Capital punishment

Valeria Zarate

 
Capital Punishment
  
 
 Life is a journey that every human deserves to experience, and it can't be taken away by anybody but the one who created us. However, the human kind has been feeling superior and has taken the responsibility of deciding who lives and who doesn’t; an example of this is death penalty. This measure of punishment is not just a cruel and inhuman way ofmaking people pay, but it also goes against the moral values of humanity. Besides, it’s a violation to human rights, death penalty disrespects the right to live, it also goes against the value of fairness, since two wrongs don't make a right. Nowadays, capital punishment is a controversial topic around the world, some consider it right, some consider it wrong, and if you are not sure yet aboutwhich side to support, this paper will help you make up your mind.
 
  
 Death penalty violates the most important of the human rights, the right to live. This term is often defined as the act of killing an individual who was found guilty of a serious crime, by the government. A serious crime is commonly related to murder. Murdering a person means ending up with this person's life, this iscertainly a violation to the human right to live, but if the murderer is sentenced to death, he or she is also suffering from the restrain to enjoy the gift of living. What I mean is, how can a person be punished for violating the human rights and then be the victim of the same thing from which he or she was condemned for? This is why death penalty is considered senseless, since executing a criminal isthe same thing as murdering a person. Some people say this is not true, since if an individual kills another, he or she is said to lose his right of liberty, and this is related with the right to live, so basically, if one takes away another's life, one should pay with his or her own life. This way, the right that was taken away from the victim will somehow be paid back with the criminal's life. 
 Moral values are the base to a successful society. Respect, solidarity, tolerance, justice, and the most important one: love. The word love embraces all the other values, because loving somebody means caring for him or her and understanding that person. If a society was based on love, then, there would be no killing or stealing, nor wars or suffering. Sadly, the reality is another one, today;society is based on money, appearance and social status. This is why we have come to such a degrading solution to end up with the monster-society our own hands have created, and that solution is: murder. Yes, this word I just mentioned is a synonym to death, and certainly to capital punishment. Because capital punishment means making somebody pay for a crime with their life, which is the same askilling, not letting this person reintegrate to society as a new individual. Is that morally right? It’s certainly not, since the only thing we are doing is increasing the violence and the suffering, leaving moral values aside. Some people say that since the criminal already ignored these values, then, the same method should be applied to this person. However, doesn’t this way of thinking goesagainst the value of love? Well, it does, and if it’s not love, then it’s hate. This means that by applying punishments such as death penalty, we are basing society on hate and vengeance, leading it to complete disaster.
 
 Two wrongs don't make a right. This means that if one acts wrong committing a crime and then this person is the victim of one (meaning death penalty), anything will be solved,the lost life of the criminal won't give back the lost life of the victim. This is related with fairness. Fairness embraces many issues, for example, is not fair that if the victim's family already suffered from a loss, the innocent family of the criminal will suffer as well for the loss of their relative. Besides, there have been proven cases about people being accused falsely and then being...