by Ben Hughes

Created on: April 01, 2008

The death penalty has a number of serious anomalies about it which means it's one of the topics which comes back again and again in various debates around the world.

Historically, the execution of criminals and political opponents was used by nearly all societies to punish crime and to suppress resistance. But over time, many places have dropped capital punishment as an ineffective and inhumane response to crime.

In most places that retained the practice of the death penalty, it's used as punishment for premeditated murder, espionage, treason, or as part of military justice. In some countries sexual crimes, such as rape, adultery and sodomy, carry the death penalty, as do religious crimes such as apostasy (the formal renunciation of one's religion). Some countries also cite drug trafficking as a capital offence; while in China, human trafficking and serious cases of corruption are also punished by the death penalty. In militaries around the world, court-martials have imposed death sentences for offenses such as cowardice, desertion, insubordination and mutiny.

THE CASE IN FAVOUR OF THE DEATH PENALTY

The United States (the federal government and 36 of its states), Guatemala, most of the Caribbean and the majority of democracies in Asia (such as Japan and India) and Africa (like Botswana and Zambia) still use the death penalty.

But when the majority of the world has ditched the death penalty, why do countries like the US, Taiwan, Japan and Singapore retain it?

There seems to be something satisfying about using the death penalty for revenge, but also in ensuring that the person or people committing the worst crimes cannot continue to do so.

Capital punishment removes the worst and most dangerous criminals from society and should allow resources to be used elsewhere. Money which was previously spent on rehabilitation or incarceration needn't be spent on those least deserving of it.

There is also some evidence to indicate its effectiveness: the murder rate in the US dropped from 24,562 in 1993 to 18,209 in 1997, the lowest for years (a 26% reduction), during a period of increased use of the death penalty.

THE CASE AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY

Yet many people, politicians as well as ordinary citizens and the media, argue that the death penalty is ethically wrong. If murder is a crime punishable by death, why is killing wrong for the offender but allowed by the state?

The majority of European countries and many Pacific Area countries (including Australia and New Zealand), as well

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