Death penalty must be abolished everywhere. Those who plead in favour of capital punishment for whatever crime, tend to mimic violent attitudes and forget about the very roots of criminality.

Society may not always function properly and satisfy people's most urgent needs. The judiciary system may be flawed, even unjust. Children may be poorly educated. The gap between rich and poor may cause desillusions and misery. Additionally, a widely spread violence in litterature and movies may convert certain beliefs into conflicting values for given minority groups. Under these circumstances, how can we expect disadvantaged individuals to grow up knowing the right values to base their decisions on?

It is recognized that innocent people were put to death despite evidence linking them with the victims at the scene of crime. Some parents of victims have also denounced capital punishment as disturbing, adding it did not bring their beloved back.

It is shocking to see governments organize crime, choose executioners to inject poison, or electrify human life with the intention of killing. Some justify themselves saying the 'man' did not deserve to live. And Jerry Lee wonders why. Was it because the 'man' caught a bad number at birth? Or was it because we did not care less about him as a child? What about those who have proven along many years of imprisonment, that they could do good for their fellow men, who have demonstrated deep sorrow and regret for their actions? The truth is, when a crime takes place and Society as a whole fails in its duty to provide citizens with the right framework to develop, it takes a share of responsibility for the happening.

When a judge backed by a jury sentences someone to death, it acts with the same irrational violence as when a criminal commits murder. It is the duty of Society to give examples of pacific conduct and to reassure people that should a crime be committed, the State prosecutes the authors following civilized rules of law.

For all these reasons, Jerry Lee firmely condemns death penalty for murderers, serial killers and any other criminals, and begs nations to abandon capital punishment and to build a system whereby criminals are treated to cure from violent behavioural patterns. As a first fundamental step forward, children must be educated in a secular society. They must be monitored closely until the age of 18 to grow up with due respected and freedom. The use of violence can only be justified in cases where an immediate threat must be neutralized. In all instances, the use of violence must be proportionate to the threat. Death penalty does not eliminate any immediate threat, instead, increases the potential of violence of desperate criminals and younger populations by ignoring the real social problems behind criminality.

Please, click here to listen to an executioner speak about the job.

(On the picture above a woman was sentenced to death on drug charges by a chineese court. She will be immediately executed with three other people. Picture, courtesy Amnesty International)