Controversy Analysis -- Death Penalty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Controversy Analysis -- Death Penalty - Essay Example The topic is of interest to me in that I would like to know why some countries still practice death penalty and why others abolished. Personally I view death penalty as inhuman and that it is better for capital offenders to be life imprisoned than executed. They could be given a chance to live because humans are made to make mistakes. Therefore, the death penalty should be banned and other form of punishments should be embarked to judge capital criminal offenders. In â€Å"ancient Greece’s death penalty dilemma and its influence on modern society† by Robert Blecker explains the history of death penalty, and reasons why abolitionist are against the act. The abolitionists term the act as being cruel, inconsistent and do not value human beings. They further claim that death, as a punishment is not equitable to any punishment regardless of the size of the crime. According to Blecker, the death penalty should be abolished since it goes against human culture (Blecker 60). He further adds that for the past 30 years many countries are in a big dilemma on how to punish people who have committed capital crimes. From 1200-800 B.C homicide was termed to be more personal than a capital crime. The victim’s family without the involvement of the law punished a person who had committed murder through death (Blecker 60). The victim’s family either killed him or took a monetary exchange equitable to the crime committed. However, in ancient Greece they claimed that monetary value is not comparable to the blood of a human being. Therefore, a capital criminal offender just punishment was death. For instance, in Athens once, the family of the victim went public, the offender was considered a pollutant to the society and anyone had a mandate to kill the offender once spotted. Nevertheless, over the years many European countries have abolished capital punishment and have embraced life imprisonment for capital offenders. The US however, still practice the act for any individual found guilty of capital offenses. Constitutional debate on death penalty has been going on for years, with some philosophers dismissing the act (Blecker 61). The law is required to be careful when the decision is made to execute an individual. Certain considerations should be made on whether the victim of the death penalty is a juvenile or not, or whether the individual is mentally stable. In addition, the abolitionist also recommends that one time criminal offenders should not be on death penalty, because given a chance they can change. On the contrary, Blecker also discussed the issue of morals with regard to death penalty (Blecker 64). He argued that most people are against death penalty terming it as immoral and inconsiderate. Nonetheless, moral norms differ from one society to another, thus some communities view death penalty as the right way of punishing capital criminal offenders. Some philosophers argue that death penalty was established for the soul purp ose of revenge and retribution. Therefore, death penalty should be practiced based on reasonable facts rather than revenge and hatred (Blecker 65). The article is more about death penalty in ancient Greece. Thus, the article gives in detail the history of death penalty and how the society views the issue. Additionally, the article also gives the changes that have taken place over the years with regard to death penalty. The article’s strong points include the origins of death sentence and the view of abolitionist. Robert Blecker is a professor of law in New York