Some People Believe That Capital Punishment Should Never Be Used | Band 8 IELTS Essay Sample

Some people believe that capital punishment should never be used. Others, however, argue that it should be allowed for the most serious crimes. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

Here is a band 8 IELTS essay on this topic written by one of our students. Need help with IELTS writing? Get your IELTS essays, letters and reports corrected by me.

Band 8 IELTS essay sample

While some people opine that a death sentence should be given to people who commit heinous crimes, others insist that it should be abrogated. I agree with the assertion that capital punishment should be allowed for grave crimes because it is the best deterrent to combat crime.

The primary reason for death penalty in the case of serious crimes is to send the message that these kinds of actions will not be tolerated. As most of the heinous crimes are premediated, they can be prevented by creating the fear of death in the minds of criminals. Therefore, capital punishment is the best method to combat crime in any country. A prime example of this is Dubai where the number of serious crimes in the last five years are close to zero and this can be attributed to the implementation of capital punishment there.

Despite the above argument, many people believe that every offender should be given a second chance and the government should not support lawful revenge. I do not quite support this view. Although anyone can have a change of heart, it is highly unlikely in the case of criminals who committed heinous crimes like rape or murder. Several studies have also shown that hardcore criminals have a high likelihood of reoffending once they are released from prison. Needless to say, they pose a major threat to the society and hence death penalty is totally justified in this case.

In conclusion, many people support the capital punishment for serious crimes whereas a few disagree with it. In my opinion, death sentence should be allowed for serious crimes because it sets an example for future criminals.

Manjusha Nambiar

Hi, I'm Manjusha. This is my blog where I give IELTS preparation tips.

6 Responses

  1. farhi says:

    Over the recent years, one of the highly controversial issues today is capital punishment however some segments in society opine that capital punishment should be abolished whereas others prefer that it should be given for grave offences. I would shed some light on both these views on the forthcoming paragraphs and then give my opinion on the matter.

    To embark with, there are major crimes such as murder, rape, vandalism, genocide, traffickings are major crimes and punishment of death is being considered in order to bring crime rate in control and moreover these actions are premeditated. According to TOI survey, heinous crimes skyrocketed a few years before and now the ratio is reducing just because of capital punishment. Hence, this punishment has brought a positive approach to society.

    A good example of Saudi Arabia, where the punishment for the cruel crimes has been given in front of the public and also on the middle of the road, so that citizen of the country do not even think of doing any offence. overall by considerating, all the crimes Arab countries crime rate have come to zero and they are at a plateau since ages.

    To add further credence to my assertion, life-sentenced is inappropriate for minor crimes and the criminal should be charged hefty fines and punishment of imprisonment should be proposed. As per the government report majority of the people do not get indulge in any criminal activity after completing a prison sentence.

    In light of the above arguments, I conclude capital punishments are the better option for heinous crimes but it is undeniable fact that to control the crime rate from burgeoning strict actions are needed.

  2. Harsh says:

    The death penalty is a debatable issue these days. Some people opine that heinous criminals deserve the death penalty, while others do not find it justifiable. There are several merits and demerits of hanging offenders until death for violent crimes; however, I feel that it is a feasible solution to deter crime rates.

    Giving criminals, who have committed a heinous crime, the penalty of death has several downsides. Firstly, the offenders who are embarrassed and guilty for their actions would spare no room for improvement for them. For example, people who commit crime under the influence of other people usually get back into their senses after sometime, but they would not be able to improve the condition of their life if death is their punishment. Moreover, capital punishment is against the law of nature as nobody has right to take another human’s life for the sake of harmony and peace. This promotes the culture of revenge.

    Nevertheless, there are convincing benefits to death penalty for deserving criminals. First and foremost, fear among people would develop, which enforces them to think twice before perpetrating any brutal offence as they would have an idea about the consequences of their actions. For instance, in India, recently, 4 rapists, who raped a doctor, were hung. This promotes the seriousness of the legislation among citizens. Furthermore, death penalty is an explicit solution to deter crime rate as the number of offenders decreases. In contrast, if criminals are given life imprisonment or other stringent punishment, they would influence other petty criminals to commit violent crimes, which is detrimental to society.

    In conclusion, even though execution is a huge step to be taken, I believe that it brings about significant benefits to retard the rate of crime in society

  3. Vikas says:

    People have different opinions about whether the death penalty for brutal crimes ought to be acceptable or not in the modern world. While there are some advantages to capital punishment, I believe that it is ethically wrong and less effective way to reduce crime.

    People who commit brutal crimes should be given the death penalty as it gives a strong message to wrongdoers. When people commit crimes such as rape, murder, in which the life of another person gets destroyed. Then it is justified to give that person harsh punishment. Consequently, other perpetrators would think twice before committing these types of violent crimes. For instance, In North Korea, a person who commits murder or rape is given the death penalty on the road before everyone and due to this, there is a negligible crime rate as people have fear in their minds about the strict laws. So there are some obvious benefits to this.

    On the other hand, I think capital punishment has some potential downsides. Firstly, since we all are creatures of god and on humanitarian grounds, we do not have any right to take someone’s life. If we do the same as the criminal does, that is, to take his life, then there would be no difference. Secondly, some of the criminals think that they have committed a crime and there will be execution for sure. Then they try to run away from police and do more crimes as they could not be given death penalty twice. That is why, criminals with such criminal history should put behind bars and should not be given death penalty and make them do community work for years and if there behavior changes, some relaxations could be given to them.

    In conclusion, although capital punishment gives a strong message in society, I opine that another ways can be adopted to get person back on the right path.

    • Manjusha Nambiar says:

      This seems band 6.5 to me. There are several sentence fragments in your essay. Try to avoid them.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *