Capital Punishment Mind Map

Annotations:

• By Stuart Hoy

1. Countries Which Have The Penalty
   1. China
   2. Iran
   3. Saudi Arabia
2. Arguments For Capital Punishment
   1. If someone murders someone else, they have given up their human rights, including the one to stay alive themselves
   2. The punishment should 'fit the crime' - if you have killed someone, you should be killed too
   3. Giving a killer the death sentence will stop them - and others - doing it again
   4. The very small chance of executing the wrong person is balanced by the benefits to society of putting off other murderers
3. Arguments Against Capital Punishment
   1. The death penalty goes against our most basic human right - the right to life
   2. Being killed by lethal injection or being electrocuted is not always smooth and painless, sometimes it causes a painful death
   3. No-one has ever proven with numbers that killing murderers stops other people committing similar crimes
   4. Mistakes are sometimes made in the law - what if someone is killed who is actually innocent?
4. Biblical Teaching's For
   1. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed Genesis 9:6
   2. In Matthew 15:4 Jesus says "He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die".
   3. In Matthew 7:2 we read "Whatever measure you deal out to others will be dealt back to you", though this is unspecific as to whether it is God who is doing the dealing, or the state.
   4. Capital punishment affirms the commandment that 'thou shalt not kill' by affirming the seriousness of the crime of murder.
5. Biblical Teaching Against
   1. Many Christians believe that God commanded "Thou shalt not kill" (Exodus 21:13), and that this is a clear instruction with no exceptions.
   2. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew)
   3. “If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses. But no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness.
   4. Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword.