The debate on the effectiveness, and appropriateness of death penalty has dominated affirmative action debate and human rights debate in the U.S for quite some time now. Of all forms of punishment by the criminal justice, none has come under sharp criticism from the public, international community and human rights groups as death penalty. Death penalty has particularly been questioned and criticized in regard to whether it is ethical to exterminate criminals and whether actually it is an effective deterrent to violent crime.
Death penalty is not only dehumanizing but also cruel; it violates the same law it purports to uphold morally speaking. Research has indicated that, death penalty has promoted negative racial relations as it has tended to affect the racial minorities disproportionately. Many people have been convicted to death in the U.S is innocent, although the number is changing with the advent of scientific revolution including the use of DNA, this clearly an indication that, there are many people in the prisons who are innocent but they continue to suffer. Life imprisonment is a good alternative to death penalty although it has also been criticized for being expensive, given that, it involves for confinement through out ones life. However considering the risk of letting violent crime offenders back to the society it seems like the only viable option.
Whether death penalty will be abolished or sustained is a largely government decision, however the time has come for the government to be responsive to the public outcry especially from the opponents of the death penalty. The death penalty is quite an expensive process which costs the taxpayer a lot of money given the fact that, the process is a slow one. Through integrating ethics in law practice, human dignity is upheld as well as the fundamental rights of the offenders. There is a need for realization and promotion of the rights of offenders and the process through which this happens is by observing ethical guidelines.
Ethics and values refer to the generally accepted way of doing things. Ethics and values in law profession are geared at influencing professionals in the criminal justice to adhere to the generally accepted way of doing things. Ethics ensures that, employees adhere to the generally accepted and valuable way of doing thing by, business organizations, institutions, and the government as well as the society. Adherence to the agreed ethics and values goes beyond moral issues, it is the source of order, and it is the reason for success and peaceful co-existence. Ethics and values help diffuse tensions and therefore are very important in conflict resolution.
Conclusion.
The Death penalty should be abolished considering the costs of executions and confinement as well as the process of proving an offender guilty. Ethically, it is wrong to take an offenders life just because the offender killed. The offender should be given an opportunity to change by being put in a corrective system. Continued use of death penalty as a form of punishment portends a continued abuse of human rights while abolishing the death penalty will save the country a lot of money and promotes the respect for human right. The fact that, death penalty is harsh should not be mistaken for being effective.
