UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER 2011

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

DO WE NEED CAPITAL PUNISHMENT?

This dissertation is submitted to the University Of Manchester Language Course.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction

2. The countries and their methods in the past .

3. The countries and their current methods

4. The advantages of capital punishment

6 Format: the numbers here are not even 7 and should be in line with 0 each other.

5. The disadvantages of capital punishment

6. Survey; The interpretation of capital punishment

7. My 0pinion

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8. References

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Key The essay below will use the following colours to indicate areas that will be used in the assessment of the PS5 projects.
Appropriacy of Format and Content Coherence and Structure Cohesion Referencing Accuracy and Range of Language

An example of cohesion: an extended definition giving background to the term capital punishment and its use; a possible overreliance on the term without the use of enough synonyms.

1. Introduction

Capital punishment, in other words the death penalty or execution is the death sentence for a person who is judged by the authorities. In this project, my aim is to firstly introduce the definition of capital punishment, then mention the past use in some countries and their methods, after that the current use countries and their methods. Following this, controversially the negative and positive sides of the death penalty are going to be discussed: * 'Is Capital punishment an efficient or useful way to protect society?' Analysis of the question will be based on human rights and then my opinion will be given. This is not referenced. Is it from a dictionary? Or another source? The word capital comes from Latin 'capitalis' which means 'regarding the head'. The ideological means of capital punishment comes from 'a life for a life, an eye for an eye, and tooth for a tooth.' Capital punishment is the execution of a person for punishment because of certain crime after being judged. This execution just can be done by states, when it is done by non-governmental organization it is murder, not the death penalty.

Referen cing: It is predicted that various methods of punishment were used in the past all over There is the world. The death penalty was used in Babylon at approximately 3,700 no years ago. These rules were adopted and also developed to some extents for authority every crime by ancient societies. in this statemen In the past, the majority of the countries in the world used this punishment, t. however, now 58 countries are existing practise. In addition, 95 countries have prohibited it, except during times of war. Is this The most important reason why the European Union countries have to abandon defined in a legal it that is Article 2 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union: dictionary ? -Article 2Range of language : too vague indicating insufficient range. No specific time references.

Right to life

1. Everyone has the right to life.

2. No one shall be condemned to the death penalty, or executed.

(Official journal of the European Communities 1 Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union's (20001C 364/01) Article 2)

2. The countries and their methods in the past

When we look at the history of capital punishment, the majority of the countries in the world used this execution: Australia, Austria, France, Germany, Britain, Turkey and United Kingdom. The main reason why mentioned countries abandoned that execution is to be a member of the European Union.

In the past, there were several methods such as boiling to death, slow slicing, disembowelment, crucifixion, impalement, crushing (including crushing by elephant), stoning, and execution by burning, dismemberment, sawing, Referencing: this may decapitation, and being shot with a gun. seem obvious to the writer but it is not commonly known to all 3. The countries and their current methods readers: reference?

There are four countries in the world which force this punishment, namely China, India, the United States of America (some states) and Indonesia.

In America, capital punishment has recently restrained in 38 states and federal government. (Evan J.MANDERY, Capital Punishment, A Balanced Examination, 2005, pp.23) What is more, the United States is the only Western developed country that retains capital punishment; generally various methods are used for executions but the most ordinary method of execution currently is the lethal injection. (Alan MARZILLI, Capital Punishment, Point Counterpoint, Second Edition, 2008, pp.18)

Use of the death penalty around the world (as of Feb 2011) - A graph taken from Wikimedia Commons) Examples of inaccurate language As can be seen from the map, the world has divided into four areas associated with the use of capital punishment. It is noteworthy that most of the countries

especially European countries which coloured blue mean abolitionist areas for all crimes in the world. Whereas, bright green areas contribute to the abolished countries in certain situations. For example, during the war times that punishment retains again. In contrast, orange areas accounts for countries which have already retained this punishment but it has practically not been used. Bright red coloured nationalities which currently use this punishment in their law system. In China, many executions have been carried out; these executions contribute to at least 80-95 % of worldwide numbers of executions. Capital punishment in China can be carried out for a wide range of crimes such as fraud, drug offences, theft, being against national symbols e.g. Lethal injection and shooting are the main methods are used by China. (http://www . deathpenaltyworldwide.org/ countrySearchPost. cfm ) These days, varieties of methods are used by above mentioned countries. Some methods are beheading, electric chair, gas chamber, hanging, lethal injection, shooting. Referencing: this is too long. 4. The advantages of capital punishment You need only the name of the website here. Over the years, proponents of the death penalty claimed that there are many positive aspects of capital punishment. On the one hand, in fact, societies aim not to take the life of guilty persons; they wish to protect their own citizens. On the other hand, it is widely known that many guilty, especially murderers, plan their actions and predict the possible punishment of their crimes before committing them. One of the main reasons why this punishment exists is to discourage people from committing crimes.

