Wenxin Lu Blog3

When I was looking over the contents in the Pandora Box, I was immediately drawn to a paper with two lists: countries which have already abolished death penalty and which have not. The countries which have already abolished the death penalty are printed black and the countries which have not are printed red, as if printed by blood. By this strong contrast of color, the author clearly wants us to think upon this grave and serious topic: Should the death penalty be abolished? In addition, with the names of countries in black bigger than those of countries in red, the quote of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor: ’If statistics are any indication, the system may well be allowing some innocent defendants to be executed.’ and an archaic and horrifying electric chair on the background, the author implicitly endorses the abolition of death penalty but still hopes to arouse readers’ rational and incisive thinking.

This paper reminded me of an old Chinese saying: Render injury with kindness, then with what to recompense kindness? To be honest, I remain neutral on this topic. As far as I am concerned, death penalty is the real respect for human beings because if punishment for killing is not far more severe than that for theft or smuggling, how can we differentiate human life from anything else? Thus, I firmly believe that the kindness to malefactors is the cruelty to victims. On the contrary, I also question our society’s power to sentence one person’s death. If the killer can decide the fate of the victim, then how are we different from the killers when we execute one’s final sentence? After all, no one is the god.

Ideally, a country without the death penalty is the symbol of a highly developed and civilized society. Whether the current world can function well without the death penalty still needs more deliberation.

One thought on “Wenxin Lu Blog3

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.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