The Death penalty is part of capital punishment administered by a state upon an individual who has committed certain crimes deemed serious by the state in question. It requires the life of the person in question be put to an end. Means of capital punishment include but not limited to; hanging, crucifixion, electrocution, stoning etc. Van Den Haag gives five reasons justifying the constitutionality of the death penalty by concluding that the constitution allows for death penalty which is not the case (van den hag 128).The constitution states that “if life was to be taken away as form of punishment, then it must be in accordance with the due process of the law”, this proposition is conditional and accords the government a choice to either abolish it or effect it in light of the due process of the law. For this reason I wish to put forth arguments that would lead to the abolition of death penalty. Dissenting Van den hag argues that the death penalty acts as deterrence for future murders. Death being the most severe form of punishment is most feared and a murder would think before carrying out his intention. Previous studies have shown that quiet a number of murders were deterred since the introduction of death sentence. However, the death sentence takes quiet a long time before it is administered and the use of alternative equally feared forms of punishments could be used instead as a form of deterrence. Deterrence has its limitations as someone already imprisoned and sentenced for death would not be afraid to kill their inmates as well as the prison guards. Death sentence can only be effective in deterring murders if it is carried out fast enough which is usually not the case. Retributive justice comes into play when an imbalance occurs in society due to a loss of life from the hands of a criminal. That balance must be restored by taking away the murderers life.