Death Penalty for Rapists

Last Updated: 21 Mar 2023
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Even Death penalty for Rape is not good enough! Social issues by Editor ‘Rape’ the word itself sends across chills down the spine! Only a woman who has undergone such brutality understands the pain, dismay and disgrace that it beholds. Rape or forcible sexual contact is indeed the most shameful facet of humanity. It causes ultimate social and psychological dissuasion of a woman. Indian society still lacks the compassion and humanity to treat raped women with grace and sympathy.

Even though women are no way guilty for the sexual offense they have gone through, neighbors, relatives and friends blame her for her circumstances. It makes their life even more unbearable. Understanding the disgraceful after-effects of an incident like ‘Rape’, women are often afraid to seek legal assistance on this matter. Instead they keep such matters under secrecy which often instigate the offenders to commit the same crime over and over again. Currently the legal punishment allocated to rapists is 7 years’ jail sentence.

Apart from cases featuring exceptional brutality, often rapists do not face death penalty sentences. Now the death penalty debate is one of the most controversial matters being churned in India . Personally I feel rape death penalty should be implemented with strictest possible terms of logic and common sense. Following are the reasons why there should be death penalty for rape: Indeed rape is one of the most heinous crimes out there but it has become a common practice in Indian society.

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Nowadays, you would find at least one (sometimes more than one) crime news covering ‘rape’ every day on Television or Newspapers and crimes against women are increasing. It implies that the 7 years’ imprisonment penalty assigned for rape is not good enough to put a stop on this brutality. Generally death penalty is exercised for rarest cases in India. Rape death penalty, if implemented will ensure that people would think twice before committing this crime which will in turn reduce the statistics significantly.

This will bring down the crime ratio and sexual harassment against women, people would certainly not take the chance. Till date death sentence is considered the most critical punishment possible. And when a woman is raped, it turns out to be social death for her. Hence the offender, who causes such destitution to the victim, should also suffer the same consequence. If death is allocated as rape penalty, it will instill the fear in people, often in rural parts of India; people use rape as a common method to settle personal scores.

If they know that raping a woman might take its toll of their own lives, they might refrain themselves from committing rape. A healthy legal system should strive to provide justice to the victims of crimes. The motto of Indian constitution is to help the nation with proper verdict that will improve their condition by ending the misery. Death sentence is generally given to criminals who have gone far away from being reformed and RAPE is one crime which implies that the convicted has lost his humanitarian qualities and turned into a brute.

Hence they should be punished to death for their misdeed. DEATH SENTENCE is the strictest of all punishments given to offenders. If death penalty is assigned to rapists, it will set example for those who commit such a crime. Moreover, if a person is set free after 7 years’ confinement, he will certainly feel even more confident to commit the same crime over and over again which can cause severe threat to the entire legal system of the country.

Death penalty sentences cost a lot of turmoil, questioning and solid proofs. If the country and its legal system are serious about putting an end to a raped woman’s suffering for good, it should consider assigning death penalty for rapists. Not only it will provide proper judgment for the worst and brutal crime but also it will cause significant drop in rape statistics and crimes against women in India. If you have better solutions than this then do share….

Capital Punishment in the Bahamas

The Bahamas hanged 50 men since 1929 according to records kept at Her Majesty’s Prison. Five were hanged under the Ingraham administration; 13 were hanged under the Pindling government, and 32 inmates were executed between 1929 and 1967. The last act of capital punishment in The Bahamas took place on January 6, 2000 when convicted murderer David Mitchel was executed by hanging.

Mitchel was convicted of stabbing two German tourists to death. (Nassau Guardian, published: August 27, 2012) A report released by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) encourages The Bahamas and other members of the Caribbean which maintain the death penalty to impose a moratorium on execution. The IACHR also urged The Bahamas to ratify the protocols of the American Convention on Human Rights in abolishing or reintroduce its application.

In 2006 the Privy Council ruling determined that the mandatory death sentence was unconstitutional in The Bahamas. Because of this many inmates at Her Majesty’s Prison who were previously under the death penalty had their sentence commuted to life in prison, received other sentences or had their sentences overturned on appeal. Some inmates had been under the death sentence since the 1990s.

