The document is a student's assignment on capital punishment that is 3 pages long. It begins with a cover sheet providing the student's details and a statement of originality. The body of the assignment then summarizes arguments for and against capital punishment in 3 paragraphs. It concludes by arguing that capital punishment should be banned given its irreversible nature and potential to punish innocent people.

1. YOU MUST COMPLETE THIS COVERSHEET AND ATTACH IT TO THE FRONT OF YOUR ASSIGNMENT.
Student No. 00018203 Student Name Mr. Srijan Thapa
Module No: MPU3253 Module Title Critical Thinking
Lecturer Name: Mr. Suraj Ratna Sthapit Word count: 1126
Course work Title: Capital punishment should be banned
Extract from the Student Conduct Regulations:
2.2.1Students shall comply at all times w ith the provisions of the Regulations for Candidates taking Assessments. In particular they
shall not commit impersonation, collusion, plagiarism, falsification, duplication, submit the w orkof others as their ow n, or
otherw ise cheat in any assessment.
Explanation of terms used in the Student Conduct Regulations:
Impersonation means taking an assessment on behalf of another student, or allow ing another person to take an assessment on
your behalf.
Collusion means producing assessed workby working with another person w ho you have not been authorized to w ork w ith by the
Module Leader. This includes, but is not limited to, allow ing another student to copy your w ork.
Falsification means presenting invented data, for example claiming that you have conducted interview s or sent out questionnaires
w hen you have not, or altering or making up your results.
Plagiarism means submitting the w ork of someone else as if it w ere your ow n. When you include someone else’s ideas in your
assignment, you must provide a reference in the text. If you copy someone else’s w ords(a quotation), you must show clearly in
the text how much w as copied by using speech marks. It is not enough just to list your references at the end of your
assignment. Guidance on the correct use of references can be found in on Moodle, and also in a handout in the Library.
Duplication means submitting w orkfor assessment w hichhas been assessed before, either in this University or elsew here, w ithout
acknow ledging the extent of the previous submission.
If you do not understand w hat any of these terms mean, you should ask your Module Leader to clarify them for you. The full regulations
may be read in the Library, or accessed on-line at
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY
Except for those parts in w hich it is explicitly stated to the contrary, this w ork is my ow n w ork. It has not been submitted for
assessment for credit previously at this or any other academic or professional institution.
Student signature ………………………………………………………Date: 15th
Dec 2021
CHECKLIST
Please check the follow ing statements are true and initial each box.
I have included a full bibliography using the Harvard style of referencing √
I have provided Harvard style references for all the ideas, empirical evidence and other materials I have
used in the main body of this piece of w ork
√
I have used quotation marks and referenced all passages (including page numbers) taken w ord for w ord
from my source material
√
I can make available evidence of the originality of my w ork, including notes, photocopies, drafts, primary
data and computer files
√
I completed this w ork w ithout any unauthorized help √

2. Rubrics of Assessment
Major Topics of Assessment Minor Topics of
Assessment
Marks
Introduction
Clear and Relevant
Background
1
Brief summary of main points
in article
2
Body
Conclusion
Arguments
First argument with premise
underlined
2
Explanation of type of
argument used
2
Second argument with premise
underlined
2
Explanation of type of
argument used
2
Third with premise
underlined
2
Explanation of type of
argument used
2
Opinion 2
Referencing Documentation of sources,
references, citations, quotes
2
Writing Mechanics Organization, language, craft
of writing
1

3. 1
Capital punishment should be banned
“Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do
not be too eager to deal out death in judgement.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
(Quotes: The Fellowship of the Ring - The Official Tolkien Online Bookshop, 2021). After
serving time on death row in the United States, eighteen persons have been found innocent and
exonerated by DNA testing. They were sentenced in 11 states and spent a total of 229 years in
jail for crimes they didn't commit, including 202 years on death row (Innocence Project, 2021).
With the rising number of crimes in our society today, some individuals continue to feel that
capital punishment, also known as death penalty, is the best solution. The morality of capital
punishment, on the other hand, is still a point of contention. Many people have wondered if
capital penalty is employed as a weapon of justice or revenge. This essay's core thesis will be
that capital punishment should be banned. The goal of this study is to give both pro and con
reasons for capital punishment. Retribution, deterrence and prevention will be explored in
support of capital punishment. Arguments opposing capital punishment, on the other side, will
include irreversibility, needless evil, and corrupting effect.
Retribution is one of the old arguments that tries to justify capital punishment. According to
retributivism, criminals should and deserve to be punished in proportion to the severity of their
offense (Pojman, 2005). This theory believes that the death penalty serves to prevent acts of
vengeance because if society fails to punish offenders in a way that is thought to be proportional
to the magnitude of their crime, we are more likely to see mob justice, which is retribution.
Another argument in favor of capital punishment is that it serves as a deterrent. Despite the lack
of clear proof, it is thought that the death sentence deters others from committing similar crimes
in the future. To put it another way, it deters would-be murderers. Latzer (2002), stated that
“deterrence is based on fear and that, since death is feared the most, it will deter best”. Wellman
also speculates that capital punishment can be ethically acceptable as a method of preventing the
offender from committing similar crimes in the future (Wellman, 1975).
Aside from the above-mentioned grounds in favor of capital punishment, many people including
me argue that capital punishment is ethically wrong regardless of the circumstances. Beliefs like
retribution and deterrent cannot justify killing someone. These ideas discard the facts like what if
some innocent person gets killed in the name of retribution and deterrent, for the crime that they

