My Take on Capital Punishment

Ever since, death penalty has been instrumentalized as capital punishment to solve crime problems. It has been subjected to many debates among religious groups ,moralists and lawmakers. SANCTITY of life is the basic ground for those who oppose it while DETERRENCE if not total eradication is the proposition of the other side. I believe in the value of one's life and chance to change as much as I believe that innocent people deserve a space in this world than life-threatening few who knows no one to advance their selfish motives. Good or bad we have to make a collective action to voice our stand on this issue because a LIFE at the expense of either criminal or innocent involves everyone.

There are handful of countries using the said punishment. If data is to be used as argument for its effectiveness we could SOMEHOW agree that it can decrease the rate of drug-related and heinous crimes. Religious conservative nations especially in Middle East proved it to be effective. Multi-racial/cultural Singapore has one of the lowest crime rates in the world and one of the most peaceful. This small country in the South East of Asia attributed its success not just on instilling fear to its people but most importantly on effort to educate the population about cultural respect and obedience of the law.

Image source: CNN

Meanwhile, member countries of European Union have abolished capital punishment except Belarus. This is a part of commitment to adhere in the duly constituted CHARTER OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION and the EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS. Kazakhstan which is a Eurasian country is still using capital punishment. United States which is the first to develop LETHAL INJECTION currently has 31 states having death by several methods as capital punishment. A known crime buster President of the Philippines Rodrigo Roa Duterte is advocating the reimposition of death penalty which was last carried out during the term of Joseph Ejercito Estrada.

The bottomline of the debate must dwell on safety of the most- we can't have heaven on earth. There are pressing problems, which are precedents to crimes that governments must address first like poverty and lack of education. Law enforcement can be improved and judicial system can be overhauled to fit the need of the time. The goal is to spare lives by not allowing innocents to become criminals. Once again, I am OKAY with capital punishment provided that government will improve the justice system and other underlying problems because every life is a gift that counts and every person matters.