Reviews and Evaluations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Reviews and Evaluations - Essay Example cause of justice, the impact that the verdict will have on the safety of the society, the past record of the defendant and the extent to which the defendant poses a threat to the society. The first and foremost premise regarding the extension of death penalty in case of the insane murderers is that the term ‘insane’ is very broad and fluid in its scope and interpretation. To a great extent it would be right to claim that taking the life of a fellow human being or human beings in most cases is in a way an act of insanity. Perhaps, every murderer commits a murder in a very imbalanced and gruesome state of mind. So if one agrees with the logic that insane murderers should be pardoned, then there is no denying the fact that almost every murderer will seek pardon on the grounds of insanity or committing a murder in a state of mental imbalance. Convicts will resort to citing reasons like migraine, depression, rage, eating disorders, addictions, phobias, inability to manage anger, etc as an excuse for getting away with their crimes, as all these ailments qualify to be classified as forms of mental instability. This will give way to a wrong precedence in the soc iety and will exponentially dilute the deterrent effect of the justice system. The other big reason for supporting the death penalty in case of mentally ill murderers is that the justice is not driven by insubstantial emotions and allocates a definite punishment for all sorts of crimes. Claiming immunity by a murder convict on the grounds of insanity is irrational in the sense that in such cases the accused tends to exploit one’s mental illness as an excuse for the crime one committed. Insanity could definitely serve as an explanation for committing a crime. However, the absurdity of allowing an explanation to turn into an excuse for letting a murderer goes scot free trivializes the claims of justice and mocks the plight of innocent people murdered by that person, not to mention the agony of their family and