查了一下，发现death penalty侧重刑罚本身，而capital punishment侧重于刑罚的执行execution

2001年翻写作文练笔

我的思路：

1.     对应第一点：相比于封建时代的绞刑和凌迟，死刑以枪决或者安乐死的形式进行，一点也不野蛮，反而是对重罪犯的仁慈和悲悯。

2.     误杀其实不常见。审讯，庭审再加上完整的证据链条才能定罪和量刑。同时，对于死刑还有review的审核制度，减少错杀误杀。在法治社会，有律政专业人士把关，尽可能使误杀几率降低为0

3.     死刑体现对生命的尊重。（这个点是之前做资料搜集的时候，罗翔老师的观点）死刑可以给受害者家属一定程度上的心理安慰和补偿。

4.     因为以牙还牙的最朴素的社会心理，简言之，一个人剥夺了他人宝贵的生命，必须以他自己的生命来抵偿，这是体现对受害者生命和罪犯生命的尊重。

5.     对于社会大众，如果重罪犯只被判有期徒刑或者无期徒刑，社会大众会愤愤不平以及陷入不安。（这让我想起最近素媛案的原型的那个人出狱之后的场景，一方面社会大众觉得刑罚不够，欠缺公平，再者，他有严重的重复犯罪前科，是极其危险的人物，给他附近的邻居带来困扰和恐慌。）死刑在一定程度上杜绝了犯罪，确保不会有新的受害者。

Capital punishment of the modern society

   Capital punishment has remained controversial since it presented itself in the human civilization. Some hold that it is barbaric and is very likely to deprive one’s life out of imprudence. To make things worse, the penalty depreciates the human’s life. While others especially the law experts recognize its function in the society. Capital punishment, as far as I am concerned, has its own merits.

First and foremost, the death penalty is far from barbaric. In the modern society, the death sentence is often executed in the form of humanity. In most cases, the convicted felons who would receive the penalty are executed by shooting or by injecting some drug for euthanasia. These two forms are widely dubbed as mercy killing. Compared to the pain that the criminal has caused to the victim and the society, it is groundless to consider the capital punishment barbaric or brutal. Instead, the execution is done with the greatest mercy to the criminals.

Besides, the worry of the innocent that would be killed by mistake is unjustified. Although it is widely believed as one of the demerits of the penalty, a great number of judicial specialists in the legal community are striving to avoid the irretrievable and irredeemable mistakes caused by mistaken execution. Without a careful interrogation, a fair trial and a complete chain of evidence, one would not be executed recklessly. To add to the accuracy and prudence, the review of death sentence is designed to eliminate the wrongful conviction or execution. After a train of judicial process with the involvement of the professionals and elites, a large proportion of wrongful sentences would be eradicated. Hence, it can hardly justify the worry of the innocent killed by mistake in the law-ruled society.

Last but not least, death penalties can never cheapen the value of the invaluable human lives. Rather, it highly values the human life with the execution to the felons. On the one hand, the basic principle of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” is deep-rooted and prevailing among the populace in the modern civilization. In such cultural context, if there does not exist the death penalty, the offenders would find it difficult to escape the revenge of the victims’ family or friends. More than that, they would be tortured by ceaseless verbal abuse and intimidation. The execution of capital punishment put an end to these tortures of the offenders, reflecting the respect of their life. On the other hand, the victims have suffered or even lost their precious life because of the unforgivable mercilessness of the felons. The latter have to pay a heavy price for their crime and be punished with the capital punishment. The punishment, therefore, manifests the awe and respect for the victim’s life.

Additionally, capital punishment highlights the value of the populace in the modern society. When the criminals are out of the prison, legally or illegally, he or she may threaten the populace into great panic. In the worst-case scenario, if the offenders fail to be rehabilitated in prison, they would ruin the life of many households by committing serious crimes. In this sense, the serial killers would continue to disrupt the social order and bring great emotional insecurity to the public. The predatory recidivists and the rapists would hunt for their new targets, to name but two.

In conclusion, there are opponents of the death sentences. But this penalty is not barbaric and the innocent are scarcely executed by mistake according to a train of effective measures of the criminal judicial system. Moreover, capital punishment has attached great importance to the human life, whose execution highlighting the respect of the life of the victims, felons and the average people. Hence, the capital punishment has its merits to sustain itself in the modern law-ruled civilization. (632 words )