📋 WAT/Essay Analysis Guide: Should Capital Punishment Be Abolished?
🌐 Understanding the Topic’s Importance
Capital punishment intersects ethics, law, and justice, making it a vital topic for B-school applicants. Understanding it can showcase analytical depth and global awareness.
📖 Effective Planning and Writing
⏳ Time Allocation:
- 📝 Planning: 5 minutes
- ✍️ Writing: 20 minutes
- 🔍 Review: 5 minutes
📋 Preparation Tips:
- 📊 Identify key statistics (e.g., global abolishment rates).
- 📜 Highlight stakeholders and diverse perspectives.
💡 Introduction Techniques for Essays
- 🔄 Contrast Approach: “While over 70% of countries have abolished capital punishment, major democracies like India and the US retain it, raising critical ethical debates.”
- ✅ Solution-Based Approach: “As wrongful convictions surface globally, alternatives to capital punishment, like life imprisonment, emerge as ethical necessities.”
📚 Structuring the Essay Body
🏆 Achievements:
- ⚖️ India: Capital punishment was pivotal in landmark cases like Nirbhaya, deterring gender crimes.
- 🇺🇸 US: Supporters argue it deters heinous crimes like serial killings.
⚠️ Challenges:
- 🚫 Wrongful Convictions: The Innocence Project found 375 wrongful convictions in the US, highlighting flaws in the system.
- 📉 Crime Reduction: A UN report shows no significant crime reduction in nations retaining the death penalty.
🚀 Future Outlook:
- ⚖️ Highlight alternatives such as restorative justice.
- 🌐 Suggest international frameworks for justice without execution.
📝 Concluding Effectively
⚖️ Balanced Perspective:
“While capital punishment offers justice for extreme crimes, its ethical and procedural flaws warrant reevaluating its role.”
🌏 Global Comparison:
“Nations like Norway and Germany show that abolishment can align justice with human rights.”
🔍 Analyzing Successes and Shortcomings
- 🏅 Key Achievements: Perceived deterrence and justice for victims.
- 🚫 Ongoing Challenges: Human rights concerns, racial biases, and high costs.
- 🌍 Global Context: Abolishment in the EU vs. retention in the US and India.
📈 Recommendations for Sustainable Progress
- ⚖️ Strengthen judicial processes to prevent wrongful convictions.
- 🤝 Promote life imprisonment with rehabilitative programs.
- 🌐 Engage in international dialogues for ethical justice systems.
✍️ Sample Short Essays
- ⚖️ Balanced Perspective: “Capital punishment’s value as a deterrent remains debated, but its irreversible nature and risk of error demand global reassessment.”
- ✅ Solution-Oriented: “Life imprisonment with restorative justice ensures ethical and practical resolutions to heinous crimes.”
- 🌏 Global Comparison: “As the US retains capital punishment, Europe demonstrates that abolishment aligns justice with human dignity.”