Public Speaking 2010
Persuasive speech

Is the death penalty for murder right?

Is the death penalty for murder really right? Www. Amnesty.ca states that the death penalty for murders was abolished in Canada in 1976 when the House of Commons passed Bill C-84, therefore replacing the death penalty with a life sentence with no possibility of parole for 25 years.

Personally, I think that the death penalty is not the best punishment for murderers, nor is it the right thing to do. Basically, we are saying "You killed someone, and that was horrible, so now you die." Where is the good in that? Isn't the point of laws and punishment to do well? Don't we enforce our rules in society to make the world a safer and better place? An eye for an eye never went very far, did it? So why would we use that method to teach our worst offenders?

First of all, why I think the death penalty isn't right. To begin, we aren't sending the best message out to criminals, nor are we setting a good example for citizens. We are basically enforcing the rule of "an eye for an eye". If we deal with murderers by killing them, then what are we teaching them? They obviously aren't learning anything once they have died. So what is the point? Why is it right to kill them? Of course their victim probably didn't deserve to die, no one really does, but that doesn't justify killing them. A murderer had robbed a person of their life, correct? So if that is true, I think the RIGHT thing to do to punish a murderer is to make him experience that, without physically dying, because as I said, lying in a coffin won't be teaching him anything. I think a murder has to suffer to a certain degree, where, at some point, he feels as though his life has been taken from him, while he is still breathing. I think that would be the greatest lesson for a killer to learn. I say this because not only did his victim lose their life, but the victim's family is also forced to live without the presence of a certain amount of their lives as well.

On a related note, statistics show that the death penalty wasn't so high and mighty after all. It was said that supporters of the death penalty had predicted that the homicide rate would shoot through the roof once the abolition passed. In fact, the homicide rate in Canada actually fell at an almost continuous rate, and even reached 30-year low of 1.98 in 1995. To me, this makes perfect sense. Personally, when I try and put myself in the shoes of a murderer, or a potential murderer for that matter, I would say that if I was planning to murder someone, the death sentence would probably be a welcoming thought. I think if I killed someone, I would rather die, than sit in a jail cell for 25 years or longer and have guilt picking away at my soul. With the exception of psychopaths and serial killers, I think that general idea would be the same. Often, murderers are just regular people who are pushed over the edge, so why would they rather be haunted by the crime they committed? Any person with feelings would dread that idea. Especially with life in jail added to the equation. Just imagine killing someone. Just the thought of that can be enough to make some people feel guilty. Now imagine REALLY killing someone, and the having nothing to do but sit in a room for 25 years or more. Just you, your guilt and your memories. That seems like a much scarier place than death.

So all in all, I believe that yes, murderers should have to suffer for the crimes they commit, because there is no justifying taking a life. However killing someone for killing someone else seems like a vicious circle. If we are to teach the world and the criminals in it, we will have to step up and develop methods of breaking down our offenders psychologically, rather than taking the easy way out and "disposing" of them. Sure, killing a person is quicker than making them suffer mentally, but in the end, the lesson will be learned by using the latter technique. A wise philosopher once said "Society has [set up] the gallows at the end of the lane instead of guideposts and direction boards at the beginning." Perhaps this is a good place to start. Instead of killing those who kill, let us start setting a good example, start putting up those guideposts and direction boards.

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