Death penalty for premeditated murder

Death penalty for premeditated murder

Any normal society has all categories of people, including even the murderers. Some of the known or ever heard murder cases are either planned or accidental. Murder is the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another. for murder to be unpremeditated, the method or rather the design to kill must have preceded the murder itself by a good length of time (Palmer, 1998).This unpredicted loss of a human being brings enormous grief and sorrow upon the individuals close to the victim, in addition to the fact that the commission of a murder is highly detrimental to the good order within society. Premeditation involves reflection, which is not a function of time but sequential logic (Palmer, 1998). Most societies both present and in the past consider it a more serious crime which deserves the harshest of punishment. It is therefore against the social code of any society to murder and most countries in the world have made this a very serious criminal offence.

Despite the strict punishment given to the murderers or murderesses, the society still experiences murder cases from time to time. Military killing in most countries is a common phenomenon, yet they are not considered as murder cases by many. Most governments and the media too label them as human killings, whether performed in the line of duty or not. This is because most people in a way, agree with this uncouth behavior and it is like the government has received the go ahead to perform these indecent acts but no one raise an eyebrow, except for the few human right activists. The criminal incidences in which somebody rarely misses to encounter the greatest enemy of life, death, happen with some in broad daylight. Nobody can negate the indisputable truth that murder is socially unacceptable and religion considers this a great sin.

The verdict of those involved in this act is of serious concern in most societies. Murder of the convicts is the most likely option. It takes more time to overcome the pain of losing a loved one sorry to say, given the circumstances leading to the death. Looking at the whole issue from the human nature, the convicts ‘deserves’ death. Death however, is not the solution to human problems. Death of the convicts is a hidden form of revenge and this has never proved to be a solution to the most common differences between men. The circumstances leading to the death need to be investigated clearly without any form of malice to avoid any form of biasness.

It is not possible for a man to eliminate another from existence with no apparent reason. The mistake most people make, including the laws made by men is to try picturing the victims of such occasions innocent. The possibility of the dead being on the wrong is very high but due to their unavailability to testify in a court of law leaves the other part carrying the whole blame. In addition, emotional stability is not a consistent thing in men. Men change in emotions from time to time due to ever changing demands in the society. Examining all these factors is the challenge of the judicial systems.

In conclusion therefore, other forms of sentencing can be a solution. Life imprisonment, for example, can be a solution, somehow. Despite the injustice act, men need to be shown mercy once in a while because they can prove of help in the future. In addition, the right to counsel has proven of a serious concern of late and has been successfully used to challenge other forms of judgment (Torbet et al, 1996)

List of references;

Palmer, J. L. (1998). The death penalty: an American citizen’s guide to understanding federal and state laws. McFarland

Torbet, P., Gable, R., Hurst, H., Montgomery, I. (1996). State Responses to Serious & Violent Juvenile Crime. DIANE Publishing