Death Penalty as a Punishment

For pro-life advocates, the death sentence is the pinnacle of harsh, barbaric, and humiliating punitive action. Ever since the beginning of mankind on Earth, virtually all nations have utilized the death penalty to execute lawbreakers and dissidents. The populace's attitude toward the death sentence differs significantly by area and offense.

Every day, individuals are killed or condemned to death by the state as punishment for a wide range of offenses, including many that must not be stigmatized. For example, because of outrage over numerous recent violent rape cases, support for and ordering of capital penalty has grown in India in the 2010s, despite the fact that actual implementations are uncommon. The burden of the death sentence is borne disproportionately by people from less privileged socioeconomic origins or who identify with a regional, ethnic, or religious minority.

Although most governments have abolished the death penalty, more than 60% of the population is concentrated in governments in which the death penalty is still used. Iran, China, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia were the countries with the most publicized executions. As of 2022, 54 countries still use the death penalty.

Capital punishment is a contentious issue in many nations and governments, and opinions can differ within every specific political philosophy or ethnic territory.

It's still considered a debate whether life should be taken by another human being. We can look at different perspectives on how capital punishment seems to be not liked by most people, especially in this generation together with the older ones.

So the main idea or purpose of the death penalty is to give punishment to those who have committed crimes that are considered inhuman or those actions that are really unsettling and traumatizing to the victims. I have to admit that I am pro-death penalty because of the fact that suspects of a crime, offenses that are under moral turpitude, do not deserve to live another day and it would create that mindset that we should never take advantage of other people, although that is supposed to be considered as a standard. According to 1975 research, every conviction resulted in 7 - 8 fewer homicides. Comparable research in England indicated that each conviction saved four homicides. Furthermore, judges and juries have indicated that in the evidence of those accused of crimes, the accused acknowledged arranging his crime in such a sense that he may not be sentenced to death.

However, I know that this type of punishment should always be taken into serious action. We always have to take both sides of those who are involved in the crime and not just jump to conclusions. There are areas to be considered, in order to fulfill the right judgment.

I remember watching a documentary about Paco Larrañaga entitled "Give Up Tomorrow". In there, the untold story of what happened between him and the Chiong Sisters was revealed to the public. I honestly didn't know anything about this case but I was eager to know what happened. The whole documentary shows how Larrañaga is an innocent teen, together with other men involved in the case, who was dragged into a crime they didn't commit. They were supposed to be given the death penalty but because former President Arroyo abolished the punishment, their lives were saved. I didn't take his side first because I want to finish the whole video but I made my judgment in the end that he was really innocent. Tons of witnesses and documents that bring strong evidence were not noticed by the court, especially the judge because he looked like he had already taken his side before the hearing of the case even happened. But still, in the end, Larrañaga and the other men were proven guilty of the crime and were given life sentences.

There were many eyebrow-raising things that happened before, during, and after the trial.

• The first one was that the body of one of the sisters was not "really" examined to know if it was one of them. Well, it was examined but it was determined to be the wrong body afterward.

• The mother of the sisters was not "that" sad and was actually smiling the whole time. Each prosecution witness was given a reward. A story was made, even though there were no witnesses to actually say that a sexual assault happened.

• Judge Ocampo was seen sleeping during the trial and didn't make Larrañaga's classmates to the stand because "they were too many" and their claims were "irrelevant".

• I would have to say that the story was just "made" because of the fact that since Larrañaga was in Manila at the time the crime was committed and the crime happened in Cebu City which doesn't make sense because there were photos of him with his classmates in the day and friends during the night. It would be impossible for him to be in two places for a short amount of time and be at school the next day.

• Finally, one of the most shocking things for me is Judge Ocampo killed himself according to an autopsy of his body and, if I'm not mistaken, there is a letter that he wrote right before he died saying that he was sorry for "something".

What I am saying is that even though I am pro-death penalty, I still want to consider many documents, pieces of evidence, witnesses, and proper process so that there will be none who will suffer a wrong judgment.

The thought of a person opting to end the life of some other human in the pursuit of justice is not to be easy as it sounds. Furthermore, the techniques involved in the death penalty are not cheap in comparison to the culprit just living his lengthy prison sentence.