The purpose of this essay is to assess the viability of the death penalty as an operational punishment. The death penalty is defined as killing an individual as punishment. As of 2018, 53 countries still apply the death penalty in their legal systems and there were an estimated 690 executions in 2018. Penalties are fundamental elements of any legal system, but there is no general definition of what an “effective” sentence entails. . This essay recognizes that there are a multitude of facets to consider regarding the effectiveness of the measure and will specifically look at three factors which are deterrence, recidivism and retribution. Harmful elements such as the risk of false convictions and a negative correlation between deterrence and murder rates will also be discussed. This article on the death penalty will mainly focus on the United States and Singapore, due to their strong stances on the death penalty. The United States has a multitude of closely related states that have divergent views on the death penalty. Singapore will be scrutinized for its globally recognized approach to drug crimes. This essay will argue that the death penalty is an effective punishment and an operational tool in the legal systems of countries. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essayThe first argument in favor of the death penalty is due to the deterrent effect it provides to society. The National Institute of Justice (nd) has defined deterrence as the inhibiting effect of lawbreaking resulting from the risk of conviction. The country of Singapore will serve as an example of the effectiveness of the death penalty in terms of deterrence. The Singapore government has taken a strong stance against the abolition of capital punishment due to its deterrent effect, particularly for drug-related offences. The effect is evident in Singapore's low drug crime statistics compared to other countries. The essay argues that it is reasonable to compare drug crime statistics in Singapore and the United Kingdom (UK), as Singapore's legal system was based on that of the United Kingdom. Teo (2010) explained that 0.005% of Singaporeans were addicted to cannabis, which was significantly lower than the UK rate of 8.2%. Additionally, fear of the death penalty has led to a reduction in the number of drug addicts in Singapore, from 3,265 in 2016 to 3,089 in 2018. This suggests that the threat of the death penalty has led to widespread adherence to the laws. on drugs in Singapore and contributes to the effectiveness of the measure. Singaporeans also generally support the death penalty for drug offences, as evidenced by the fact that 86.9% of respondents to a survey conducted by the National University of Singapore said so. sustained. The strong public support for this measure perhaps reinforces the idea that citizens believe that the death penalty is a useful tool and contributes to the security of the country. The short time between conviction and execution in Singapore has also contributed greatly to the deterrent effect since it is a virtually guaranteed outcome once the trial is over. It seems reasonable to conclude that deterrence has a positive impact on some societies by deterring potential criminals from committing offenses and can help maintain low crime rates. However, opponents argue that there is a lack of correlation between deterrence and the death penalty. and there is rather the existence of an inverse relationship. An example would be the fact thatsome US states with the death penalty have higher murder rates than those that do not. For example, Louisiana with the death penalty had a murder rate of 12 citizens per 100,000 residents, while Illinois without the death penalty had a murder rate of about 8 citizens per 100,000 residents. 100,000 inhabitants. This evidence suggests that the existence of the death penalty may be causing more crimes rather than serving as an effective deterrent. This may seem compelling at first, but it mainly applies to certain regions of the United States. Tures (2017) refutes the inverse relationship by asserting that 11 of the 25 states with the lowest murder rates in the United States have the death penalty. Additionally, the idea that there is no correlation could be because the death penalty is rarely used by countries and it often takes a long time to implement it. This somewhat weakens the argument that no correlation can be established between the death penalty and a deterrent effect. Another example in favor of deterrence would be that of the 1970s, in the United States, where there was a temporary embargo on the death penalty. This led to an instant increase in the number of murders committed and then a reduction in the number of murders immediately after the ban was lifted, which showed that the death penalty had some merit in discouraging criminals from committing crimes. crimes. The second aspect of death penalty would be recidivism. It generally refers to the person's return to committing illegal acts after punishment. It can be argued that the existence of the death penalty in countries would be the most beneficial method of preventing criminals from committing serious illegal acts again. Muhlhausen (2014) expanded on this point by stating that some offenses are so atrocious that the death penalty should be provided to remove the offender from society. This concept is supported by the high rates of recidivism in areas of the United States where the death penalty is not applied, particularly in New York at 42%. This is much higher than the average recidivism rate in the United States, which was 37%. This suggests that the death penalty, unlike other punishments, would decisively prevent further harm to society, as offenders would be removed from the equation. However, critics of the recidivism argument question this argument and argue that other forms of punishment are more effective. to prevent offenders from committing crimes. It can be recognized that the death penalty permanently removes the offender from society, but alternative methods can allow the offender to realize his mistakes before re-entering society as a law-abiding citizen. An example would be community sentences, where research by the Scottish Government (2015) showed that 28% of offenders given community service orders reoffended, compared to 53% of individuals sentenced to prison terms. . This suggests that alternative punishments to the death penalty may be more effective in terms of positively influencing the offender to return to civilized order. Another alternative to the death penalty would be life imprisonment, meaning inmates would be held in prison for the rest of their lives. This completely eliminates the possibility of criminals harming society again and extends the period of time they have to think about their actions. The argument, however, ignores the fact that other forms of punishment besides the death penalty, such as imprisonmentlife, are not enough to completely resolve the problem. protect the citizens of the country. The individual may not be able to harm the public while in prison, but they can potentially harm other prisoners or prison staff. An example would be the New York prisons in the United States, where the death penalty is not used. In 2018, there were 972 cases of assaults against prison employees and 1,164 cases of assaults against prisoners, illustrating the futility of prison sentences as a means of preventing inmates from reoffending. This shows that other methods of punishment, such as post-conviction regulation, had little effect on their choice to reoffend and further highlights the effectiveness of the death penalty. The third aspect of comparison would be punishment. Retribution indicates the extent to which the punishment is intended to be at the same level as the offense committed and it should be relatively close to the offense committed. Retaliation in terms of the death penalty is quite useful because it provides closure for the victims and parties affected by the actions of the perpetrator, especially in cases of murder. Closure refers to the finalization of a disturbing event for an individual. It has been argued that the death penalty allows victims and affected parties to benefit from some catharsis through the execution of the offender. This is corroborated by a poll carried out by the Washington Post (2001), which shows that 60% of those questioned approve of the death penalty because it is just because it puts an end to the suffering of the victim's family. Similarly, Divine (2003) argues that other methods of punishment, such as fines, are likely insignificant in terms of comfort for families and that putting a financial value on life would essentially reduce its value. However, an argument can be made for the risk. of the death penalty killing innocent people through false trials (BBC). Amnesty International (nd) expanded on this point by explaining how 160 inmates in the United States have been sentenced to death since the 1970s based on false beliefs. This shows that although this results in reprisals against victims' families, there is still a latent risk that people will be unjustly put to death, which is an irreversible consequence. Von Drehle (2014) supported this point by asserting that almost four percent of all convictions are wrong. It can be argued that until countries' justice systems are infallible, the risk of unjustly convicting and executing innocent people will persist in society. Although this position is popular, it is not supported by significant evidence as it can be argued that in modern society, unjustified termination of life is a remote possibility. This is borne out by the number of individuals in the United States who have been absolved of their crimes after pleading in court. According to the Innocence Project (nd), a total of 365 people have been exonerated in the United States since the 1990s. This evidence illustrates the stronger and more robust appeal systems that many countries have in their legal provisions, which can prevent any accidents in terms of false convictions leading to wrongful deaths. As a result, the effectiveness of the death penalty can be seen through the overall retribution effect and the argument of false convictions is negated to some extent by countries' enduring legal systems. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a custom paper now from our expert writers.Get a custom essayThis essay aimed to evaluate three segments of the death penalty thatwere deterrence, recidivism and punishment. The example of Singapore demonstrates the effectiveness of the death penalty in strongly deterring drug-related offenses and the high recidivism rates in some parts of the United States show that other forms of punishment necessarily succeed in reducing recidivism . The essay also argues that the closure that the death penalty provides to victims constitutes the most appropriate form of punishment to satisfy them. The essay acknowledges that there are unfavorable opinions regarding the death penalty, but asserts that, overall, the positive aspects of the death penalty far outweigh the negatives. This essay concludes with the assertion that the death penalty is a compelling tool of punishment in any country's legal system.Reference ListAgenyi, J (2017) Recidivism in the United States - An Overview [Online]. Available at https://atlascorps.org/fellows/ [Accessed May 2, 2019]. Amnesty International (2019) Death penalty in 2018: Facts and figures [Online]. 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Fluery-Steiner and Kleinstuber (2015) International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Elsevier.Girelli, G (2019) The death penalty for drug offenses: global overview 2018 [Online]. International harm reduction. Available at https://www.hri.global/files/2019/02/22/HRI_DeathPenaltyReport_2019.pdf [Accessed 26 April 2019]. Hodgkinson, P and Rutherford, A (1996) Capital Punishment Global Issues and Prospects. Waterside PressHood, R, G (2008) The death penalty: a global perspective [online]. Oxford Scholarship Online. Available at: https://www-oxfordscholarship-com.ezproxy.nottingham.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199228478.001.0001/acprof-9780199228478 [Accessed 8 May 2019]Hood, R, G (2004 ) The death penalty: beyond abolition. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Innocence Project (nd) DNA Exonerations in the United States [Online]. Available on 2019] .