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Featured debateCrime and Justice
Should the death penalty be abolished?
Most countries have now abolished it, yet executions worldwide rose to their highest level in a decade in 2024. The debate turns on three questions: rights, deterrence and mistakes.
Pro: abolish it
- Executions can't be undone.185 people sentenced to death in the US have later been exonerated.
- There's no proof it deters crime.Decades of research can't show it prevents more murders than prison does.
- It costs more than life in prison.Long trials and appeals make death penalty cases far more expensive.
Con: keep it
- The worst crimes deserve the ultimate punishment.Justice means the punishment should match the crime.
- It protects the public permanently.An executed murderer can never kill again, in prison or outside it.
- Victims' families deserve justice.For many families, a lesser sentence feels like the crime didn't count.
6 pro · 6 con · 7 sources · Student article on this debateRead all the arguments
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