In research study conducted by Richard C.

Dieter (2007), the reasons why countries

have abolished the death penalty in increasing numbers vary. For some nations, it was a broader

understanding of human rights. Spain abandoned the last vestiges of its death penalty in 1995,

stating that: "the death penalty has no place in the general penal system of advanced, civilized

societies . . . .What more degrading or afflictive punishment can be imagined than to deprive a

person of his life . . . ?"6 Similarly, Switzerland abolished the death penalty because it

constituted "a flagrant violation of the right to life and dignity. . . ."7 Justice Chaskalson of the

South African Constitutional Court, stated in the historic opinion banning the death penalty

under the new constitution that: "The rights to life and dignity are the most important of all

human rights . . . . And this must be demonstrated by the State in everything that it does,

including the way it punishes criminals."

According to the study of Psychological Association of the Philippines (2017) that

the Philippines has made great strides in humanitarian development by abolishing the death

penalty. The Capital punishment does not deliver on its hopes for better justice, closure for

all parties concerned, and better crime prevention. It does not give full cognizance of the

implications of its irreversible effect, the reality of the limits and inevitable class discrimination

of the judicial process, and the misconception of closure and justice itself (PAP 2017).The

PAP advocates for the much better alternative of informed and rehabilitative justice, where

both offender and offended get the best chance for a more positive process of closure and

redemption.

The death penalty, as a severe punishment, is not effective form of deterrent while

analysing the possible mind-set of criminals. Even if the severity of punishment can deter

possible criminals, reclusion perpetua or life imprisonment is already severe enough. It only
gives unnecessary sufferings and pain to the criminal, criminal’s family, and possibly the

family’s victim given that this is a Christian-majority country. The skewed justice system and

questionable law enforcement in the Philippines could possibly put innocent people in the death

row that consider the factors of the person who pushed to commit crimes such as poverty and

bad environment. The criminals should be punished as they have violated the law and also to

give justice to their victims, but not to the extent of executing them. If we want to uphold human

rights, minimize pain, and maximize utility, death penalty should not be reinstated in the

Philippines.