Outline BEL 492 Name Student ID Faculty / Group Lecturer Title of speech
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Omar Adli bin Mohd Azmi 2010516097 BM2263C Mdm. Nagamany Death Penalty Should Be Abolished
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Most countries around the world already abolished death penalty while at least 23 countries still carried out the executions in 2010. 1.2 Statistic came out that China carried out greatest number of executions that more than 1000 people last year. It is far more than total executions than the rest of the world put together. 1.3 Method of executions includes beheading, electrocusion, gassing, hanging, lethal injection, shooting and stoning. 1.4 Death penalty commonly applied for casses like murder, rape, armed robbery and drug trafficking. However, in China the list of offences which can result into executions includes tax evasion, fraud, bigamy, publication of pornographic material, cyber crimes, apostasy, blasphemy, adultery, prostitution and homosexuality. Iran is among the country that still execute child offender that is people under age of 18. Some states in U.S also execute people with mental illness.
2. BODY 2.1 What supporters says (i) Retribution - The taking of a criminals life allows society to show convincingly that certain crimes will not be tolerated. They are considered so heinous that executing the criminal is the only reasonable response. (ii) Deterrent - Potential criminals will think twice t wice before breaking the law for fear of l osing their life. because it's cheaper than keeping people in prison (iii) Safety - Once a convicted criminal is executed, we dont have to worry anymore about that person. There is no chance of them escaping or getting parole or somehow coming out of jail, t o repeat their crimes. (iv) Cost - Once someone is executed and buried, there are no further maintenance costs to the state.
(v) Justice for the victim and their families - The rights of the victims are more important than the rights of the criminal. Although the victim and the victims family cannot be restored to the s tatus which preceded the crime, at least an execution brings closure to t he criminal and closure to the ordeal for the victims family. 2.2 Why death penalty should be abolished (i) End the Cycle of Violence - The death penalty only serves to further brutalize society. Vengeance is a strong and natural emotion but the demand for a life in retribution ret ribution should have no place in a civilized justice system. Our aim should be more humane and holistic responses to the growth of (violent) crime, including paying attention to root causes such as poverty and injustice. there is in fact no ev idence of a deterrent effect (ii) Lack of Deterrence - The overwhelming conclusion from years of deterrence studies is that the death penalty at best is no more of a deterrent than a sentence of life in prison. Murders are often committed in the heat of the moment. Not much thought is given to the punishment at that particular time.saving money can never be a justification for taking someone's life. (iii) Value of human life - Far from enhancing the value of human life, the death penalty lowers it. It violates the belief in the human capacity to change (i.e. negates the t he principle of rehabilitation of offenders) and reinforces the idea that killing is a r easonable response to those who have wronged us. (iv) Cost - There are costs, for f or example to maintain state of the art execution techniques and personnel and huge costs in terms of the inevitable series of appeals through the court system. (v) Unfairness - The death penalty is prone to t o being unfairly administered. Many argue that those facing capital punishment are not the worst offenders but merely the ones who may suffer from prejudice against them (for example, racism) and/or with the fewest resources to defend themselves. (vi) Chance of Error - No justice system is infallible. There are very many instances where the wrong people have been convicted and killed, by us, the state.
3. Conclusion
3.1
too many innocent people already been put to death throughout history. 3.2 some criminal criminal are good to be put to death. But it not not be appropriates to ordinary crimes to be prosecuted with the same way. 3.3 Our prison and justice systems are not infallible. Mistakes can and have been made. And, in maintaining the death sentence, innocent people will be killed, their lives taken away, their families and loved ones as devastated as those of victims we seek to protect.
