Should Society Possess the License to Kill?
Should Society Possess the License to Kill?
Society approves the death penalty by dehumanization through the objectification of the people on death row. This dehumanization allows for society to step back and objectify the people, thereby ‘giving the thumbs up’ to execute them...approving it. Thus, calling it as a tool of justice or rather calls it ‘justice is served’. However, the victims and society knowingly acknowledges the illogical fallacy of capital punishment: the person severing on death row killed another person to end up there, but they are to receive the same action they committed by the state and call it justice. To understand notion of this thought of dehumanization resulting in the approval of the death penalty, one must understand the history of the death penalty, what is it in society, their company, how society influences the individual to approve the death penalty and its actual execution, how dehumanization is dangerous to use to justify goals, and finally the illogical fallacy to capital punishment.
During colonial times of America, the Europeans brought with them their notions of justice with them including the idea of capital punishment. However, many more crimes were punishable in Early America such as in New York, hitting one’s parent was punishable by death. People recognize the nature of capital punishment and as a result wanted reforms to take place. In 1794, the state of Pennsylvania stopped imposing the death penalty for all offenses except first degree murder. This was the first of reforms that resulted in today’s modern death penalty. In modern times, one is able to gain the death punishment through first degree murder, treason, and espionage. The federal court is able to execute someone if that person so happens to commit a federal crime such as treason. Other then federal crimes, the state have the power to execute a person. Also the actual execution is now declared as ‘humane’ because it is not cruel or unusual punishment. For example Colonial times executed through public hanging or public burning on the stake. Today America executes through lethal injection, the electric chair and the rare fire assault team. Now it can be seen that society has incorporated the death penalty due to tradition and history, resulting in one of the reasons of approval of the death penalty. But one must see that reforms are taking place to achieve a goal, hopefully like many other societies,...