2.3.2 International debates and controversies on death penalty. Debates about capital punishment are an ongoing one and it is assumed that its use is a violation of Human Rights. Each country is bound by international treaties and among them is the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights. (International Bar Association, 2008) Robbins (1995) stated in a conference that imposing death penalty sentence has an economic impact and according to studies in the U.S.A, the cost of an execution in jurisdictions is three times more than that of life penal servitude without parole. The latter further stated that the practice is inhuman and degrading and that it is expensive. Furthermore there is always the issue of miscarriage of justice. …show more content…
Murder cannot be tackled with another murder, this is merely retributive punishment. Retribution cannot be used as a means of punishment as an eye for an eye will simply turn the world blind. In the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing in which the daughter of Bud Welch had died, had stated that even though he wanted the bombing’s responsible to die, he said that retribution is purely vengeance and he does not want that to happen to his daughter’s offenders because vengeance itself was the reason that his daughter died. It is further said that capital punishment is poison for the society in the way that it degrades human life and cheapens all the members of the society. (Andre and Velasquez, …show more content…
This is what equality and proportionality means when inflicting such punishment. Hugo Adam Bedau (1977) argued that death penalty when used, disrespects human life and depicts murders as legitimate. Moreover, death penalty is an easy solution and analyse the true causation of crimes. Politicians opt for the retention of death executions as a method of crime control and not a preventive method for crime (Hugo Adam Bedau, n.d). If looked into social background of prisoners, many social problems such as lack of education and poverty would be discovered. Ultimately to combat crime, one must look into the root of the problems and find solutions about it. There is also an argument about unfairly administering death penalty. Myrdal (1944) stated that the number of African- Americans who are executed is very high. Opponents argue that there is no fairness in its administration and among the death row inmates, there is a disproportionate number of black