I am in favour of capital punishment because it is a part of the Islamic Sharee'ah. However, I don't think it would be wise for it to be implemented except in accordance with what the Sharee'ah has specified. This is because, for Non-Muslim states to implement it, they would literally have to make up the laws along with the conditions for it as they go along. They would begin to ask questions such as:
- What if the person turns out to be innocent?
- Which type of capital punishment is suitable for which crime?
- For what crimes should capital punishment be applied anyway?
- Should there be any exemptions? If so, on what conditions should a person be exempted?
Man being the frail creature that he is, he is bound to make some errors in judgment and get some, if not all of the answers to these questions wrong.
The Islamic Sharee'ah, on other hand, is already a complete and holistic set of laws, applicable at all times and places. It has already answered these questions and it already specifies very strict conditions that must be met before capital punishment or
Hadd punishments may be applied, including the principle that there must be
no doubt that the perpetrator has committed the crime. This differs from modern secular legal systems which, as far as I'm aware, specify that it should be
beyond reasonable doubt before somebody can be convicted of a crime. In Islam, there are only a few crimes for which capital punishment is applied, including theft, adultery and murder.
Besides it being what Allah (who is Al-'Adl - The Just) has ordained, there is also evidence to suggest that there are worldly benefits in applying capital punishment. For example, there is statistical evidence that capital punishment acts as an effective deterrent for criminal activity, leading to reduced crime overall in places where it is applied.
Here is a good thread:
http://www.islamicboard.com/discover...ariah-law.html
For the purposes of your essay though, you will probably want to investigate ideas such as deterrence, retribution, morality and what constitues 'justice'.