What are the limits of justice?

It is a well-known fact that punishing criminals with the death penalty has become much less frequent in the world in recent decades. In 1992, the death penalty ended for the Netherlands, while in 1996 the “murder” of criminals stopped in Russia, and, only eight years ago, the death penalty was abolished in Kenya.

 The UN has as its fundamental value the merit of justice and priority to human life. Approximately 67% of UN countries (130 out of 193) have voted against the death penalty and have carried out policies in order to help people who have served their time acclimatize more smoothly back to society.  This conflict in opinion is seen in the delegation of Netherlands which voted for an extradition treaty with the US in which it is said that Dutch citizens who have been captured and imprisoned in the US are not punished with the death penalty.

How can countries be okay with “taking care” of people such as murderers or sexual assaulters who have violated other peoples' rights? Moreover, as the delegation of Russia strongly states, why should convicted felons be given a second chance to life, if they have already made the same mistakes again and again. A recent study has shown that around 60% of offenders in the UK have convicted the same felonies less than one year after their release. Another UN country continues adding that by giving convicted criminals a second chance in life, society urges more people to commit crimes as they believe that “the penalties are not strict enough”.

In 2007, the United Nations General Assembly called for a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty, adopting a resolution with the goal of abolishing the death penalty. Although an increasingly high number of UN states have acknowledged that the death penalty undermines human dignity and is against all UN beliefs, this decision has faced a variety of negative reactions by the countries belonging to the UN.

So, the question is, what is the right way of punishing criminals without taking their lives and life privileges?