discursive essay on capital punishment

5 Death Penalty Essays Everyone Should Know

Capital punishment is an ancient practice. It’s one that human rights defenders strongly oppose and consider as inhumane and cruel. In 2019, Amnesty International reported the lowest number of executions in about a decade. Most executions occurred in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Egypt . The United States is the only developed western country still using capital punishment. What does this say about the US? Here are five essays about the death penalty everyone should read:

“When We Kill”

By: Nicholas Kristof | From: The New York Times 2019

In this excellent essay, Pulitizer-winner Nicholas Kristof explains how he first became interested in the death penalty. He failed to write about a man on death row in Texas. The man, Cameron Todd Willingham, was executed in 2004. Later evidence showed that the crime he supposedly committed – lighting his house on fire and killing his three kids – was more likely an accident. In “When We Kill,” Kristof puts preconceived notions about the death penalty under the microscope. These include opinions such as only guilty people are executed, that those guilty people “deserve” to die, and the death penalty deters crime and saves money. Based on his investigations, Kristof concludes that they are all wrong.

Nicholas Kristof has been a Times columnist since 2001. He’s the winner of two Pulitizer Prices for his coverage of China and the Darfur genocide.

“An Inhumane Way of Death”

By: Willie Jasper Darden, Jr.

Willie Jasper Darden, Jr. was on death row for 14 years. In his essay, he opens with the line, “Ironically, there is probably more hope on death row than would be found in most other places.” He states that everyone is capable of murder, questioning if people who support capital punishment are just as guilty as the people they execute. Darden goes on to say that if every murderer was executed, there would be 20,000 killed per day. Instead, a person is put on death row for something like flawed wording in an appeal. Darden feels like he was picked at random, like someone who gets a terminal illness. This essay is important to read as it gives readers a deeper, more personal insight into death row.

Willie Jasper Darden, Jr. was sentenced to death in 1974 for murder. During his time on death row, he advocated for his innocence and pointed out problems with his trial, such as the jury pool that excluded black people. Despite worldwide support for Darden from public figures like the Pope, Darden was executed in 1988.

“We Need To Talk About An Injustice”

By: Bryan Stevenson | From: TED 2012

This piece is a transcript of Bryan Stevenson’s 2012 TED talk, but we feel it’s important to include because of Stevenson’s contributions to criminal justice. In the talk, Stevenson discusses the death penalty at several points. He points out that for years, we’ve been taught to ask the question, “Do people deserve to die for their crimes?” Stevenson brings up another question we should ask: “Do we deserve to kill?” He also describes the American death penalty system as defined by “error.” Somehow, society has been able to disconnect itself from this problem even as minorities are disproportionately executed in a country with a history of slavery.

Bryan Stevenson is a lawyer, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, and author. He’s argued in courts, including the Supreme Court, on behalf of the poor, minorities, and children. A film based on his book Just Mercy was released in 2019 starring Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx.

“I Know What It’s Like To Carry Out Executions”

By: S. Frank Thompson | From: The Atlantic 2019

In the death penalty debate, we often hear from the family of the victims and sometimes from those on death row. What about those responsible for facilitating an execution? In this opinion piece, a former superintendent from the Oregon State Penitentiary outlines his background. He carried out the only two executions in Oregon in the past 55 years, describing it as having a “profound and traumatic effect” on him. In his decades working as a correctional officer, he concluded that the death penalty is not working . The United States should not enact federal capital punishment.

Frank Thompson served as the superintendent of OSP from 1994-1998. Before that, he served in the military and law enforcement. When he first started at OSP, he supported the death penalty. He changed his mind when he observed the protocols firsthand and then had to conduct an execution.

