Topic:
Country: United States of America
Delegate Name: LucyClaire White
Use of the Death Penalty
The death penalty has been a highly controversial issue throughout the globe for many years with some countries arguing that it is completely a violation of human rights, others encouraging the death penalty, and still others believing it is the duty of the states to decide whether the death penalty should be allowed. The United States of America believes that in order to maintain peace in our nation our citizens must have the right to choose as a state whether or not they would like to keep or abolish the death penalty. The United States believes that the issue of the HCR placing limitations on the death penalty is a very important issue to discuss. The death penalty interacts with human rights in both positive and negative ways and the United States would also like to discuss whether the full abolishment of the death penalty should be considered and if not what restrictions (if any) should be placed on the capital punishments.
The United States believes that placing restrictions on the death penalty could be beneficial to the world as a whole. As the eighth amendment in the constitution states cruel and unusual punishment is strictly prohibited and is considered to be unconstitutional. However throughout the United States history there has been a great deal of debate over whether or not the death penalty falls under the category of cruel and unusual punishment. As a country roughly half of our citizens have voted against the death penalty however that does mean that half of our citizens are for the death penalty. As about half of our citizens believe that the death penalty should be continued the U.S. believes that if restrictions are to be put on the death penalty they must be approached with a great deal of caution and precision.
The death penalty as everyone knows does affect human rights in negative ways and in positive ways. The United States being such a large country has used the death penalty many times and because of this has seen benefits that are both positive and negative. The United states believes that the death penalty can be discriminatory and the trials are on occasion pushed through the system to quickly this a fault we admit in our legal system. However while there are faults in the death penalty there can also be the benefit of removing dangerous people from the world who are not only a threat on the outside but also a threat in prisons and because of which the U.S. can not fully argue that the death penalty is fully a violation of human rights.
The U.S. recognizes that a full abolishment of the death penalty is unrealistic. However the U.S. does believe that restrictions can be placed on the death penalty. For example the United States has seen a great deal of racial prejudice in our court systems resulting in the death of many individuals who were not given a fair trial. On top of the fact that many are given redetermined fates in the court system there has been a great deal of gender discrimination within the court system with females receiving lesser punishments than males making it so all in all the legal system is biased and giving unfair trials to all. Because of this the United States believes that the biggest problem lying within the death penalty is the prejudice held by our citizens and believes that in order to further improve the death penalty the problem of legal system prejudice must be rectified.
The United States is prepared to negotiate on the course of action that is to be taken and is eager to work on a solution to the problem that is the death penalty. The U.S. understands the reserves that some countries may have about the death penalty and is willing to continue negotiations with those countries. While we are willing to negotiate we are not willing to completely eliminate the death penalty. Working together is crucial to an issue like this and the U.S. is anxious to get to work on better improving the world as a whole.