In 2011, Parliament passed a law that outlines the categories of murder and states which would have the death penalty attached. The Privy Council ruled that the worst cases of murder is carefully planned and carried out in furtherance of another crime, such as robbery, rape, drug smuggling, human struggling, kidnapping, preventing witnesses from testifying, serial killing, as well as the killing of innocents “for the gratification of base desires”. (Nassau Guardian, published June 21, 2011)

Death Penalty Critical Analysis

The death penalty has been and always will be a controversial issue. Most people have strong opinions and arguments to support their side. Arguments for both sides can be extremely convincing but it boils down to personal opinions. In fact, each state governs the death penalty differently. Although there are opposing views to the death penalty, I am in favor of the death penalty because of the retribution, morality, and its deterrence. The death penalty gives retribution to the victim, their family, and the American society.

Capital execution upon the deadly poisoner and the midnight assassin is not only necessary for the safety of society, it is the fit and deserved retribution of their crimes. By it alone is divine and human justice fulfilled. ” (The Death Penalty 33) The death penalty gives retribution to the victim, because it makes the criminal pay an equal price for the crime he/she has done. By taking the life of the criminal, no one else will ever be victimized by that criminal again.

Putting the criminal to death, it will not only ease the mind of the victim’s family, it will also ease the minds of others who may be in fear of the same crime happening to them. This is especially true when it comes to serial killers. The public is justifiably fearful of the killer until he/she is captured and put to death. “Americans used to believe that executions deterred murderers even if the real reason they favored capital punishment was retribution. ” (Kiss of Death 17-18) The death penalty gives retributions to the victim’s family by providing closure to the crime.

The victim’s family often feels that the only way to have complete closure is to do everything possible to make sure the criminal receives the death penalty. “For example, while antidiscrimination laws make it unlawful to retaliate against those who report sexual harassment, death penalty laws allow grim retaliation, masquerading as retributive justice, against criminals. ” (Kiss of Death 50) The death penalty gives retribution to the American society by showing there is an ultimate penalty to pay for the crime that was committed.

If the death penalty did not exist, I feel that there would not be any deterrent for people not to commit murder and other serious violent crimes. Some feel that retribution is just a neat way of saying "revenge. ” They believe a life for a life is just continuing the cycle of violence. “While many supporters of capital punishment will cite its alleged value as a deterrent as the reason for their opinion, there can be little doubt that the most widely-help and important basis of support for capital punishment is not deterrence but the desire “to see justice done”-the motive of retribution. (The Death Penalty 118) These people feel that retribution or revenge is not a deterrent.

They feel that is just a continuation of a vicious cycle of violence. They believe that getting revenge only expresses anger, and expressing anger only builds more anger. I believe the death penalty is morally correct because it honors human dignity by allowing the defendant to control his/her own destiny whether it is good or bad. It is known to be accepted in the Christian community as well. “Christian moralists have traditionally recognized the state’s right to take life.

This right derived not only from the individual’s right of self-defense, but from the right of the community to protect itself. ”(The Morality of Capital Punishment 25-26) We are morally obligated to protect the innocent and punish the criminal. The punishment needs to fit the crime. If someone intentionally kills another person, then they themselves need to be put to death also. This is the only way to properly punish the criminal and to insure that they are never able to do the same crime to anyone else. If capital punishment is moral, it must be because it is a fitting punishment for humans when circumstances require it. If capital punishment is moral, it is because its use protects society with dignity and justice. ” (The Morality of Capital Punishment 3)

Everyone is free to choose to right or wrong. The criminal has the choice to commit a violent crime that would be considered eligible for the death penalty. Some believe that the death penalty is immoral because two wrongs do not make a right. They feel that governments should never take human life. It is a dehumanizing ritual, one that brings more injury to each of us. ” (The Death Penalty 74) Some believe that it is cruel and unjust punishment to enforce the death penalty. They often feel that the death penalty is a hysterical reaction to a violent crime. “Capital punishment does not deter; it is applied arbitrarily and in a discriminatory fashion; it is cruel and unusual punishment; it is irreversible; and it mocks the commandment, “Thou shalt not kill. ” (The Death Penalty 74)