“There Is No Such Thing As Closure on Death Row”

By: Paul Brown | From: The Marshall Project 2019

This essay is from Paul Brown, a death row inmate in Raleigh, North Carolina. He recalls the moment of his sentencing in a cold courtroom in August. The prosecutor used the term “closure” when justifying a death sentence. Who is this closure for? Brown theorizes that the prosecutors are getting closure as they end another case, but even then, the cases are just a way to further their careers. Is it for victims’ families? Brown is doubtful, as the death sentence is pursued even when the families don’t support it. There is no closure for Brown or his family as they wait for his execution. Vivid and deeply-personal, this essay is a must-read for anyone who wonders what it’s like inside the mind of a death row inmate.

Paul Brown has been on death row since 2000 for a double murder. He is a contributing writer to Prison Writers and shares essays on topics such as his childhood, his life as a prisoner, and more.

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About the author, emmaline soken-huberty.

Emmaline Soken-Huberty is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon. She started to become interested in human rights while attending college, eventually getting a concentration in human rights and humanitarianism. LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights, and climate change are of special concern to her. In her spare time, she can be found reading or enjoying Oregon’s natural beauty with her husband and dog.

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Capital Punishment

Persuasive writing - capital punishment..

Persuasive Writing

I believe  that capital punishment is wrong, and there should be no  place for it in a “civilised” society. If we are to call ourselves civilised then how can we execute people in such an inhumane way? Therefore in my opinion as long as we uphold capital punishment then we cannot  consider ourselves civil.

Some may argue that capital punishment is vital when someone threatens the basis of a moral community. They feel that if someone commits a vicious crime, by taking someone’s life, their own rights for life should be taken from them. However  my counter argument to theirs is based on forgiveness to the extent where the criminals instead of being killed are imprisoned for a period of time so that they still get another chance of living a normal life, at the same time as protecting the innocent public from further attacks.

This is not  my only reason for being against capital punishment there is also the important issue of convicting and killing an innocent person, that did not commit the vicious crime of taking someone’s life and breaking the morals of the community. In this case  the very reason for people arguing for capital punishment would be hypocritical, as they are killing an innocent person and therefore breaking their moral beliefs of protecting the innocent. A great example of someone that was faced with the death penalty who we now know  was innocent is Derek Bentley. He was hanged in 1953 for a murder, which he did not  commit. Instead  he tried to resolve the situation peacefully, and it did not work, his accomplice the murderer of the police officer got away with just  imprisonment as he was under age for the death penalty. This is just one  example of the many innocent who are victims of capital punishment.

This is a preview of the whole essay

If we now indulge deeper into the way someone gets convicted we can see how easily  a mistake can be made. A common court jury consists of twelve random ordinary people. Remember , if even a few of the jury believe in capital punishment instead of life in prison then the person is likely  to need a miracle to escape the conviction of the death penalty. Even if the people in the jury do not have biased views towards capital punishment, it is still ridiculous that twelve individuals can take your like away from you, of course  with the judge’s approval. Here is a fact that I found on a website: “A review of death penalty judgments over a twenty three year period found a national error rate of 68 %.” This is an amazing  amount of errors when it involves peoples’ lives. Another small fact that I find fascinating is that when someone pleads guilty instead of being proved guilty they are let off with a lighter  sentence more often than not. Surely  they have committed the same crime that brought them to court in the first place, and therefore surely  they should face the same sentence of imprisonment?

This leads me onto my next point about mentally handicapped people who have committed murder and then are facing the death penalty. This is clearly  outrageous, as these people cannot be held responsible for their actions. An example of someone that was executed due to murder is Morris who was executed on June 25, 1985. He had a lifelong history of paranoid schizophrenia and a mental age of 8. Now if you do not think that this is inhumane to sentence this person to death then you   have no heart .

Britain used to execute people, but in 1971 we came to our senses, at last , and capital punishment was abolished. Other countries in Europe that have also abolished capital punishment are Spain which did so in the 1970’s and France finally in 1981. Another  promising sign towards the total abolition of capital punishment is that to be part of the European Union, you cannot  take part in capital punishment. The EU even tried to talk the USA out of capital punishment but it evidently has not worked, and now  that Bush is president it is even less likely to be abolished, as he is for capital punishment. Britain is the only  country in Western Europe that still  debates whether to bring back capital punishment, frankly I think that this is very sickening , and worrying . Their argument for brining back capital punishment is that it is a bigger deterrent from murder than imprisonment. However  amazingly enough it appears to work the other way around, the murder rate in Britain has dropped substantially since the early 1970’s when capital punishment was abolished and this only provides more evidence against the argument for capital punishment.

