KILL AND GET KILLED: Should he who live by the sword die by the sword or get locked?

(Image Credit: EU)

We will never forget those gruesome images; their broken head with the whitish insides of their heads spilling out mixed with blood; their pleas for help silenced by the roaring mob. The tyres on their necks and the fire... Ouch, the fire is the painful part as the mob watched four--not yet proved guilty—young men burn in Aluu (RIP #ALUU4). But how many people have been convicted for that jungle justice since then? One? Two? None? Well, that's just to show the weak justice system we have, but let's imagine some people actually get convicted, what will you say should be their punishment? Considering what they did; Firing squad, electric chair, or death by hanging?
There has been an argument in the world for some time now about the usefulness of the death penalty as a prosecution technique for people who commit murder or homicide. One side of the argument points to the biblical phrase which is now a popular cliché; ''he who lives by the sword, shall die by the sword.'' while the other side--backed up by a 1998 UN study--claims the death penalty hasn't been a deterrent to homicide as compared to life imprisonment and so they feel the death penalty should be eliminated.

Let's make it a bit practical now; an individual walks into a house and slaughters the whole family and is later apprehended by the extended family members. What should they do to that individual? Remember Oscar Pistorius' case? Where he claimed to have killed his girlfriend by mistake, what will you advice the judge to hand down to him as regards punishment?

(Image Credit: Amnesty International)

Let's talk about Life imprisonment a bit now, do you think the state should continue to spend tax payers funds in taking care of a person—doing time(life imprisonment)—who cares less for a human life? Do we even have enough prisons to Nigeria to house murderers supposing the death penalty is banned globally? Aren't our prisons already jam-packed and out of order? And this again can be another problem you know... We've heard cases of People (suspects) sent to the firing squad without a fair trial because, there's no cell to lock them in. I mean, the whole thing gets pretty mixed up!

But the point is what do you think about this? Should we stop the death penalty? And is the death penalty really a deterrent to homicide? Let me know what you think.