The death penalty. An ethical investigation

Pre-University Paper from the year 2014 in the subject Ethics, grade: 15 points, , language: English, abstract: The death penalty is generally understood as the punishment of a criminal for his committed illegal acts with the measure of killing this person by an intervention of the state. This punishment is usually preceded by a trial in which the sentence of death is determined. The death penalty is still legal in many states today, despite the worldwide ethical, moral and legal debates, and despite the fact that the death penalty contradicts current human rights. Even liberal, democratic states such as the United States use the death penalty as a legal means of combating crime. The pro- and contra-argumentation is characterized by examples of miscarriages of justice, the sentencing of minors, among others, or by unpunished executions not legitimized by the state, e.g. lynch law. The death penalty is still imposed today not only for murder, but also for many other criminal offenses. Crimes punished in this way include bank robbery (Saudi Arabia), kidnapping, human trafficking (China), robbery (USA), rape (China, Saudi Arabia, India), drug trafficking/possession, illegal use of firearms (Singapore), terrorist attacks (India), adultery (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan), prostitution (Iraq), homosexuality (Iran, Saudi Arabia, and others), pimping (Saudi Arabia), witchcraft (Saudi Arabia), and others. Although more and more countries are opting for the complete abolition of the death penalty and are working hard to enforce this trend worldwide, the death penalty is still an everyday practice in many countries.