The Efficacy of Life Imprisonment Versus Death Penalty

Before going into the details of Death Penalty, one must know what it actually means and the procedures in which States carries out those penalties i.e. Executions, Firing, and Beheading etc. It solely depends on the State where crime is very high and would I support Death Penalties for certain heinous crimes such as Terrorism & Mass murder. Whereas in some countries such as Saudi Arabia, death penalty is an effective tool and has seen a considerable reduction in the crime rate. For other crimes such as Murder and Drug Smuggling, Life imprisonment would be a better option rather than death penalty. This is so because murder has so many complications and it would solely depend on the judgments of the Supreme Court of the country whether the murder was an accident or a revenge.

The nature of the murder would determine that a criminal should get a Death Penalty or Life imprisonment. As far as Drugs possession is concerned, I feel that many countries especially the United States are coming towards legalization of some drugs. If you look at the statistics from the office of United Nation, Pakistan has 6.7 million drug users and from that over 4 million are drug addicts, which is among the highest country in the world. Therefore, I would not support that a state would execute almost 6.7 million of its citizens. In addition, a rehabilitation plan would be an effective and useful tool rather giving them the death penalty.

Another form of death penalty which is given is in the form of Espionage or Spying for another country. Countries under dictatorship such as North Korea bring in the Firing Squad if they even suspect that you are spying for another country. Then again, short-term (or even long-term for some countries) imprisonment would be more than sufficient and effective if they have the substantial evidence against an individual indulging in Espionage.

To conclude my argument, I would support Death Penalty for certain crimes, which can be classified as ‘Crimes against Humanity’ whereas Death penalty for those crimes which are legal in other states (Drug possession) should not only be discarded and refused but should be legalized of carrying a certain amount. As far as Murder & Espionage is concerned, long-term imprisonment but a rehabilitation program should be included, so when they complete their term, they can contribute something to the economy of their country.

Works cited

1. Amnesty International. (2021). Death penalty. https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/death-penalty/
2. Bohm, R. M. (2017). Death penalty in America: Current controversies. Routledge.
3. Flanders, C. E. (2019). The American death penalty: Constitutional issues, commentaries, and case briefs. Carolina Academic Press.
4. Gallagher, C. (2019). The death penalty in Japan: Will the public tolerate abolition?. Routledge.
5. Hoyle, C., & Young, R. (2018). Debating the death penalty: Should America have capital punishment? Oxford University Press.
6. Jürgensmeyer, M. (2019). The death penalty as a religious problem. Cambridge University Press.
7. Neapolitan, J. L. (2017). The death penalty: A worldwide perspective (5th ed.). Rowman & Littlefield.
8. Palma, E., & Tsethlikai, M. (2019). Indigenous peoples and the death penalty: A global perspective. Routledge.
9. Sarre, R. (2019). The abolition of the death penalty in Australia: State sovereignty and human rights. Routledge.
10. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2020). World drug report 2020. https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/