Two viewpoints are conflicted about whether capital punishment is deterrent or not "The defendant is sentenced to death." It is a line that we are able to listen in many movies, dramas and in the law court. If a man commits a crime which is heinous enough to merit strict punishment, the punishment, including the determination of death, will be given to the criminal. For all that, death penalty is not always sentenced out regarding the crimes occuring in our society. This punishment is usually given to the criminals with convictions in murder, rape, corpse abandonment, and many others. Hence, when the brutal offenses take place, people concentrate on the result of the judgment whether the death punishment will be given or not.

Like this, capital punishment show its enormous possibility against criminals. With regards to this matter, some people insist that death penalty must be abolished while others strongly believe death punishment is proper to punish heinous offenders. People who oppose the death penalty system claim to protect the rights of defendants even against their violation of the general law. Human rights, which is ensured for everyone from birth to death, is noble and dignified. Nothing should invade every individual's rights, and the government has to guarantee it. What is more, there are probabilities of miscalculation during trail. If the judge announces a death penalty, even if his/her decision is wrong, we will not be able to go back to the conditions before the announcement of capital punishment.

On the other hand, the death penalty can contribute to reduce the incidence of crimes. People who support this opinion assert that we do not have to ensure the law-breakers' rights because they already ruined someone else's rights. Also, concerning the feelings of the bereaved, the criminals must be disqualified to make a place in our world.

In consideration of maintenance or abolition of death punishment, both point of views put up sensible reasons that we cannot help doing acknowledgement. The death penalty argument nowadays urges rethinking about the problems happening in our world, so that we are able to introspect our drawbacks.

By So-yeon Kim, June 24th