The first reason why I do not support the death penalty is because it violates religious beliefs. Many religions such as Christianity follow the Ten Commandments. The one, yet, most important commandment states “Thou shall not Kill.” If you are executing an individual, that clearly violates this commandment. Murdering any person, no matter what the individual has been convicted of, is a moral sin. I believe that religious beliefs, such as the Ten Commandments, are the cornerstone for our law system. What are your beliefs? Check out other peoples comments about the death penalty.
Secondly, the death penalty was abolished in 1961 for a reason. They did not simply change it overnight. The Government knew our legal system was not perfect every time. So, the likelihood of an innocent individual being executed was apparent. One case in particular, was Walter Bolton; he was convicted for poisoning his wife. However, his death raised unusual questions. Apparently, very small amounts of arsenic had been located in Beatrice’s tea, which also happened to be located in their water supply. Even Bolton himself and his daughter had arsenic found in them. So, basically, long story short, Bolton was still found guilty even though the jury knew the arsenic was in Bolton’s house water supply.
Later on, an article in the newspaper claimed that Bolton’s execution had gone dreadfully wrong. Rather than having his neck broken the instant the trapdoor opened, Bolton, allegedly, slowly strangled to death. This case a long with others, formed, the operational arm of sociality to abolish, once in for all, the death penalty in New Zealand. To find out more about New Zealand's stand aganist other countries with the death penalty click here
Oh sure!!! "We always hear that many criminals are being let go out of jail due to the over crowded jail space, and so by getting rid of the criminal by the death penalty we would be able to create more space in the jails and so we won’t be letting criminals out as early."Okay fine; I can understand why some people may want the death penalty to decrease the amount people in jail. But, is there a difference between state killing and murder? The end result is the same; one more dead body, one more set of grieving parents, and one more cemetery plot.
Above all, the Government needs to inform themselves and the rest of the community so that together they can develop a policy to never reintroduce the death penalty. By telling the community what happen to Walter Bolton and many others. The community can make a sound decision to whether or not to reintroduce the death penalty to New Zealand.
