LNAT Prep.

Hi, all. I’ve been prepping for my LNAT exam, especially the essay section. Could you please just rate or give an opinion on this essay. Much appreciate.

SHOULD THE UK INTRODUCE THE DEATH PENALTY.
I totally disagree with this notion, the UK should NOT introduce the death penalty, and I guarantee you’ll find my reasons rather compelling.

Despite the adoption of the penalty in the US, it is not still being harnessed, murderers rather end up in prison serving a jail time of 30-40 years or lifetime, I believe this passes the clear message that execution should not be a proper punishment for murder. More, even with the adoption, there are still thousand of murderers committing this crime and the death penalty has not stopped them.
Everyone deserves a second chance, regardless of his past actions, one should be given the opportunity to redefine himself and pursue his better self. Unfortunately, the death penalty cannot guarantee this. Should the one who totally regrets his actions even before jail time and totally blames himself everyday for the act should still be executed? Of course not. Second chance should not discriminate, those who are locked behind bars are no better than us, if we come to think about it, a lot of people have been given second, third and even fourth chances but still fail. Now, those who deeply regret their actions should not be denied this privilege. And is that the Great Britain we want to live in? Where second chance discriminates those who genuinely know the value and ready to make it right? It could be me or you.
Additionally, prison time is even much more than the death penalty. Prison is a more befitting punishment for murderers, provided for them little or no access to their family, in a dangerous and intimidating environment. At least the victim’s family already know they cannot possibly see him again no matter the weight of punishment given to the convicted unlike, the convicted who knows his family are somewhere but cannot see them for decades or probably forever, I believe it’s safe to say the latter is more painful.
Besides, miscarriage of justice may occur, during the trial, if the evidence against the defendant screams his culpability and then executed afterwards and in light of new evidence, the initial one has been outmatched and superseded by the new evidence which now exonerates him, we will raise the dead? The family will unfortunately be subjected to lifetime sorrow. Just another innocent life on the government.
Subsequently, when will mortality rate not slightly increase, or not just even associating the miscarriage of justice -executing one after killing someone- may negatively influence the population of the society.
Executing someone should not be the appropriate punishment for killing someone. Let’s consider both parties who would benefit and lose from the penalty. The victim in all ways gets justice, if the defendant spends extensive years in jail, serve years and still get executed or immediately gets executed. On the other hand, the perpetrator will be denied the second chance privilege, subject to miscarriage of justice and/or put the family in lifetime sorrow. Of course, the latter outweighs the former.
Conclusively, my stance on this notion is certainly on the right side, which is not to adopt the death penalty. Every individual should be given the chance to be reborn, be it behind bars or upon release while still serving as a deterrence to the public at large (whoever kills will have his basic right as a human being most permanently constrained).

Reply 1

Stiffy Byng

I am sorry to say that this essay is not very good. If I was marking it at a university I would give it a score in the 2.2 range.

The tone is too strident, and also cocky. You do not adequately set out the arguments for and against the death penalty. It is fine, and indeed recommended, that you take a position on the arguments, but you should analyse them first. The penultimate paragraph displays confused reasoning.

You should consider, at least, the conventional reasons for imposing criminal sanctions: retribution, deterrence, and rehabilitation, and how the death penalty fits within these.

You should perhaps address more fully the problem of wrongful convictions and execution of the innocent, although you do deal with this in one paragraph. In the American context, you could add the racial element : a disproportionate number of people wrongly convicted of capital crimes are African-American.

The argument about population size is not persuasive. The numbers involved are not demographically significant.

Reply 2

Lmao9

Original post by Stiffy Byng

I am sorry to say that this essay is not very good. If I was marking it at a university I would give it a score in the 2.2 range.
The tone is too strident, and also cocky. You do not adequately set out the arguments for and against the death penalty. It is fine, and indeed recommended, that you take a position on the arguments, but you should analyse them first. The penultimate paragraph displays confused reasoning.
You should consider, at least, the conventional reasons for imposing criminal sanctions: retribution, deterrence, and rehabilitation, and how the death penalty fits within these.
You should perhaps address more fully the problem of wrongful convictions and execution of the innocent, although you do deal with this in one paragraph. In the American context, you could add the racial element : a disproportionate number of people wrongly convicted of capital crimes are African-American.
The argument about population size is not persuasive. The numbers involved are not demographically significant.