Sujet type CCINP Death Penalty synthèse rédigée

                        The debate surrounding the death penalty 

 

             Capital punishment is still enforced in many countries and continues to prompt heated debates whenever it is used. Two leading articles taken from The Guardian Weekly (doc. 1) and The Economist  (doc 2) along with a cartoon published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press  (doc.3) in September 2011 deal with this divisive issue. A survey conducted by Gallup (doc. 4) in October 2013 provides further information. The dossier raises the following question: is the death penalty around the world on the wane? Examining where and why it is used and the reactions it triggers will shed light on the question. 

          Capital punishment is still used particularly in the Middle-East and Asia. The Economist points out that it is enforced for a wide variety of reasons ranging from sorcery in Saudi Arabia to the murder of a police officer by Troy Davis in the  US. Indeed, a majority of American states still sentence people to death. The governor of Texas quoted in The Guardian Weekly and The Economist is a staunch supporter of the death penalty and so is the Republican Party. The opinion poll carried out by Gallup indicates that about 60% of the Americans are in favour of capital punishment for a convicted murderer. However, the execution of Troy Davis in America has reopened  the debate. 

           The Guardian Weekly reports that Troy Davis was executed even though there was doubt about his guilt. His death caused an outcry among the public, civil rights leaders and lobbyists who strongly oppose the death penalty. The cartoon sums up the situation: a lawyer is looking sadly at the statue symbolizing justice outside a Georgia court-house. It is standing upside down to highlight the injustice done to a potentially innocent man. Besides, the Gallup findings indicate that since 1995 opposition to the death penalty has been steadily gaining ground whereas support for it has been slowly declining over the years. 

         A similar trend can be observed globally as  indicated in The Economist.  Europe has abolished it, except Belarus. Fewer and fewer countries use capital punishment and international pressure against it is rising. In the US, where a majority of the states still use it, a growing number of people stand up against it because it is mostly black and poor people who are on death row. The likelihood of an innocent being executed cannot be ignored as indicated in both the Guardian Weekly and The Economist. Furthermore, the financial cost of the institution is another argument used by those who seek to abolish it while The Guardian Weekly and the message conveyed by the cartoon underscore the cruel and unethical  aspect of judicial killing  

              Even though capital punishment is still entrenched in some parts of the world,   the abolitionist trend is gaining momentum for humanitarian, political and financial reasons.

(431 words)