Portfolio # 17 - Capital Punishment: Arguments and counterarguments

In this T - chart there are arguments and counterarguments provided by Jeremy Irons about the death penalty. 

Arguments	Counterarguments
The death penalty reduces crime rates.	Societies that use this kind of procedure do not have lower crime rates.
The death penalty targets the economically disadvantaged.	Those who cant afford good legal counsel, those without a voice in society.
It would be acceptable if people from all sections of society were executed	The death penalty is irreversible and results in the death of innocents
	When someone is dead, a retrospective pardon is of little use to them or their family.
	There have been 51 recorded executions of child offenders.
	It abuses two of our most basic human rights: everyone has the right to live and no one should be subject to torture.
	The death penalty obviously kills people but it also tortures, physically.
	The right to life is inalienable, it can not be given and it can not be taken away.
	No matter how terrible crime, human rights are a clearly drawn line; a line between what is right and what is wrong.
	There is a line between imprisonment and execution.