Should the Death Penalty Be Allowed?

Should the death penalty (capital punishment) be allowed?
There are many underlying issues with capital punishment and the moral backbone it clearly lacks. Capital punishment should not be legal for many reasons such as the irrelevance of retribution and irrevocable mistakes which leaves “criminals” wrongly accused.
Retribution, in the form of capital punishment is the execution of the criminal in vengeance for the victim and their families. This ideology is flawed, out dated and irrelevant in today’s civilisation.
Raymond A. Schroth, Jesus Priest and Community Professor of the Humanities at St. Peter’s College states that; "Retribution is just another word for revenge, and the desire for revenge is one of the lowest human emotions — perhaps sometimes understandable, but not really a rational response to a critical situation. To kill the person who has killed someone close to you is simply to continue the cycle of violence which ultimately destroys the avenger as well as the offender. That this execution somehow gives 'closure' to a tragedy is a myth. Expressing one’s violence simply reinforces the desire to express it. Just as expressing anger simply makes us more angry. It does not drain away. It contaminates the otherwise good will which any human being needs to progress in love and understanding." This gives excellent insight into the irrelevance of retribution and the out dated values it holds on humanity. Retribution will not avenge the victim that has suffered. It only repeats the cycle in which had been familiarized by the murderer. It is unethical to kill a man for killing another and very contradictory. The legal system should not use this inhumane act of punishment on criminals for they are repeating the cycle of murder that they are apparently very against.

Furthermore another valid motive against capital punishment is the irrevocable mistakes which leave innocent people executed for crimes they did not commit. Capital punishment is especially inhumane to the civilians who did not commit the crimes they are accused of and have to see the consequence of death. In many cases, it is very easy to be wrongly accused based on inaccurate evidence and this in itself should be enough to ban capital punishment in all of society.

US Senator Russ Feingold gives his perception on how the Government has made mistakes when using capital punishment. "...Since the reinstatement of the modern death penalty, 87 people have been freed from death row because they were later proven innocent. That is a demonstrated error rate of 1 innocent person for every 7 persons executed. When the consequences are life and death, we need to demand the same standard for our system of justice as we would for our airlines... It is a central pillar of our criminal justice system that it is better that many guilty people go free than that one innocent should suffer... Let us reflect to ensure that we are being just. Let us pause to be certain we do not kill a single innocent person. This is really not too much to ask for a civilized society."

The system has made many detrimental mistakes in the past. Such as the case of 2004, the state of Texas executed Cameron Todd Willingham for starting the fire that killed his children. The Texas Forensic Science Commission determined that the arson testimony that led to his conviction was based on very inaccurate and flawed science. To this day, 139 wrongly convicted people on death row have been exonerated. In a case like Willingham’s, DNA is scarcely available and often irrelevant to the verdict. This cannot guarantee that we won’t execute innocent civilians. Capital juries are dominated by people who favor the death penalty, resulting in them usually voting to convict them.
The evidence shown above should be enough for capital punishment to be demolished purely for the fact that no one should have to be executed even for the case of one innocent person wrongly accused to be saved from death row.
In summary the death penalty [capital punishment] should be abolished in all countries. Irrelevant retribution is highly unethical and contradictory to the society we live in today and the irrevocable mistakes of wrongly accused civilians leave many innocent people killed. This system is out dated to our society and continues the cycle of violence in which the justice system is trying to eliminate.