In Support of the Death Penalty

In Support of the Death Penalty Introduction From the ethical perspective of philosopher John Rawls who said that justice should be described as“ a fair system of arrangements; one that the parties can agree to without knowing how it will benefit them personally” , the death penalty must be considered just and right as it creates a fair balance between the act that has been committed and the punishment that has been dealt (Williams 78). Rawls supports the idea of an original position from which society chooses principles based on a veil of ignorance, its ideal judicial system developed not from personal tastes and interests, but from a socially moral position. From this perspective, the death penalty creates a balance between the offender and the victim, his life forfeited to insinuate the balance between his crime and his punishment.
The Political Position of the World The global community does not have political support for the death penalty with very few states using this form of punishment. However, the United States has a strong support of the punishment within its citizens, thus many of the states have legalized its use. While the debate about the use of the death penalty often does not include the concept of death, death itself is an end to suffering. Victims are often neglected for the sake of the rights of the offenders, with forgiveness being forced by the state and a sense of vengeance left unfulfilled, providing no closure for the families of victims. The death penalty is appropriate when crimes have create victims that have been heinously harmed, the lives of offenders taken in order to provide justice and closure to the families. According to Amnesty International, in 1977 there were only 16 countries in the world that did not support the death penalty. By 2009, this number had ballooned up to 139. Only 18 countries executed prisoners in 2009. China executed thousands of their prisoners, but because they will

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