Capital Punishment In Canada

Capital punishment is crime's most dreaded consequence, death. Hanging was Canada's form of capital punishment up until 1976 when it was abolished. Webster's Dictionary defines capital punishments as: "The penalty of death for the commission of a crime." (Webster's, 1994, 43). The chance of capital punishment being reinstated in Canada has been very slim up until now. Recently the Canadian Alliance Party has put forth efforts to reinstate it, which has put the controversial topic back up for debate. This has divided many Canadians concerning their beliefs. Capital punishment should never be reinstated in Canada as it is a barbaric practice that is unjust. This essay will clearly demonstrate that reinstating capital punishment

Capital Punishment is a sensitive topic that seems to constantly generate controversy amongst many individuals. To give a little background, capital punishment involves executing a person deemed guilty of a severe crime. Various countries, including America, accept the use of this method. However, other countries such as Canada are strictly against the act due to many reasons. Although some argue that they are the best form of punishment, life imprisonment is the better alternative. It is more humane, improves the financial and social state of the country, and finally is safer.

The debate on whether or not the death penalty should be abolished has been ongoing for quite a long period of time. While there are those who believe that the death penalty does not serve its intended purpose, proponents of the same are convinced that the relevance of the same cannot be overstated and hence it should not be abolished. In this text, I examine the arguments for and against the death penalty.

Correspondingly, it is common knowledge that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms explicitly states that “all Canadians have the right to live...” Yet the concept of the death penalty seems to be the pardoned exception. Should the death penalty be reinstated it would become immensely hypocritical for the government to continue preaching that life is important when they would be the ones taking it away. It is clear one cannot cure murder with more murder so does it matter by whom the killing is done? By taking a human life the government is lessening the value of life. One might dismiss this as the devaluation of a murderer could be seen as a just compromise, but the government is viewed as a higher power, the one in control. When the

The moral and ethical debate on the sentencing and enforcement of capital punishment has long baffled the citizens and governing powers of the United States. Throughout time, the interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, and the vast majority beliefs of Americans, have been in a constant state of perplexity. Before the 1960s, the Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution were interpreted as permitting the death penalty. However, in the early 1960s, it was suggested that the death penalty was a "cruel and unusual" punishment and therefore unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment. Many argue that capital punishment is an absolute necessity, in order to deter crime, and to ‘make things right’ following a heinous crime of murder. Despite the belief that capital punishment may seem to be the only tangible, permanent solution to ending future capital offenses, the United States should remove this cruel and unnecessary form of punishment from our current judicial systems.

As Ghandi once said, “You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty”. Canada is a society based around democracy; if the government grants themselves the absolute power to end a person’s life with a single sentence, there are bound to be negative repercussions. It is human nature to makes mistakes, but it is a virtue to learn from them. Instead of resulting to the death penalty as a punishment for committing a serious crime, society should have faith in that person’s ability to change, improve, and be rehabilitated. Moreover, the death penalty is an ineffective way to punish criminals when it comes to serious crimes. If anything, it is an escape for those who have no remorse for their actions. There is no reason to end the life of a human being, no matter how malevolent they are, as it does not benefit society in any way, shape, or form. One could argue that the offender would no longer be able to harm others, but that same result could come from a prison sentence. Furthermore, the rights outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, are fundamental human rights that are not subject to a select group of people, but all of humanity. Capital punishment, no matter the reason, is essentially still murder, as the life of another human is being taken. Limitations must be set in order to separate humanity from the criminals it harbors. Society

As of 2008, fifty-eight, about one-third of the world’s countries, favor the death penalty, including the United States (Death Penalty Information Center). Currently, thirty-five out of the fifty states, including California, Florida, Arizona, Kentucky, Texas and even Washington, have legalized capital punishment (Death Penalty Information Center, 2010). As of January 1st, 2010, 3291 inmates were awaiting their punishment on death row (Death Penalty Information Center, 2010). California holds most of them, with 697, followed by Florida with 398 (Death Penalty Information Center, 2010). The 2009 FBI Uniform Crime Report showed and stated the South has the highest murder rate of all areas of the country and is therefore directly related to being responsible for over 80% of all executions. Also, consistent with previous reports, the Northeast has the lowest homicide rate of the nation and is only responsible with a small 1% of execution (Death Penalty Information Center, 2010). Now, in regards to Canada, the death penalty is a sentencing that the country does not justify. However, it has not always been this way. It wasn’t until 1976 that the death penalty was removed from the Canadian Criminal Act, where it was then replaced with the mandatory life sentencing without the chance of parole for the first twenty-five years. This was true for all first-degree murders (Munroe, 2010). Following that date, in 1998 capital punishment was removed from the

