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<title> Can a democracy, claiming to accept the Human Rights, legally execute its citizens? </title>
I had quite a few questions in my head to answer when I started thinking about the difficult and contradictive issue of capital punishment. What I want to show with my contribution to the debate below is that the death penalty is out of date, and can not in any way fit in within the frames of a democracy.

Capital Punishment has existed for ages. Its purpose is partly to act as a deterrent, to prevent people from committing crimes. But also to annihilate any possibility for the convicted person to commit other crimes. Statistics made in Sweden 1966-1983 on relapse of murder and man-slaughter were 2%. The statistics shows that if capital punishment would have existed in Sweden and all executions would have been carried out, only 2% of all murders would have been prevented, and the number of people sentenced to death would have been in extreme disproportion.
	In addition to this, the capital punishment is a very cruel punishment. The methods that are used today are for example the electric chair, hanging, gas poisoning and poison-injection. They are not at all human, and mostly the sentenced prisoner suffers from inhuman pain. In many cases the punishment is nothing but torture.
	Anyhow, the capital punishment exists in 94 countries today, 39 of them executed the penalty in 1996. Since the death penalty conflicts with human and political rights, more than 50% of all countries have abolished it.
The US has always pretended to be an important pleader for human rights and individual freedom. I believe however that there are many things to be said in contradiction to that. One issue that does not at all correspond to any democratic idea is the Capital Punishment. The US has (mostly due to Republican majority in the senate and House of Representative) omit ratifications of several treatys on Human Rights, and has made reservations on many of them. The Republicans are in general not in favour of international conventions on human rights. Reservations that have been made are some of the most central parts of the convention, like for example the prohibition of death penalty on underaged.
	The US is for instance one of eight contries in the world having executed underaged during the last years. That fact makes the US a doubtful and contradictive democracy. The capital punishment also raises one of Americas most difficult questions; racism. 84% of all executions after 1977 were on murder on whites, despite the fact that the total number of victims of murder is equally divided between whites and blacks. One can conclude that execution is applied in an unfair and most discriminating way. It is odd that the US does not seem to be more anxious for protecting its international reputation as a democratic country.
	Also history shows discrimination of minority groups. Even if tyranny of native Americans and slavery have been over for a long time now, there is still a white majority with sets of values that permeate the hole society. 
Extreme success for the rights of minorities was gained with the Civil Rights movement, commenced in the fifties, and on the surface it may appear as the American system is working satisfactory. Yet, the capital punishment shows the contrary.
	So does the overall opinion; most Americans are in favour of the punishment.
 I, myself believe that this is due to ignorance. Candidates running for presidency show through their attitude towards the death penalty that they are "tough on crime", and history speaks its own language; the people of America seem to vote for the maintenance of the punishment, but against other possible solutions to decrease crime and violence.
	In addition, the capital punishment is a waste of resources. People that have been sentenced to death are very expensive since they spend many years in jail before being executed. The process is long and costly.
But still, executions are carried out. Mostly in the Southern States where as much as 90% of all death-sentences are executed. In these areas the slavery was widespread, and racism is still tangible. Individualist traditions can also explain the American attitude towards capital punishment. Meaning that all idividuals are given a chance to succeed in life and that you can only blame yourself if you don't.
In contrast stand over 50% of the world, the awareness of the cruelty of the punishment, its racial partiality and the uselessness of it, since it serves only to show that the only remedy of violence is violence and that it is carried out by the authority. The death penalty sends signals that say it is alright to murder each other. One can ask if that is a good way to decrease violence, and since it is an expensive process, the money could be placed in other preventive ways.
In conclusion, I believe that capital punishment is a waste of money and human resources, it is a stupid way to decrese crime since it is a measure taken too late. If the resources spent on the executing process were invested to improve education and social care the crimes would decline in number and the individual freedom and security will increase.
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