Death penalty - right or wrong?

In some countries it is legal to kill someone if they have committed a terrible crime. This is called a death sentence, or the death penalty.

It is not legal in Britain.

There are lots of reasons why people think it's right or wrong.

Click here to tell us what you think about the death penalty

Here are some of the arguments:

Arguments for the death penalty

• If someone murders someone else, they have given up their human rights, including the one to stay alive themselves

• The punishment should 'fit the crime' - if you have killed someone, you should be killed too

• Giving a killer the death sentence will stop them - and others - doing it again

• The very small chance of executing the wrong person is balanced by the benefits to society of putting off other murderers

Arguments against the death penalty

• The death penalty goes against our most basic human right - the right to life

• Being killed by lethal injection or being electrocuted is not always smooth and painless, sometimes it causes a painful death

• No-one has ever proven with numbers that killing murderers stops other people committing similar crimes

• Mistakes are sometimes made in the law - what if someone is killed who is actually innocent?