Most importantly there are no statistics or proven facts that capital punishment deters and protects society from future criminals. In fact in 2004 Canada's homicide rate was 1.95 per 100,000 people (Statistics Canada); this was almost three times lower than that of the United States which came in at 5.6 per100 000 people (U.S. Department of Justice). Though there are other factors influencing homicide rate, it is still and indicator of the deficiency of capital punishment. Trudeau stated in his famous speech of 1976 "If we have reason to believe that hanging will protect society from murder and violent crime, if this cause or relation can be established then hanging is permissible…..having looked at the debates and looked at the statistics now and the passed its obviously not established…..when human life is at stake you solve it in favor of life not death." (CBC Canada)

“The total number of death penalties between 1867 and 1971 is 1481. The total number of executions is 710, 697 men and 13 women” (February 10, 1956). So many men and women died, some innocent, some guilty. However no crime is big or bad enough that it should take someone’s life away. Who are they to judge whether or not we should keep our lives, they were not the ones who gave it to us. And in the situation that they do kill an innocent person, they should die as well for murder, like the law states. Finally we do not have to live like this, “The argument against the death penalty eventually won Canadians over and the practice was abolished in 1976. Sadly this was after Wilbert Coffin” (February 10, 1956). After 104 years of executions and wrongfully committed victims who lost their lives for a crime they never committed, finally the eyes of society have been opened and people realized this practice was

As violence becomes an increasing concern among Canadians, people are calling for the reinstatement of capital punishment. This controversial issue has been ailing politicians and public morality since its abolition in 1976. As one examines the arguments for and against the reinstatement of capital punishment; examples of modern day cases dealing with capital punishment; and statistics on such cases, one can better appreciate the reasons why this barbaric form of punishment should remain in the past.

is, does Canada really need to re-introduce capital punishment? Canada as a country is doing

In conclusion not only is the death penalty a cruel and unlawful punishment, but when the right to live freely is denied it is also a violation of basic human rights. There are around 140 countries that have abolished the death penalty, with still no international law forbidding the use of it. Nevertheless, Canada has spent around 15-20 billion on the Criminal Justice system in hopes that it will help solve crime. In the end, most Canadians would agree that bringing back the death penalty is a dishonest punishment, with permanent results and in no way promises that it will help decrease the crime rate and keep Canadians safe.

For thirty eight years capital punishment has been illegal in Canada. Many people were against the abolishment of capital punishment in 1976 however, the law was passed as a result of Canada temporarily prohibiting the death penalty across the country in 1967 for five years. After the success of the temporary suspension, Pierre Elliott Trudeau passed a bill that suggested the death penalty should be permanently illegal in Canada. The death penalty has been the root of many debates in Canada about what is more important: law or justice? Socrates and Plato, philosophers who are firm believers in natural law would agree with the death penalty and would oppose the bill that made it become illegal.

More than two third of the countries in the world have abolished the death penalty in law. More than 58 Nations who have not abolished it, and only 18 are known to have carried out the execution. After the law of 1988 in Canada capital punishment was removed due to free votes and then some more countries have stopped executions in practice. But why? Does criminals have rights to live their lives, even breath, even have respect from country, even have peace? How come a criminal deserve this? Nowadays, for a criminal killing someone is paying fines or some year of jail but with the capital punishment, crime will tend to be a fearness if the justice becomes equal to every individual Of the citizen of Canada. Capital punishment in Canada should

On March 15th, 2015, Amy Minsky, a reporter for Global News released a news article about Stephen Harper’s new tough on crime proposal. Stephen Harper wanted to change the length of imprisonment for people sentenced to life. His proposed bill was called “Life Means Life”. This meant that people who committed the most brutal and heinous crimes would be sentenced to spend the rest of their living days, without parole, behind bars. The purpose of this paper is to argue that Stephen Harper’s approach to being tough on crime is problematic.