Should the Death Penalty Be Abolished

張貼日期：Jun 25, 2010 2:3:7 PM

Jeff Guan

Nowadays, the issue of the death penalty is very hot. A lot of people have been discussing this topic. Former Law Minister Wang quit her position for this issue last month. She insists her opinion for abolishing the death penalty. A lot of people oppose abolishing the death penalty. For me, I agree with the death penalty. According to the Weekly Newspaper which is published by our university, there are some revealing statistics; about eighty percent of college students think that we shouldn’t abolish the death penalty. Why do many college students think that the death penalty shouldn’t be abolished? I will express my ideas in the following paragraphs.

There are three reasons for me to agree with the death penalty. The first reason is that I think the death penalty can reduce the criminal rates. If the death penalty doesn’t exist in our country, a lot of prisoners won’t be afraid of the punishment of the law. According to the Newspaper, about 60% of college students think the death penalty can help this society reduce crimes. For most human beings, death is the strongest punishment. A lot of people are afraid of death. I visited the Taipei jail some time ago, and the warden told me most prisoners are very afraid when they are facing death. In fact, the death penalty should exist in this society; it can deter bad guys from committing serious crimes. Thus, people can feel more protected and secure.

The second reason is there are no better ways to substitute the death penalty. I was an opponent of the death penalty before because I didn’t want to see people killed. It’s very cruel. I thought the society should give the prisoner a chance. The forgiveness will spread in our society. Although some human right organizations emphasize the prisoner’s human right, I think the killers didn’t respect victims first. If the organization emphasizes the prisoner’s human right, it’s not fair to the victims. According the Newspaper, about 70% of the respondents think the death penalty doesn’t violate the prisoner’s right.

The third reason is that if the death penalty doesn’t exist, how can we compensate the victims’ family? It’s unfair to them and there is no social justice. Many families live sorrowfully everyday when their family members were killed by the murderers. If our family members were killed, would we forgive the killer?

The death penalty shouldn’t be abolished now. We need to think deeply the importance of the death penalty. Although forgiveness is very important, we can’t abolish the death penalty until we think out the better way to substitute the death penalty.