With death penalty, should the punishment fit the crime? by Sherine Elsayed

            In the article “With death penalty,let the punishment truly fit the crime”, the author Robert Blecker is strongly taking a position in the controversial subject of death penalty: he is clearly supportive of the idea of death penalty.

            I am in no doubt completely and utterly against this sentence to death. The author, Blecker, states that opponents to this fate “just distrust the government ever to get it right”. How is the government “getting it right” by killing its own people? I may think that criminals must be punished for their acts but not in that way. Death penalty doesn’t in any way possible “restore moral balance” as the author states; it makes the situation even worse. Even more than that, using medicine, which is developed to save people’s lives and to keep them healthy, to commit this disgusting act is totally unethical. The author might be opposing the method of execution using lethal execution but surely not for the same reason as I oppose execution using any method. He, on the other hand, says that it is not painful enough for the prisoner and should not be similar to the way we “end the suffering of those we love” as he formulates it. People supporting death penalty are giving a wrong right to the government: the power to take away the most precious and sacred thing which is a human life. How can a people put its faith, safety and future in the hands of a government capable of such a horrible unethical act? To punish someone, sentencing him to a lifetime in jail is more of a torture (psychologically and physically). It is in the government’s duty and obligation to send the prisoners who deviated from the norms of the society where they truly belong whether it’s in jail, in a rehabilitation center or a mental health hospital; and in that way, the government would be resocializing them, helping them learn about the values and norms of the society and helping them reintegrate in their society in the right way, regardless of the crime they committed. We can absolutely not “kill those we rightly detest”, like Blecker says, because killing someone can never be done in a “rightly” way. I am convinced that no one deserves to die because I truly believe in the perpetuating, always existing good in humanity.

            If I were to play the believing game about this subject, I would say: I totally support death penalty. You would ask me “Why?”. As Blecker said, “The time has come to make punishment more nearly fit the crime”. The punishment the criminal receives should be as bad as the crime he committed, it’s an eye for an eye logic. This “satisfies our deepest instincts of justice”, he says. It reinforces the concept and definition of justice and equality within a society. This way of punishing can be relieving for the families and friends of the victims as it may attenuate their grieving. Death penalty helps preserving the law, maintaining order and providing a good example of what a potential criminal’s fate would be if he thinks about committing a similar crime. Blecker clearly states, “It doesn’t erase the harm” but it is a good way in restoring justice and morality.   

Work cited:

Blecker, Robert. ‘With Death Penalty, Let Punishment Truly Fit The Crime '. CNN.com (22 Aug. 2013): Web. 20 Oct. 2015.