Death penalty has ever since agent times been important as punishment for criminals. In that period of time they had a saying: «You are not being punished for stealing sheep, but because of the fact that sheep are not to be stolen». Death penalty was used to prevent criminal actions. Is this barbaric and unethical, or isn’t it? Is it morally correct if all members of society accepts it? What effect does capital punishment have on society?
I won’t be the judge of how «right» or «wrong» death penalty is, morally speaking. I’d rather discuss the more practical consequences of it.
There are many problems with death penalty. First of all, there is no evidence for it deterring crime, nevertheless this is an argument which is often used to support it. Further this is a punishment which is a bit hard to alter, if new evidence should be brought to attention. You must accept that if you want death penalty to be carried out.
You can ask yourself. Doesn’t «an eye for an eye - mentality» make society harder and tougher? Most of those who support capital punishment, strongly represent that mentality. Very often it’s not the danger of repetition, but the claimed preventive effect which results in death penalty.