A Life Without Any Value? Death penalty, which some also call capital punishment, has been around the in world for hundreds of years. In the last fifty years there have been many discussions about if it has to be abolished or not, if it works for deterrence of crime, if it relieves the pain of thefamily of the victims, if it cost is to high, and if this follows God's commandments.  Although many nations have abolished capital punishment (58 nations actively practice capital punishment, 98 countries have abolished itfor all crimes, 7 have abolished it for ordinary crimes only, and 35 have abolished it under moratorium), over 60% of the world's population live in countries where executions take place.Most of the serial killers and other violent individuals believe that they will never be caught. Others think that they are doing God's work, or they excuse themselves citing other ˜important' reasons for the killings and violent acts that they partake in. Sometimes this is due to mental disorders, but there are other reasons that people commit acts of this nature. Regardless of these reasons, however, violent acts can and do occur and whether these people should be put to death for their crimes remains a hotly debated issue. One of the points that people who are in favor support is that death penalty works as a crime deterrent. It is based on the thought that capital punishment would create fear, about dead, in the mind of any sane person. Ernest van den Haag, in his article "On Deterrence and the Death Penalty  writes, "One abstains from dangerous acts because of vague, inchoate, habitual and, above all, preconscious fears (193). Therefore, most criminals would think twice to commit a crime if they knew their own lives were at stake. On the other hand, the people who are against death penalty believe that it does not work as a deterrent of crime; thus it will not work for increasing safety in society. They argue thatthe principal causes of crime are the unemployment and the economic downturn of the country. Then, the action of executed a criminal will not change for better the economic situation and needs of a person.This means that there will not be any reduction of crime nor of criminals. According to the people in favor, death penalty is a pain relief for the family of the victim or the victim itself (if the crime was not a murder).They defend this saying that the affected people would be unhappy to see the person who ruined their lives just getting some years of imprisonment, or even after certain time, parole. However, they say that this is not a revenge or an "eye for eye  action.As a mother of a murdered child said, "death penalty isputting an end to a life that has no value for other human lives, is a favor to the society.  Otherwise, people against death penalty say that the legal process for the execution is deva