Death Penalty: A Deterrent Or A Cruelty

Tanya Rohilla, JEMTEC, Department of Law, Greater Noida

“An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind” - Mahatma Gandhi

ABSTRACT

As the centuries have passed, we have witnessed numerous dynastic upheavals. The adoption of the death penalty also known as capital punishment, a method of enforcing justice was the only factor that connected them. The term ‘capital’ was originated from the Latin word ‘capitalis’, which means concerning the head.2 This is the practice of executing someone as punishment for a specific crime following a fair court trial. Only those who have committed the most heinous crimes are given the death punishment. Its a controversial matter that has been debated for centuries and will probably be for many more years. This paper has concentrated on the modes of the death penalty, explored the arguments for and against it, and have looked for pieces of evidence on whether or not the death penalty is an effective crime deterrent and has come to the conclusion that it is better to abolish this cruel punishment rather than retaining it since it doesn’t serve the purpose for which it was established. This paper has also discussed the constitutional validity of death penalty through some cases where the constitutionality of the death penalty was challenged previously.

Keywords: Capital Punishment, Death Penalty, Detterent, Abolitionist, Retentionist, Constitutional Validity, Human rights, Mitigating factors, Aggravating factors.