The people who believe that the death penalty should be abolished for these reasons do not believe in the theory of an eye for an eye. Abolitionists, minority rights advocates, and civil libertarians continue to inspire a highly visible and real opposition to capital punishment. ” (The Morality of Capital Punishment 2). It is often the minority of people who cry out the loudest against capital punishment and receive the most attention to their moral believes. I feel that the death penalty is the ultimate deterrence to crime. “Capital punishment is an expression of society’s moral outrage at particularly offensive conduct. ” (The Death Penalty 60) Statistics show that the death penalty deters murder.

People fear death more than anything else; therefore the death penalty deters murders. “Morally, I do not believe that having done something wrong entitles an adult to rehabilitation. It entitles him to punishment. Murder entitles him to execution. ” (The Death Penalty 61) Murders do not prefer the death penalty, they prefer life in prison. However, if it is known that there is a death penalty for certain crimes, then criminals may think twice before committing a crime that is punishable by death. “The punishment of death is unquestionably the most powerful deterrent, the most effective preventive, that can be applied.

Human nature teaches this fact. An instinct that outruns all reasoning, a dreadful horror that overcomes all other sentiments, works in us all when we contemplate it. ” (The Death Penalty 31) The possibility of death motivates people to follow the law, henceforth, the death penalty is deterrence to crime. Opponents to the death penalty do not believe that it is a deterrent to crime. “In summary, proponents of capital punishment cannot evade the implications of their own inability to demonstrate the deterrent effect of the death penalty. (The Death Penalty 118) Statics show that the death penalty does not decrease the murder rate.

“Social scientists conducting regression and time-series analyses-have repeatedly found no credible evidence that the death penalty deters violent crime more effectively than prison sentences. ” (Kiss of Death 36) States that have the death penalty do not have higher crime statistics that ones that do. It is often a very political issue. “American politicians, by contrast, have retained capital punishment laws, often citing its “deterrent” value even though scientific studies show no upport for such assertions. ” (The Kiss of Death 88) Even though many American tend to support the death penalty as at deterrent, others argue that it is not. “Because polling data show that over 40 percent of Americans continue to believe that the death penalty deters crime, the deterrence myth needs to be dispelled so that those who cling to it will come to see the death penalty as counterproductive. ” (The Kiss of Death 87) These people often believe that is does not deter crime, it just creates more crime.

I feel that the death penalty is an ethical, moral, and religiously correct means of deterring violent crimes and punishing murders for their crime. Although both sides can be argued, I believe that it is essential to have the death penalty for certain violent crimes such as murder. Though my research, I have concluded that the death penalty is the only answer in some cases. I do not condone violence, but I do believe that one must pay the ultimate price, such as the death penalty, if one decides to and carries out a crime that involves taking the life of another person. We must as a society, enforce the death penalty in such cases.

Related Questions

on Death Penalty for Rapists

What crimes does the US use the death penalty for?
In the United States, the death penalty is used for the most serious crimes, such as murder, treason, espionage, and large-scale drug trafficking. In some states, it is also used for other crimes such as kidnapping, rape, and armed robbery.
What crimes are punishable by death in the UK?
In the UK, the death penalty is no longer used as a punishment for any crime. The last execution in the UK took place in 1964. However, certain offences such as treason, piracy with violence, and certain offences under the Official Secrets Act are punishable by life imprisonment.
What groups are not supposed to be punished with a death sentence?
Generally, minors, pregnant women, and people with mental disabilities are not supposed to be punished with a death sentence. Additionally, some countries have laws that prohibit the death penalty for certain crimes, such as political offenses.
Is death penalty for all crimes?
No, the death penalty is not used for all crimes. It is typically reserved for the most serious offenses, such as murder or treason. In some countries, the death penalty is not used at all.

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Death Penalty for Rapists. (2017, Jun 20). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/death-penalty-for-rapists/

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