Society has always used punishment to discourage would-be criminals from unlawful action. Since society has the highest interest in preventing murder, it should use the strongest punishment available to deter murder, and that is the death penalty.
Back then, we reserved the death penalty in the Philippines for the most heinous murders and the most brutal and conscienceless murderers. This is not, as some critics argue, a kind of state-run lottery that randomly chooses an unlucky few for the ultimate penalty from among all those convicted of murder. Rather, the capital punishment system is a filter that selects the worst of the worst. If murderers are sentenced to death and executed, potential murderers will think twice before killing for fear of losing their own life. It is quick, painless, and humane.
The methods of execution have gradually become more humane over the years, so the argument that the death penalty is cruel and unusual is not valid. It appeases the victims or victims’ families. The death penalty can provide families of victims with some closure, which may help them to deal with their suffering. Although the victim and the victim’s family cannot be restored to the status which preceded the murder and some family members of crime victims may take years or decades to recover from the shock and loss of a loved one. Some may never recover. At least an execution brings closure to the murderer’s crime (and closure to the ordeal for the victim’s family) and ensures that the murderer will create no more victims. One of the things that helps hasten this recovery is to achieve some kind of closure. Life in prison just means the criminal is still around to haunt the victim. A death sentence brings finality to a horrible chapter in the lives of these family members.
As for us, we are pro-death penalty for numerous reasons aside from the ones stated above. The death penalty provides justice to the family of the victim, provided that the court itself is unbiased and just. Aside from serving justice, it usually just involves the quick death of a criminal. It does not torture nor humiliate the criminal, thus is still humane and does not violate any international treaties or laws. And right after the said execution, the body is usually returned to the family of the criminal in order to give the person a proper burial. Another point here is that this is only applied to criminals who have committed heinous crimes, as defined by the law. And by definition, a heinous crime is an evil, wicked and intentional deed. This therefore, limits the amount of people to be classified to have done such crimes, making it so that only the people who have done such crimes receive the punishment that they deserve.
Together with our justice system, this can be properly implemented by filtering out those who have been falsely accused by means of a trial where the defendant is assumed to be innocent unless proven to be, beyond reasonable doubt, guilty as charged.
Given our current system, the possibility of a mistrial may be there, however, it is very unlikely that his event will occur, especially regarding these crimes.
The Death Penalty may even save lives by deterring criminals to do the crime in the first place. This can overall, reduce the crime rate that is being experienced by our nation. By serving as a deterrent, it may also preserve the thing that we and other criminals value the most, our very lives.
Federation News Network 