REVIVING THE DEATH PENALTY

Discussions on death penalty always create a lot of opposing reactions from different sectors in society. There are those who favor it thinking that with such punishment looming, the bad elements of society would have second thoughts committing crime. But there are also people who believe that it is too barbaric and is completely against the tenets of most religions. Although not new to the Philippines, the revival of the death penalty became one of the goals of the Duterte administration, which is dead set on eliminating the drug menace in the country. Let’s read on what our readers think of this proposal.

Yes, I think the government has to revive the death penalty due to the high crime rate. This way, it will make the public be aware that certain crimes will lead them to death penalty and by that, criminals might just stop. This will help make our country become a peaceful tourist destination. Reuter Hanz Velano, 20, marketing management student (USC)

Supported by research, there is no difference oin the crime rates of those countries that implement death penalty and those that do not; therefore, death penalty does not deter more effectively than long-term imprisonment. Human judgement cannot be an absolute determinant for deciding whether one deserves to live or not because the chance of error is inevitable. Once death penalty is imposed, it cannot be reversed or it cannot bring back the life taken. It is very hypocritical that the state will use killing to stop murder. If the goal of death penalty is to teach us the crimes that we should not do, then our justice system should appropriately teach us about the crime of killing by refusing to do it. Jero Carabit, 19, architecture student (FEU-Manila)