Capital punishment is state sanctioned murder and can never be justified. Sentencing people to death regardless of the severity of their crimes does not equate to justice. As well being an outdated barbaric act, capital punishment violates religious beliefs and there is always the possibility that an innocent person will be put to death. Capital punishment is wrong and unjust and there is no place for it in a modern humane society.
Human beings should never be able to take the life of another person. It is morally wrong in all circumstances and should never be allowed. Capital punishment is barbaric no matter how it is administered. In olden days criminals were beheaded or stoned, today lethal injections are considered more humane but the result is the same.
Capital punishment totally violates the religious beliefs of many sections of our society. We are told in the bible that "thou shall not kill" so by executing an individual despite their crime is gravely wrong. Everybody in today's society knows that murdering someone is totally unacceptable but then the state and supporters of the death penalty say that it is fair to murder someone who has been convicted of a serious crime. I believe this is absolutely ludicrous.
Throughout the history of the death penalty, there have been numerous cases where people have been executed and then later found to be innocent. There is always the possibility that a person can be wrongly accused. If the prisoner was to be locked up for life and was then found innocent, they could be released. However, new evidence about crimes is often found years later, and if the person has already been put to death there is no way of bringing that person back to life. Imagine how traumatised the family and friends of the victim would be if they found out that their loved one had been wrongly accused and executed.
Serious crimes deserve harsh punishments. I believe life imprisonment to be more appropriate than capital punishment.
