Is the Right to Life Essential for Everyone?
Is the Right to Life Essential for Everyone? The right to life is one of the fundamental rights of every human being. Governments should not use this right as a tool for revenge, repression, or the exercise of power. However, defending the right to life also has another side: the right to life of victims. We cannot talk about the right to life only from the perspective of the individual who committed a crime while, at the same time, removing the person who became a victim of that crime from the equation. The problem becomes more serious when someone deliberately and knowingly destroys another person's security and life in order to obtain money, power, pleasure, or personal interests. In such circumstances, society faces a fundamental question: Can the right to life of a criminal be defended without considering the right to life of the victim? My position on the death penalty is not absolute. I believe that the death penalty should not be a common or widespread punishment, nor shoul...