In addition there is a controversial debate about how capital punishment is efficient. The majority of the countries who have already this system believe that capital punishment should take into account at least some situations because of the fact that the stricter the rules, the more strong the deterrence. Appropriacy of content: lacking an analytical approach. Whose opinion? Can we attest to this information? For that case, there is an old saying, almost two hundred years ago; English barrister Sir James Stephen said 'No other punishment deters man so effectually from committing crimes as the punishment of death.' 'In any secondary punishment, however terrible, there is hope; but death is death; it is terror which cannot be described more forcibly." (Michael Kronenwetter, CAPITAL PUNISHMENT, Second Edition, 2001, pp.6)

More examples of cohesion; cohesive devices i.e. linkers; you might argue that the position at the beginning of the * Another advantage of capital punishment that life is not as sentenceis should beimprisonment varied to other efficient a deterrence. positions; it could indicate a more limited An example of format; what is the * used range of structures. here for? In the United States of America, capital punishment has been retained in federal government and most of the states because of the threat of execution. One good example about the factor of efficiencies of life imprisonment was taken in that country. When the time the death penalty had abolished for couple of years, a man sentenced to life imprisonment, during the period in jail, continued to kill the guards and inmates.

*One other advantage of capital punishment is that it is for 'legalised revenge 'for victim and victim's family.

As it is widely known, another way of having justice in society is to punish the man who commits the crime. As a result of this, the proportion of people and intentionally the victim's family might have a sense of the symbol of justice.

5. The disadvantages of capital punishment

Throughout the debate of the death penalty, its abolitionists argue that there are many negative sides to that punishment.

*One disadvantage of capital punishment is that it does not deter the crime and criminals. Accuracy: punctuation It is true to say that, capital punishment is not always the best way to reduce crimes. (An example of the situation in the United States is given below:) Appropriacy of content: lack of analysis: who believes this? ; could we say that it is generally believed that..? In spite of the fact that The United States is the leader of the world in many areas such as wealth, technology, education, industry, unfortunately crime rates are higher than the other democratic nationalities. Even though the strong and serious crimes declined in the 1990s, and then it has increased gradually in Referencing: 2000s. Every year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) makes a report this is too long; and should be much shorter i.e Marzilli,

through its Uniform Crime Reporting Program data. According to the latest report, 16,692 murderers appeared in the 2005, a rise of3.4 % from the previous year. Apart from this, based on the same resource, there have been increases of crime rates from the 2000, with the exclusion of the terrorist acts in 2011. (Alan MARZILLI, Capital Punishment, Point Counterpoint, Second Edition, 2008, pp.24) The two bar charts below show the murder rates in 12 states where the death penalty exists and 12 states where it does not exist.

Bar Charts 2006 Murder Rate of the Top 12 Executing States

These bar charts indicate that, with a couple of exceptions, the murder rate in executing states was higher than the non death penalty states in 2006. These statistics prove that capital punishment does not always work as an effective deterrent against crime.

* Another disadvantage of capital punishment is that life imprisonment is a better deterrent but both cost too much money for governments.

Life imprisonment is still life, in contrast the death penalty takes the life of a person so that there is no way to rehabilitate or educate the person to return the society. Killing somebody is wrong, even if the person is guilty. If governments really aim to prevent murder and other serious crimes, they must not do the same wrong actions. Besides, when life imprisonment serves the same deterrent, how can capital punishment be justified? Moreover, it is argued by the advocates of all sides that carrying out both methods are expensive for governments.

*One other disadvantage of that punishment is that it is against the Human Rights and also encourages 'culture of crimes'. Range: this seems too direct; more cautious language should be used: it could be said that; it might he said that. The death penalty is obviously a violation of Human Rights. With reference to Article 2 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union: 'Everyone has the right to life.' 'No one shall be condemned to death penalty, or executed. Similarly, according to Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says that: 'No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degraded treatment or punishment.'(From The Universal Declaration of Human Rights) In short, all the universal basic human rights do not accept this punishment for human beings.

As mentioned before, also common techniques are used today for this punishment like lethal injection and electrocution are not carried out always in a painless and suitable way.

Furthermore, retaining the death penalty might teach society how they become to brutalize each other as people think that it legitimizes the killing or committing other crimes. As a consequence of this, it might increase the number of crimes.

*The other main disadvantage of this punishment is that it brings a risk of killing innocent people.

When we look at the history of every country's legal system, there can be seen many inevitable mistakes, these mistakes lead to the making better rules for law. Although the fact that, compared to the other punishments, carrying out death penalty takes more risks. Wrongful execution might break society's belief of the fair law.

F or instance, occasionally the criminal can be thought to have done something based on the present evidence at that time, so then fatal executed in order to prevent the society and also maintain justice in society. After that, some evidence could appear. (Wrongful execution) As a result of this, a big mistake has been made and any compensation could bring back irreversibly the past to the present.

* A further disadvantage of the death penalty, it can be claimed that it never satisfy the victim and victim's family. Appropriacy: who said this; lacking analysis. Why is it true? And only quite true? It is quite true to say that anyone can be convinced or satisfied when another person was killed who had already been guilty because no action can bring the past situation to the victim's life or his/ her family's life.