4. 2
even didn’t commit. With the flawed justice system there is the chance of making mistake during
trails and juridical procedure. These arguments are further discussed below with other ideas that
explains why capital punishment should not exist.
First, Abolitionists claim that capital punishment is wrong because there is no remedy for the act
of execution (Wellman, 1975). One cannot be bought back to life if he/she has been executed and
later proven innocent. The following argument is deductive because the conclusion follows
necessarily from the premises. An example to support this argument is, if a person is fined and it
is later determined that he or she was innocent, the money might be refunded, as well as
recompense for any psychological stress that may have occurred. However, if someone is
executed due to false acquisition, no one can give a person’s life back to them. One real example
is that in March 1950, Timothy Evans was found guilty of murdering his wife and baby daughter
and was sentenced to death. 16 years later, official investigation found that Evans' companion
renter, serial murderer John Reginald Halliday Christie was found to be the perpetrator of the
killings (Evans, 2021). Hence, irreversible sanctions such as the death sentence are always
incorrect since humans are prone to making mistakes in their legal systems.
Another statement that argues against capital punishment is that death sentence is just needless
evil as it can inflict suffering on the offender as well as those who take part in execution. There
have been many instances where some of the guards and executioners become mentally troubled
due to the act they have to commit during execution. The act of murdering may cause negative
effect on a rational being's psyche. The following argument is inductive because the conclusion
is plausible through given premises. More precisely, it is causal argument because it asserts that
given premises causes the given conclusion. In execution, many execution guards suffer from
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as seen in Into the Abyss, a documentary about convicted
killer Michael Perry's death sentence. Many guards have reported nightmares, insomnia,
depression, in ability to develop and sustain relationship and change in personality (Prison
Executioners Face Job-Related Trauma, 2021). Thus, I believe that even though these persons
are performing their job, it creates severe impact on the individuals, their family and society as a
whole.
Another factor like corrupting effect in the judicial system also makes the death sentence even
more sensitive. No judicial system in the world is perfect. Judges and lawyers can be bribed and

5. 3
the final verdict can be influenced through money. As a result, innocent person might get
punishment for the crime that they didn’t commit. With these issues, punishment like death
which is irreversible should not exist in the world. The above argument is inductive because the
given premises show the conclusion likely to occur. It is also causal argument, as it asserts that
given premises causes the given conclusion. In many cases, most capital defendants are unable to
afford their own legal representation. In most cases, poor people are assigned court-appointed
lawyers who are inexperienced, ill-equipped to handle such cases, have limited resources to
prepare the case, and are overburdened with caseloads to the point where they cannot devote the
time required to defend a capital case. The wealthy, on the other hand, have enough money to
hire costly, well-trained, and well-equipped lawyers who can commit the time necessary to
prepare for the case (Jersild P T and Johnson D A, 1993).
To conclude, death penalty has created many unwanted sufferings to many people. Given
today's global crime rate, the public may be in favor of death punishment, but I believe it is still
inappropriate based on the grounds mentioned above. As an irreversible action, no arguments
like retribution and deterrence can justify the killing of people with flawed justice system.
Numerous real-life examples proves that many innocent individuals have lost their life due to it.
Hence, the death penalty should not exist in the world and it should be removed completely from
the judicial system of the world.

6. Reference
Pojman, L P 2005. A Defense of the Death Penalty, in Cohen, A I and Wellman, C H (eds).
Contemporary debates in Ethics, 120-136. Malden: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Latzer, B 2002. Death Penalty Cases: Leading U.S. Supreme Court Cases on Capital
Punishment. New York: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Wellman, C 1975. Morals and Ethics. Illinois: Scott, Foresman and Company.
Jersild, P T and Johnson, D A (eds) 1993. Moral Issues and Christian Response. New York:
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College publishers.
Evans, J., 2021. The hanging of a man wrongly accused of killing his wife and child. [online]
WalesOnline. Available at: <https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/timothy-evans-
rillington-place-murder-18051253> [Accessed 6 December 2021].
Psychology Today. 2021. Prison Executioners Face Job-Related Trauma. [online] Available at:
<https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/talking-about-trauma/201810/prison-executioners-
face-job-related-trauma> [Accessed 6 December 2021].
The Official Tolkien Online Bookshop. 2021. Quotes: The Fellowship of the Ring - The Official
Tolkien Online Bookshop. [online] Available at: <https://www.tolkien.co.uk/quotes-fellowship-
ring/#:~:text=Many%20that%20live%20deserve%20death,some%20that%20die%20deserve%20
life.&text=Then%20do%20not%20be%20too,wise%20cannot%20see%20all%20ends.%E2%80
%9D> [Accessed 6 December 2021].
Innocence Project. 2021. The Innocent and the Death Penalty - Innocence Project. [online]
Available at: <https://innocenceproject.org/the-innocent-and-the-death-penalty/> [Accessed 6
December 2021].