AGAINST CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
...Is of inhumane nature. The questions that arise here - when there are other means of punishment available today, why we still persist with such inhumane punishments?
ALTERNATIVES TO THIS
Hard labour for violent criminals. Strict disciplinary boot-camps for less serious crimes, under the supervision of male and female drill instructors.. Public apologies for men guilty of minor sex offenses and sexual harassment + bullying. Community work for first offenders. Castration for some rapists, chemical or surgical. Therapy for many.
Some judges sentence minor offenders to a modern version of the pillory, public humiliation.
WHY IT IS WRONG
• Denial of basic right - According to the Humans Rights Association, capital punishment overrules our most basic human right - the right to life.
• The possibility of error - When an individual stands for a trial, he is convicted on the basis of the evidence against him. There have been times wherein evidence has been fabricated against an individual to settle personal scores.
• Unfair Judgment - Generally, it is observed that capital punishment is inflicted unduly on the poor and minorities. If you follow the data of these victims, you will find that the mentally ill, poor, and people belonging to minorities form a large chunk of the total number. You can also notice a kind of racial discrimination happens due to varied reasons.
• Lack of Deterrence (disincentive: a negative motivational influence) - The purpose of any punishment should be deterrence from repeating the same act. But, according to the statistics available, the death penalty has not been effective in controlling the homicide rate.
• The prolonged uncertainty - The validity to the deterrence argument is annulled by the delays, endless appeals, retrials, and technicalities that keeps a person waiting for execution for years. In fact, we are not competent enough to carry out execution. This uncertainty and incompetence offers another great injustice. It is itself cruel and a form of torture.
• Justifying circumstances - Sometimes, individuals suffering from emotional trauma, abandonment, violence, neglect or destructive social environment commit such heinous crimes. These mitigating situations can have devastating effect on their humanity. So, it is unfair to hold them fully responsible for their crimes. It is our social responsibility to show sympathy to some extent.
• Effects on society - Capital Punishment is itself a premeditated murder. This is unacceptable even it is inflicted by state authority as it lowers the value of life. In fact, such act can only brutalize the society. "Revenge is essential" can become a society attitude. By witnessing such acts, our own mental makeup starts believing that violence is necessary to curb the wrongdoings.
• The death penalty is much more expensive than life in prison. The high costs of the death penalty are for the complicated legal process, with the largest costs at the pre-trial and trial stages. The point is to avoid executing innocent people. There are tremendous expenses in a death penalty case whether or not the defendant is convicted, let alone sentenced to death.

EXAMPLES

• There may be a brutalising effect upon society by carrying out executions - this was apparent in this country during the 17th and 18th centuries when people turned out to enjoy the spectacle of public hanging. They still do today in those countries where executions are carried out in public. It is hard to prove this one way or the other - people stop and look at car crashes but it doesn't make them go and have an accident to see what it is like. It would seem that there is a natural voyeurism in most people.

• A 18 year old girl convicted of drug trafficking. - Singapore hanged two girls for this crime in 1995 who were both only 18 at the time of their offences and China shot an 18 year old girl for the same offence in 1998

• In America, a prisoner can