A Critical Examination of the Death Penalty's Ethical Dimensions

This essay delves into the ethical complexities surrounding the death penalty. It explores the historical context of capital punishment, particularly in the UK, and examines the arguments for and against its use. The essay discusses the death penalty's role in deterring crime, its cost-effectiveness compared to life imprisonment, and the fundamental human rights issues at stake. It highlights the potential for executing innocent individuals and the ethical considerations of state-sanctioned killing. The analysis includes references to relevant literature and online resources, providing a comprehensive overview of the ethical dimensions of the death penalty and its abolition, concluding that abolishing the death penalty is ethical and protects human rights.

Ethical Issues

Table of Contents
DEATH PENALTY.........................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

DEATH PENALTY
Death penalty is also known as capital punishment is a government sanctioned practice
whereby a person is sentenced to death by the court as a punishment for a crime. The capital
punishment in cases where the person is involved in crimes like treason, espionage, rape, murder
and other crimes. The proponents call it an important tool for preserving the law and order and
creating fear in the minds of criminals so that crimes can be controlled (Hood and Hoyle, 2015).
It also cost less than life imprisonment where the state have to take care of the criminals for their
heinous crimes. In UK the practice was prevalent since the ancient times until the second half of
the 20th century. The death penalty was abolished for murder was abolished in 1965 and was
finally and completely removed for all types of crimes in UK in the year 1998 with the
punishment extending to maximum sentence of law imprisonment. Execution was abolished in
UK as sometimes the people who were executed were as innocent as they claimed to be which
means that sometimes a person was wrongly executed which was against the human rights. This
also meant that the guilty people were able to escape death penalty and were set free. The
abolition of death penalty was also due to Parliamentary campaigning, public disputes over
controversial executions in 1950s, reforms in the law of murder in 1950s etc.
Capital punishment is a debatable topic where the there are different views of public
against the ethical issues of death penalty. As per one view capital punishment is defended on the
grounds that society has a moral obligation to protect the safety and welfare of its citizens against
the miscreants of the society who must be executed for their heinous crime. However, it is also
protected against the human right violation where the people have to be protected against
unethical hanging and must be given a chance to improve themselves by maximising the
punishment to life imprisonment (Reckless, 2017). Also it is not evident that death penalty can
help in putting a stop to crimes happening in a society. However death penalty is cheaper for
government and also help in deterring the criminals from getting involved in criminal activities
but it is against the human rights which means that death penalty must be abolished.
It can thus be said that abolition of death penalty in UK is ethical as it help in protecting
the rights of humans to live with dignity and must be given a chance to improve themselves (Is
death penalty ethical, humane, fair, effective or even practical?, 2018). It can also help in
protecting the executions of innocent people merely on the doubts of guilt. Government can take
serious actions against the criminals which can help in teaching them lessons so that a fear of law

and order can be created in them but executing them can also trigger the most suicidal sections of
society into getting involved in crimes so that they can be executed for their crimes and serving
them the purpose.

REFERENCES
Hood, R. and Hoyle, C., 2015. The death penalty: A worldwide perspective. OUP Oxford.
Reckless, W.C., 2017. The use of the death penalty: A factual statement. In Capital Punishment
(pp. 38-62). Routledge.
Online
Is death penalty ethical, humane, fair, effective or even practical? .2018. [Online]. Available
Through: <https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/08/08/death-penalty-ethical-
humane-fair-effective-practical/922707002/>