There are other  countries apart from the USA that take-part in executions, for example China, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. China lives under communist rule, and there are therefore bound  to be executions. As long as China stays  communist the executions will not stop . Yes  this is distressing to hear, but part of communism involves the execution of “suspected” people, so you cannot plead with China to abolish capital punishment let alone executing suspects, it would never  happen. Iraq is in a similar position except  it is not communist based, it is dictatorship based. Therefore the dictator of the country, Saddam Hussein, has to use  measures such as execution to sustain power over the country. Saudi Arabia is a very religious place, and therefore even  a bad deed as simple as stealing can cause in your hand being severed . You  can imagine what happens when you kill someone! All these countries that I have mentioned here, have an excuse for executing people. I am not  saying that they are right in doing so, because I believe that taking someone’s life in revenge is wrong  or even taking someone’s life for your own benefit, however we have to respect the way that their everyday lives are lived, which involves executions and death sentences. A country with no  excuse is the USA. It is not communist, dictator, or religiously based, in fact  the country is considered the most democratic in the world. The USA likes to consider themselves leaders in the human right issues, but how can they when they still have capital punishment, where the amount of death sentences have been on the increase  since 1990?

To conclude, I find capital punishment distressing  and I believe that it should be abolished  from the face of the earth, even though I know this is not likely to happen. Everyone makes some  mistake during their lifetime, but we normally learn from them, and therefore never make the same mistakes again, or even try not to make the same mistakes again. I feel that the murderers should be given the same  opportunity to learn from their mistakes, which they cannot do being dead. Therefore the issue of capital punishment is an important  one, and I hope that one day not  so far in the future people will wake up and realise the mistake  they have made with capital punishment.

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Ugandan Court Upholds Draconian Anti-Gay Law

The law, which includes the death penalty as a punishment in some cases, has been strongly condemned, including by the United States.

By Abdi Latif Dahir

Reporting from Nairobi, Kenya

Uganda’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday largely upheld a sweeping anti-gay law that President Yoweri Museveni signed last year, undermining the efforts of activists and rights groups to abolish legislation that drew worldwide condemnation and strained the East African nation’s relationship with the West.

The legislation, which was signed into law by Mr. Museveni in May, calls for life imprisonment for anyone who engages in gay sex. Anyone who tries to have same-sex relations could face up to a decade in prison.

Uganda has faced international consequences for passing the law, with the World Bank suspending all new funding and the United States imposing sanctions and visa restrictions on top Ugandan officials. But the law was popular in Uganda, a landlocked nation of over 48 million people, where religious and political leaders frequently inveigh against homosexuality.

The fallout for Uganda will be watched closely in other African countries where a nti-gay sentiment is on the rise and anti-gay legislation is under consideration, including in Kenya, Namibia, Tanzania and South Sudan. In February, Ghana’s Parliament passed an anti-gay law , but the country’s president said that he would not sign it until the Supreme Court ruled on its constitutionality.

In Uganda, the five-judge bench said the law violated several key rights granted in the country’s Constitution, including the right to health and privacy. They also struck down sections of the law that criminalized failing to report homosexual acts, allowing any premises to be used to commit homosexuality or giving someone a “terminal illness” through gay sex.

But in their 200-page judgment, the judges largely rejected the request to quash the law.

“We decline to nullify the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 in its entirety, neither will we grant a permanent injunction against its enforcement,” Richard Buteera, one of the judges, said in a reading of the judgment’s summary to a packed courtroom. He added, “The upshot of our judgment is that this petition substantially fails.”

Frank Mugisha, a prominent gay rights activist and one of the petitioners, said that they would appeal the Constitutional Court’s decision to the Supreme Court.

