Pros and Cons of the Death Penalty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Pros and Cons of the Death Penalty - Essay Example Many researchers, human rights activist and the Catholic Church argue that death penalty is against human rights, morality and ethical considerations. There are also a large number of people who oppose death penalty because of the cruel inhuman way it is administered. In this respect, James Coleman observes that the application of the death penalty today in the American judicial system is quite arbitrary and inconsistent (The Death Penalty: Arbitrariness and the Death Penalty). Similarly, Coleman, citing the famous Lockett v. Ohio in 1978, goes on to argue that the ultimate decision of the jury to impose the death penalty is usually followed by the defendant’s opportunity to plead for mercy. It is also a fact that there are many deserving defendants who are eligible for the death penalty but escape the capital punishment and vice versa which pose a number of questions on the amount of fairness in administering death penalty. Even when the advocates of death penalty hold that i t should be imposed ‘fairly and with reasonable consistency’ despite the legal formulas and procedural rules â€Å"the death penalty remains fraught with arbitrariness, discrimination...and mistake† (The Death Penalty: Pro and Con).