Hello all,
This week, I wanted to share my thoughts/opinions on whether or not our government should have the right to take someone’s life in the name of the law. I found myself in a philosophical debate with a fellow Mount student on whether there is inherent good and evil the other day, or if we are all just products of circumstance, necessity, or our environment. We went back and forth for quite some time referencing the teaching from our Philosophy and Western Civ classes that all Mount students take as a part of the core curriculum. This made me want to write an opinion piece on the subject of the death penalty.
Capital punishment (the death penalty) is the action of judicial discipline by the government when sentencing an individual to death for crimes that they have committed that are against the law. Different states have separate crimes that are punishable by the death penalty under the different circumstances that an individual has been accused of. One of the major pros of capital punishment is instilling fear in the minds of criminals who may be plotting to commit such crimes in future, a sort of scare tactic. Some also strongly believe that someone who commits murder does not have the right to live. In such cases, capital punishment is the only way out. It is often a form of revenge against the life that has been lost or ruined. But others think capital punishment is highly unethical as no one has the right to take any one’s life and also that it has been proved that capital punishment does not decrease the crime rates. Since the major objective of capital punishment is to reduce those rates, it simply does not make sense.
This is a very controversial issue that seems to affect many different people in different ways which has led to how our government deals with it now. There are currently 32 states who have chosen to keep the death penalty as a punishment among criminals while the other 18 states have taken it to a vote and decided that they would no longer have this as a punishment towards accused criminals. This has allowed states influence and a choice on whether capital punishment should be allowed to exist or not, for whatever reasons they deem fit.
I personally think that is the best way to go in this kind of situation where there are too many reasons and excuses for why or why they shouldn't have it as a punishment. I morally believe that taking someone's life is wrong no matter who the one taking it is. But some scenarios can arise where my ideals might change if I see something so horrific from another and deem that person no longer a human but a monster who needs to be taken down permanently. However, from what I've uncovered through my research, capital punishment is not doled out as a punishment as easily as we might think: It's not usually the first form of punishment that is levied for capital crimes. This is why I feel as if it is up to Congress and the majority to decide, like they have been, because anyone's view can change and it can become a strong arm contest in which no one seems to ever win.
One of the benefits of the Mount's core curriculum is that we can have discussions like this in some of our classes that then spill out into other places in our lives, be it here on my blog or when I'm out to dinner or drinks with friends. I'm very curious what opinions you all may have on this matter!