Death Penalty

English I

Amro Ismail Kasht ---------- 200802124

5/5/2009
The death penalty or execution is “the killing of a person by judicial process for
retribution, general deterrence, and incapacitation”. The term capital originates from
Latin capitalis, literally "regarding the head" (Latin caput). [2]

Capital punishment has been practiced almost in every society, excluding those with state
religious proscriptions against it. It is a matter of active controversy in various states, and
positions can vary within a single political ideology or cultural region. A major exception
is in Europe, where Article 2 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European
Union prohibits the practice. [3]

Today, more than 60% of the worldwide population lives in countries where executions
take place in. these countries are:

Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Botswana, China, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia,

Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Kuwait, Libya, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia,
Singapore, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, USA, Vietnam, Yemen. [4]

At the dawn of the 21st century, the death penalty is considered by most civilized nations
as a cruel and inhuman punishment. However, the death penalty continues to be
commonly applied in other nations.

In my opinion death penalty is the only fair punishment for murderers, rapists and those
who committed war crimes and massacres, because there isn't any other punishment that
will satisfy families of victims.

Anyone who is against death penalty should put him/her self in the victims' family shoes
and imagine what his feelings will be like?

I suppose any person in this situation will wish to carry out the death penalty with his
own bare hands. I think nothing will satisfy his/her anger except seeing the death of
his/her beloved killer.

Plus I think there are many benefits for the society from death penalty, though it might
kill someone life it might save a hundred more. Another benefit that it actually helps in
lowering crime rates, let us here take China and Europe as an example, in Europe death
penalty is forbidden and in China it is permitted, so can anyone guess where the rate of
crime is higher?

Though the population in China is millions times bigger than Europe, crime rate is
actually higher in Europe, why do you think?
This example also applies in the United States of America where death penalty is
permitted in some of its states and forbidden in other, and again where is the higher crime
rate?

It is in these states where death penalty is forbidden. So these examples prove that death
penalty cuts the numbers of crimes.

There is no doubt that some people have some believes that maybe the convict is
innocent or the death penalty might be based upon wrong evidence and that death penalty
is irreversible, to those I say life imprisonment, can also be imposed in error and
incarceration is also irreversible if the innocent dies in prison. And if we banned death
penalty criminals will not have the fear of death and they will carry on with their crimes
because they know that there isn’t a strong punishment for them. Also today new
technology and new crime lab equipments and strong evidence such as DNA leave no
doubts for them.

Finally I believe in death penalty but I also believe that each individual should get the
right for a fair trial and that the judgments should be based upon the evidence nothing
else.

And looking at this problem from Islam point of view. Qur'an prescribes the death
penalty for several hadd (fixed) crimes where murder is not among them. Instead, murder
is treated as a civil crime and is covered by the law of qisas (retaliation), whereby the
relatives of the victim decide whether the offender is punished with death by the
authorities or made to pay diyah (wergild) as compensation. [5]

"If anyone kills person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it
would be as if he killed all people. And if anyone saves a life, it would be as if he saved
the life of all people" (Qur'an 5:32). "Spreading mischief in the land" [1] can mean many
different things, but is generally interpreted to mean those crimes that affect the
community as a whole, and destabilize the society. Crimes that have fallen under this
description have included: (1) Treason, when one helps an enemy of the Muslim
community; (2) Apostasy, when one leaves the faith; (3) Land, sea, or air piracy; (4)
Rape; (5) Adultery; (6) Homosexual behavior.

References:
1. Holly Qur'an.
2. www.wikipedia.com
3. Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union
4. www.amnesty.org
5. islam.about.com