A Life Without Any Value?

Death penalty, which some also call capital punishment, has been around the in
world for hundreds of years. In the last fifty years there have been many discussions about
if it has to be abolished or not, if it works for deterrence of crime, if it relieves the pain of
thefamily of the victims, if it cost is to high, and if this follows God's commandments.
 Although many nations have abolished capital punishment (58 nations actively practice
capital punishment, 98 countries have abolished itfor all crimes, 7 have abolished it for
ordinary crimes only, and 35 have abolished it under moratorium), over 60% of the world's
population live in countries where executions take place.Most of the serial killers and other
violent individuals believe that they will never be caught. Others think that they are doing
God's work, or they excuse themselves citing other ˜important' reasons for the killings and
violent acts that they partake in. Sometimes this is due to mental disorders, but there are
other reasons that people commit acts of this nature. Regardless of these reasons, however,
violent acts can and do occur and whether these people should be put to death for their
crimes remains a hotly debated issue.
One of the points that people who are in favor support is that death penalty works as
a crime deterrent. It is based on the thought that capital punishment would create fear,
about dead, in the mind of any sane person. Ernest van den Haag, in his article "On
Deterrence and the Death Penalty  writes, "One abstains from dangerous acts because of
vague, inchoate, habitual and, above all, preconscious fears (193). Therefore, most
criminals would think twice to commit a crime if they knew their own lives were at stake.
On the other hand, the people who are against death penalty believe that it does not
work as a deterrent of crime; thus it will not work for increasing safety in society. They ...