It has often been suggested that the reintroduction of capital punishment would deter the ever increasing rate of serious crime. What is your view? Do you think that capital punishment should be reinstated?

Over recent years, the rate of
crime
has dramatically increased in many countries around the world. It has been suggested that the reintroduction of the
death
penalty
would be an effective deterrent against the growth of serious
crime
, but it can be argued that capital
punishment
is unacceptable in our society for several reasons. In the following essay I will examine
this
issue and
then
give my own opinion.
Firstly
, capital
punishment
does not seem to reduce
crime
rates. The most recent survey of the relation between the
death
penalty
and homicide rates was conducted for the UN and concluded that there is no scientific evidence that capital
punishment
deters people from committing
crime
. In fact,
death
penalty
states continue to have higher
crime
rates than states that have abolished it.
Secondly
, the
death
penalty
is an inhuman and degrading
punishment
that violates human rights,
in particular
the right to life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the inalienable right to life and should not be killed by another person nor by government.
However
, capital
punishment
is still practised in many countries,
such
as the United States or China, where the
death
penalty
is regarded as a highly effective measure that provides a sense of
justice
for victims. It is certainly true that victims and their families have the right to
justice
, but executing somebody because they have committed murder is revenge, not
justice
.
Finally
, capital
punishment
entails the risk of executing innocent people.
Although
criminal
justice
systems are supposed to be perfect, they have serious flaws and prosecutors as well as jurors can all make mistakes. A recent study has found that in the USA over 150 people had been released from
death
row because they were innocent of the
crime
for which they were convicted.
This
is a clear evidence that
such
mistakes are not only possible in the criminal
justice
system, but they are
also
reversible when
death
penalty
has not been practiced.
On the contrary
, had they been executed there would have been nothing to do and the state would have been guilty of killing innocent people. In conclusion,
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    • Sentence 1 - Topic sentence
    • Sentence 2 - Example
    • Sentence 3 - Discussion
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    • Sentence 1 - Topic sentence
    • Sentence 2 - Example
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    • Sentence 1 - Summary
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Topic Vocabulary:
  • reintroduction
  • capital punishment
  • deter
  • serious crime
  • controversial
  • argument
  • deterrent
  • potential criminals
  • heinous act
  • justice
  • human rights
  • government
  • execute
  • innocent individuals
  • legal system
  • wrongful convictions
  • alternatives
  • life imprisonment
  • parole
  • rectifying
  • emerges
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