IELTS essay about life imprisonment and death penalty

Essay topic

When the government punishes the murderer with death penalty, it also becomes guilty of committing murder. Therefore, life imprisonment is a better punishment for murderers. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement.

Sample essay

There has been a great deal of debate about whether the death penalty should be abolished. Capital punishment allows the government to legally execute a person who has committed a heinous crime. In my opinion, this cannot be justified because no one, not even the government, has the right to take a life.

Some people believe that the death penalty acts as a deterrent. In their opinion, the fear of the noose will prevent people from committing crimes. In reality, however, this is not the case. The crime rate in countries where the death penalty still exists is not lower than the crime rate in countries where it has been abolished. This is probably because people rarely think about the consequences before they commit a crime. Crimes are usually committed on the spur of the moment. The death penalty cannot act as a deterrent in this case. In the case of premeditated crimes, the criminal often takes all precautions to ensure that he does not get caught.

In many cases, the people who get the capital punishment are those from the lower strata of the society. They got convicted because they could not afford to get adequate legal representation in the court. By contrast, the rich and the influential most of the time manage to escape the noose even after committing deadly crimes.

In my opinion, instead of sending criminals to the gallows, the authorities should sentence them to life in prison. This gives them enough time to ponder over the trauma they have caused to the victims and the society. That introspection may even reform them.

To conclude, the death penalty has not been successful in reducing the crime rate in countries where it still exists. Killing is a crime. The government that is required to protect people cannot be allowed to take their lives.