“I am very sad,” Mr. Mugisha said in a telephone interview. “The judges have been swayed by the propaganda from the anti-gay movement who kept saying that this is in the public interest and refuting all the arguments that we made that relate to the Constitution and international obligations.”

The law in Uganda decrees the death penalty for anyone convicted of “aggravated homosexuality,” a sweeping term defined as acts of same-sex relations with minors or disabled people, those carried out under threat or while someone is unconscious. Even being accused of what the law refers to as “attempted aggravated homosexuality” carries a prison sentence of up to 14 years.

Passage of the law — which also imposes harsh fines on organizations convicted of promoting homosexuality — alarmed human rights advocates, who said it would give new impetus for the introduction of equivalent draconian laws in other African nations. Uganda is among the African countries that already ban gay sex, but the new law creates additional offenses and prescribes far more punitive penalties.

The United Nations, along with local and international human rights groups, said that the law conflicted with Uganda’s Constitution and that it would most likely be used to harass and intimidate its L.G.B.T.Q. population.

The ratification of the Anti-Homosexuality Act, as the law is officially known, renewed scrutiny of the government of Mr. Museveni, who has ruled Uganda with a tight grip for almost four decades. Mr. Museveni, his son — whom he recently appointed as head of the army — and other top members of his government have been accused of detaining, beating, torturing and disappearing critics and opposition members.

The law was first introduced in March last year by a lawmaker who said that homosexuality was becoming pervasive and threatening the sanctity of the Ugandan family. Some legislators also claimed that their constituents had notified them of alleged plans to promote and recruit schoolchildren into homosexuality — accusations that rights groups said were false.

Anti-gay sentiment is prevalent among Muslim and Christian lawmakers and religious leaders from both faiths. They say that homosexuality is a Western import, and they held rallies to show support for the law before it passed.

A few weeks after it was introduced in Parliament, the law was quickly passed with only two lawmakers opposing it.

Activists, academics and human rights lawyers who challenged the law in court said it contravened not only Uganda’s Constitution, which guarantees freedom from discrimination, but also international treaties, including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. They also argued that Parliament passed the law too quickly, with not enough time allowed for public participation — arguments the judgments rejected in their decision.

Human rights groups said that since the law was introduced and passed, L.G.B.T.Q. Ugandans have faced intensive violence and harassment.

Convening for Equality, a coalition of human rights groups in Uganda, has documented hundreds of rights violations and abuses, including arrests and forced anal examinations. Gay and transgender Ugandans have also been evicted from their homes and beaten up by family members — forcing many to flee to neighboring countries like Kenya .

The law’s passage brought swift repercussions for Uganda, too. Health experts also worried the law would hinder medical access for gay people, especially those seeking H.I.V. testing, prevention and treatment.

The United States said it would restrict visas for current and former Ugandan officials who were believed to be responsible for enacting the anti-gay policy. The Biden administration also issued a business advisory for Uganda and removed the country from a special program that allows African products duty-free access to the United States.

The World Bank, citing the anti-gay law, also said in August it would halt all future funding to Uganda . The economic pressures continued to pile on, with foreign travelers and investors staying away from Uganda.

Ahead of the ruling, Mr. Museveni remained publicly defiant, but analysts and diplomats said he privately worried about his country’s being labeled an outcast, and the devastating economic repercussions it was causing.

On Wednesday, members of the L.G.B.T.Q. community said the court’s judgment would not only amplify the government’s antagonism toward gay people but also deepen the animosity they face from members of the public.

The court’s decision opens a “Pandora’s box” that will push the lives of gay Ugandans “further more into darkness,” said Steven Kabuye, a gay rights advocate who fled to Canada after he was stabbed in January in an attack that activists said was spurred by homophobia linked to the law.

“I feel very disappointed but not surprised,” Mr. Kabuye said in a telephone interview.

Abdi Latif Dahir is the East Africa correspondent for The Times, based in Nairobi, Kenya. He covers a broad range of issues including geopolitics, business, society and arts. More about Abdi Latif Dahir