thumbscrews or the rack as legally sanctioned means of interrogation and punishment. Attitudes toward the death penalty are also changing, and bringing about abolition requires courageous political leadership, leadership that will be exercised in the defense of human rights. The requirement of respect for human rights has to include the abolition of the death penalty. It is not possible for a government to respect human rights and retain the death penalty at the same time. Words/ Pages : 1,985 / 24