Capital punishment, also called death penalty, execution of an offender
sentenced to death after conviction by a court of law of a criminal offense.
The term death penalty is sometimes used interchangeably with capital punishment,
though imposition of the penalty is not always followed by execution (even when it is
upheld on appeal), because of the possibility of commutation to life imprisonment.
Capital punishment has long engendered considerable debate about both its morality
and its effect on criminal behaviour. Contemporary arguments for and against capital
punishment fall under three general headings: moral, utilitarian, and practical.
Practice
Also exist to other factors that preclude the
possibility that capital punishment can be fairly
applied
opponents maintain that the historical application of
capital punishment shows that any attempt to single
out certain kinds of crime as deserving of death will
inevitably be arbitrary and discriminatory
Those who support capital punishment believe that it is
possible to fashion laws and procedures that ensure that
only those who are really deserving of death are executed
Utilitarian
Opponents, however, point to research that generally has
demonstrated that the death penalty is not a more effective deterrent
than the alternative sanction of life or long-term imprisonment.
Supporters of capital punishment also claim that it has a uniquely
potent deterrent effect on potentially violent offenders for whom
the threat of imprisonment is not a sufficient restraint.
Moral
Opponents of capital punishment, argue that, by legitimizing the very
behaviour that the law seeks to repress—killing—capital punishment is
counterproductive in the moral message it conveys
Supporters of the death penalty believe that those who commit murder,
because they have taken the life of another, have forfeited their own right to
life. Furthermore, they believe, capital punishment is a just form of retribution
In Colombia
Article 11 of the Colombian Constitution provides that the right
to life is inviolable and forbids the use of the death penalty
Abolished in 1910 by Constitutional reform. Prohibited by
the Colombian Constitution of 1991: "The right to life is
inviolable. There will be no death penalty
Colombia has introduced the possibility of a lifetime jail sentence for the rape or murder of children
The justice system it's very corrupt and
also very inefficent. There may be cases where an
innocent person is convicted to death unfairly