Death penalty
Introduction (94 words)
Death punishment has been part of the Australian legal system since British settlement but in 1973 the 'Death Penalty Abolition Act 1973’ (law) of the Commonwealth abolished death penalty for federal offences, which was replaced by life imprisonment.
However in 2005, Australian political leaders of the majority and Prime Minister John Howard expressed their support (beliefs) towards death penalty for President Saddam Hussein.
The questions presupposed are: “Should we allow death penalty in some cases such as Saddam Hussein? What will be the boundaries between what is acceptable and what is not?” (morals and ethics)
Body (400 words)
The death penalty is an ethical (ethics) problem involving moral issues (morals) such as the value of human life (beliefs) and the right to live. Death punishment is usually considered as torture, cruelty, and inhumanity (morals and ethics). Death penalty violates the most fundamental human right (values) which is the right to life. Capital punishment is often defended by society as a moral obligation to assure the safety and welfare of its citizens (values secular).
The catholic position on capital punishment considers it as “an offence against the dignity and sanctity of all human life”. Such thoughts of revenge (emotion) exist in contradiction with the values and beliefs that life is a gift from God (belief and sacred values)
However, supporters of the death penalty have various arguments (beliefs) that are sometimes implicit. The execution of murderers provides families and friends of the victims the satisfaction (emotion) of not seeing the murderer of their loved one continuing to live (revenge) (emotion), while guaranteeing that dangerous criminals will never be committing crimes again. Some people also believe that taxpayers should not have their money contribute to funding prisons for detention of life sentenced criminals.
My personal ethic on this topic is