Amnesty International has articulated six significant reasons in support of their stance that the death penalty should be abolished.
While many nations around the globe have ceased to employ the death penalty, certain countries continue to incorporate it as part of sentencing for severe offenses, with the United States being one of them.
The death penalty remains legal in 27 US states. Recent controversy has arisen due to ‘inhumane’ executions involving a new technique called nitrogen hypoxia, which results in an inmate being suffocated by nitrogen gas.
Amnesty International, which has been active since the 1960s, has renewed its call for the death penalty to become obsolete, irrespective of the crime committed.
In a recent press release, the organization outlined six critical reasons for its abolition, highlighting the numerous issues it poses within a justice system.
The organization stated: “The death penalty (also known as capital punishment) is the premeditated, judicially sanctioned killing of an individual by a state. It’s an irreversible and violent punishment that has no place in any criminal justice system.
“We oppose the use of the death penalty in every single case. No matter what the crime, who the alleged criminal is, or the method proposed to execute them – we will always stand against it.”
Their first reason for opposing it is that it infringes upon an individual’s human rights.
They explained that sentencing someone to death breaches two fundamental human rights enshrined in international law, as established by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
These rights include: the right to life and the right to not be tortured or subjected to cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment.
Their second reason directly counters the claims of those who advocate for corporal punishment.
Amnesty argued that the existence of the death penalty does not effectively deter crime, providing data to back this claim.
They cited: “A 2012 report by independent researchers at America’s National Research Council of the Academies found that US states using the death penalty have a similar murder rate to states that don’t use it: the threat of capital punishment did not appear to prevent homicides.”
Their third reason underscores a deeply concerning aspect of the death penalty, regardless of one’s stance.
The organization emphasized that the death penalty is irrevocable, and errors can occur during investigations of serious crimes, potentially leading to wrongful executions or time on death row.
They noted: “Since 1976, 195 US death row prisoners have been exonerated completely for their crimes. Who knows how many have been executed for a crime they did not commit?”
In addition to this, countries in the Middle East and North Africa implement the death penalty, where flawed justice systems can result in the targeting and wrongful execution of innocent individuals.
Moreover, the organization pointed out that the death penalty is often applied in a discriminatory manner, disproportionately affecting minority groups.
It can also be wielded as a political tool to silence those perceived as threats to the established order.