Punishing Murderers with the Death Penalty - IELTS Writing Task 2 Argumentative Essay

The IELTS Writing Task 2 Argumentative Essay, ‘Punishing Murderers with the Death Penalty’, would help you to showcase analytical thinking and logical reasoning through their arguments. Even though the topic requires the consideration of ethical, legal, and social viewpoints, you can deliver a well-supported argument within the allocated time by practising. In this way, you can gain better planning skills, coherence, and confidence while diving deep into the topic of capital punishment. Such  IELTS Writing  topics would become the basis for the development of analytical thinking skills, avoidance of emotional language, and gain the confidence as you prepare.

Guiding Questions to Brainstorm on ‘Punishing Murderers with the Death Penalty’

When you discuss a topic related to issues like the death penalty, especially during IELTS Writing Task 2 essays, it is essential to brainstorm ideas  first to keep them well balanced and relevant. By narrowing down your thinking process to five main areas, you can create specific questions for each one for coherent arguments and appropriate reasoning. The following table includes guiding questions that will help you to develop critical and wide ideas  in terms of lexical resources for the essay, ‘Punishing Murderers with the Death Penalty’.

Question - IELTS Writing Task 2 Argumentative Essay ‘Punishing Murderers with the Death Penalty’

Structure Breakdown for ‘Punishing Murderers with the Death Penalty’

Before you dive into writing the essay, take some time to create an outline for the essay. This will help in creating a structure which will refrain you from moving away from the topic and help you to write a coherent essay. Therefore, to achieve an IELTS Band Score of 8+, remember to create a framework which will act as a guidance to have a logical arrangement of your ideas throughout the essay. Below is the structure breakdown for the essay, ‘Punishing Murderers with the Death Penalty’.

Curious to know How to Write Body Paragraphs in IELTS Essay? Check out the video below!

Sample Answer 1 on ‘Punishing Murderers with the Death Penalty’

Punishment is a form of opportunity that a person is given to atone for their wrong deed/s and bring about a change in themselves. Many people believe that any person who has committed murder needs to be hanged to death, while quite a few believe that killing someone without giving them a chance to reform is not the right way. According to me, the latter one has a correct outlook as, and I support the notion of the essay.

There are two groups of people who commit murder – one who does it for pleasure or vengeance and the other who is forced to commit this heinous crime for self-protection. While the first should be stringently acted upon, the second one needs consideration. In society, many people are becoming more violent and perverted due to psychological factors. It is necessary to stop them by making them repent. Correctional homes with rigorous rules should be set up for them without being partial to people in power. 

Moreover, even if a person undertakes the action to end the life of his kin, society’s responsibility is to punish him in a way to make him realize his mistake. Many people believe that killing the murderer will not bring back the victim due to which they let the criminal live in such conditions that they will understand the gravity of the crime. However, the courts and society check the actions of people who have committed the action for pleasure while showing no sign of remorse. 

To conclude, it can be deduced that death or capital punishment is not the only way offenders need to realize their wrongdoings.

Vocabulary for Sample Answer 1 on ‘Punishing Murderers with the Death Penalty’

• Atone

Meaning: to do something that shows you are sorry for something bad that you did or for something that you failed to do.
Eg: The priest said he will atone for his crimes.

• Outlook

Meaning: a person’s general attitude or way of thinking about something
Eg: The outlook the young captain presents is always very interesting.

• Vengeance

Meaning: the punishing of someone for harming you or your friends or family, or the wish for such punishment to happen
Eg: The man wanted vengeance for the murder of his wife and child.

• Heinous

Meaning: very bad and shocking
Eg: Did you commit these heinous acts?

• Stringently

Meaning: in a way that is strict, severe, or limiting
Eg: The old lady uses spices stringently.

• Gravity

Meaning: seriousness
Eg: She did not understand the gravity of the situation and started laughing.

• Remorse

Meaning: a strong feeling of guilt and regret about something you have done
Eg: The old hermit felt remorse after cheating the woman.

Sample Answer 2 on ‘Punishing Murderers with the Death Penalty’

The matter of whether the killing of murderers by the state makes society indirectly involved in murder from a moral standpoint is a debated issue. Even though the death penalty has retributive justice supporters, I agree that life sentence to perpetrators is a more ethical and practical solution.

From the perspective of morality and human rights, the state has no right to execute criminals. Once society decides that the death penalty must be imposed, the sanctioning of the law by the government might create hindrance. Moreover, contemporary justice systems have to be successful in the battle against crime by promoting the value of human life, irrespective of the seriousness of the crime. Therefore, life in prison would showcase the stigma of being an immoral excuse to question the inhumanity towards mankind.

Moreover, judicial mistakes can affect innocent people who were falsely convicted. An execution will never provide a chance for the possibility of correcting the mistake. On the other hand, life imprisonment gives room for future appeals and also focuses on rectifying the criminal acts or thinking. To illustrate, in many countries, the death penalty is less effective in preventing crime than long-term prison.

To conclude, even though the need for harsh punishment is needed in murder cases, the death penalty to the criminals would dispense with the moral integrity of society and carries the risk of an irreversible wrongful execution.

Vocabulary for Sample Answer 2 on ‘Punishing Murderers with the Death Penalty’

• Retributive

Meaning: Punishment for the sins committed
Eg: The judicial system should not rely solely on retribution.

• Sanction

Meaning: A legally imposed punishment
Eg: The government decided to impose strict sanctions due to increased environmental impacts.

• Hindrance

Meaning: An obstacle or a barrier
Eg: The unavailability of technology can seriously hinder online education.

• Stigma

Meaning: An overwhelming feeling of public disapproval
Eg: People who do not pass academic exams still face the stigma of disapproval.

• Convicted

Meaning: Declared guilty of a criminal act
Eg: He was convicted for fraud and given a three-year prison sentence.

• Dispense

Meaning: To not use
Eg: Medications are dispensed by the pharmacies only after getting a proper prescription.

By practising with topics like this, you can learn to think critically, analyze your points of view at an advanced level, and write with coherence. These will help you to gain a higher band score in the IELTS Exam while focusing on developing your vocabulary, sentence structures and ideas organization. Keep on preparing yourself with different essay topics to get the essential argumentative writing skills that include reasoning, evidence selection and structured expression.

More Writing Task 2 Essay Topics

Also Check:

• Tips to Write an Effective Introduction for IELTS Writing Task 2
• 6 Essay Writing Secrets to Boost Your IELTS Band Score Fast
• Common IELTS Essay Topics for Writing Task 2
• Best IELTS Writing Task 2 Tips for Achieving Band 9
• Recent IELTS Writing Actual Test & Model Answers
• IELTS Band 9 Essay Samples: Writing Task 2 Tips for Target IELTS Score
• IELTS Writing Answer sheet