6. The interpretation of capital punishment survey

In our survey, respondents consist of 30 people (13 Male-I? Female).The majority of the group ( 25 person) are between the age of 20-30 with the exception of four person who are aged between 30-40, and one person is from 40-50.The respondents are divided into several nationalities; namely Chinese(16), Iranian (2), Saudi(3),Thailand(1), British ( 4) , Indonesian (1), Peruvian (1), South Appropriacy: our study. Who Korea(1) and Taiwan (1) . conducted it? Where was it conducted and when? In this survey, the majority of the people (24) have already retained the capital punishment in their own countries so that generally the respondents think that the death penalty reduces crimes. However, approximately half of the people in the research believe that the death penalty should exist for all crimes. A third of the surveyed people think that it should be used for certain crimes with a surprising outcome. In addition, there is an unexpected result about the question of whether supporting this punishment, yes and not sure answers are closely as same rate as, 12 people support it while 11 people are not sure, respectively.

When we look at the survey in more with to the opinion questions, more than half of the surveyed people disagree with the sentence that 'No one (including the state) has the right to kill another person even if he/she is a guilty. As can be seen from the substantial evidence of answer that, the majority of the people think that guilty people must be executed by the state with neglecting of a right of life. Furthermore, almost half of the people find neutral that 'Capital punishment makes the victim and victim's family a sense of justice and can help them to recover from the trauma of the crime.'

Apart from that, there is an inconsistent result about comparing the death penalty and life imprisonment. Same percentage of people (12) agree 'life imprisonment is better a solution than the death penalty', and simultaneously 'If someone has killed another person or committed serious crime, he/she deserved to be killed by government too.

Finally, the argument 'Capital punishment carries the risk of killing innocent people' is accepted by the majority. An inappropriate title for the last section of a project; a possible title could be: solutions; recommendations. 7. My opinion (wrongful execution)

As I explained above, there is no complete consensus about the death penalty in the world.

It is certainly true that the death penalty is unconstitutional and also irrelevant to curb crime rates in societies which already retain this punishment. (There is no statistical evidence that this system reduce the crimes and criminals) .At the same time, the most important point about that punishment is entirely against to Human Rights. According to the Human Rights; no body have a right to take another person's life intentionally and legally. Moreover, I am convinced that, even if the person is guilty or worse than is a murderer; he/she deserves to be treated fairly. For example, in USA, one person who is a murderer deserves to be death, on the other hand, other murderer from another states can just be sentenced life imprisonment or twenty years( a couple of years) of imprisonment. As a result of this, this punishment is not acceptable and convenient to maintain justice in that society.

In my point of view, capital punishment is wrong; it is not important how the person is most guilty and how the crime is the most serious. In addition to that, the death penalty is inhumane; we must not treat anybody in a way that we would not want to be treated ourselves.

It can be said that there is no international consensus about this punishment in the world. The reason for this situation and especially proponents of the death penalty claim that there is no effective and alternative deterrent instead of this punishment. However, to my way of thinking, a life sentence in prison is a more convenient solution to curb crime rates due to there is no convincing evidence for the death penalty is the efficient way. Appropriacy of content: lack of analytical thinking: for whom is it a controversial debate? Has your work proved that it is controversial?; if so say this. It is also a controversial debate that capital punishment must just be used for serious crimes such as murdering. By contrast for the other crimes such as kidnapping, fraud, burglary have not to be used necessarily. I am obviously opposed to this statement that, murder may be the worst crime but does not mean merely this criminals must be punished, guilty people's mind and knowledge is same so that all types of criminals need to be brought to the society. Using this punishment for certain crimes is not a convenient and equal way to make the world better place to live.

When we take into account all these factors, it is clear that humanity need a solution to the punishment system, to my point of view life imprisonment is the best punishment for guilty, taking their freedom is the worst thing. Educating them during the prison years and make them aware of their acts and consequences, and thus give them to the community is the beneficial way to the society.

Overall, in my point of view, the death penalty should not exist in modem societies.

Range: I should not be used: this authors opinion is that It shows a more limited range.

REFERENCES

BOOKS

1. The Death Penalty, 2008, Roger Hood and Expanded, Centre for Criminology University of Oxford

2. The Death Penalty, A debate, 1986, Emest Van Den Haag, John P. Conrad, Plenum Press

3. Victims' Rights, Human Rights and Criminal Justice, 2008, J onathan Doak, Hart Publishing

WEB SITE

1. http://www . deathpenaltyworldwide.org/ countrySearchPost.cfm

2.http://books.google.ca/books?id=SOiuzOv061 EC&lpg=PP 1 &dq=Capital%20p unishment&pg=PP 1 #v=onepage&q&f=true

3 .http://books.google.ca/books?id=n8POBY f62w AC&lpg=PP 1 &dq=Capital%20 punishment&pg=PP 1 #v=onepage&q&f=true

4.http://books.google.ca/books?id=KPIf6dP J jQC&lpg=PP 1 &dq=Capital%20p unishment&pg=PP 1 #v=onepage&q&f=true

5. http://filipspagnoli . wordpress.com/ stats-on- human-rights/ statisticspunishment! Incorrect referencing of websites; the information is presented incorrectly: e.g. deathpenaltyworldwide.org. Accessed on 19/06/2013 from http://www . deathpenaltyworldwide.org/ countrySearchPost.cfm