Death penalty or capital punishment which simply means the imposition and execution of death sentence on a convicted person under prescribed State Law is no doubt a controversial subject matter. This controversy has led to the emergence of those who support its retention in the country’s statute books and those who want it abolished. The two groups have their compelling reasons. We looked at the laws both statutory and case as well as opinion of text writers and came to the conclusion that there are more reasons for its continuous existence. We however proposed some recommendations aimed at reducing cases where capital punishment must give way to life imprisonment even under the existing legislations in Nigeria.
Keywords: Death Penalty, abolitionists, capital punishment, retentionists, solutions
