Murders occur around the world. Different countries have different ways of dealing with murderers, one of which is the capital punishment. Capital punishment is the death sentence awarded for serious offences like crimes involving planned murder, multiple murders, repeated crimes, rape and murder etc where in the criminal provisions consider such persons as a danger to the existence of the society. I support the capital punishment and feel that murders should be punished by death. Besides capital punishment, there is not much alternative for punishing such criminals, hence I feel that capital punishment is the most suitable punishment for criminals who have killed others.

       Why is capital punishment the most suitable punishment for criminals? Firstly, it is the fairest punishment that can be meted out on them. Criminals who have killed other people deprived them of their rights to live, so they should be killed and be deprived of living as well. These criminals should receive some form of retribution and made to suffer in proportionate to his offence. This revolves around the concept of paying for one’s crimes and I feel that it is necessary to receive retribution for whatever you have done. By executing a criminal who committed murder, he will be incapacitated and unable commit any more similar crimes. As it is only fair to stop any criminals from committing more murders, capital punishment is a fair punishment. Those that do not support capital punishment argue that innocent people who are killed in an execution makes capital punishment unfair as it is an irreversible process. However, the chances of this occurring are very rare as in USA, out of 10000 people sentenced to death in the last 30 years, only 4 were executed wrongfully as DNA showed that it is unlikely for them to commit the murders they were accused to. Hence this shows that capital punishment is quite accurate and does not execute innocent people easily.

       Secondly, I feel that protecting the sanctity of human life is another reason which makes capital punishment suitable. Many opposing views would say that capital punishment destroys the sanctity of human rights and defies human rights. According to J.S.Mill, to deprive the criminal of the life of which he has proved himself to be unworthy–solemnly to blot him out from the fellowship of mankind and from the catalogue of the living–is the most appropriate punishment for criminals who have committed murders. Hence capital punishment does not defy human rights since it is the criminal who is unworthy of being a human. Besides, if capital punishment is not imposed on one who have killed another, how can the victim’s family feel that justice is done and how can the spirit of the victim really rest in peace? In this case, after a person is killed, nothing much is done to make up for it. By inflicting capital punishment on criminals, something is done for those who have died wrongfully and the sanctity of human life is protected and thus it is suitable. Of course, the way of execution must be mild and humane and does not add more to the sum of misery of a criminal.

       Lastly, the capital punishment is a suitable punishment as it acts as a deterrence for potential criminals to commit the same crimes. It is mainly to be measured by the impression it makes on those who are still innocent, by the horror with which it surrounds the first promptings of guilt. From the Bureau of Justice Statistics in USA, the number of execution in USA has been gradually dropping since 1999. Besides USA, Singapore is also another nation that retains capital punishment. Singapore has one of the highest execution rates in the world relative to its population. However, Singapore has very low crime rates and the general state of law and order has been held up. These two examples show the deterrence effect of capital punishment. It is argued, however, that there are lower crime rates in states with no capital punishment, so there is no deterrence effect. However, statistics have shown that those same states had lower rates during the moratorium period of the late 1960s to mid 1970s when no executions occurred in the United States. Hence, it is an invalid argument as these states originally have low crime rate.

       In conclusion, capital punishment is still, by far, the most suitable punishment for those who committed serious crimes like murder, as it is fair, protects the sanctity of human rights and at the same time deter people from committing crimes. Capital punishment deters people from inflicting suffering by suffering, which is the very purpose of penal justice.