Introduction
The death penalty can also be referred to as capital punishment, where the criminals who have been charged with murder cases get executed following the decisions made by criminal justice system organs. To better understand this topic, an appropriate methodology approach would be adopted, in line with an exact sampling procedure, to obtain enough data that can be used to critically analyze the extent of the death penalty and the changing perceptions on the roles of the criminal justice system on judicial execution. Therefore, the discussion on the death penalty would attempt to determine whether there exists a mutual relationship between the changing perceptions of the roles played by the criminal justice system that facilitates the abolishment or legality of judicial execution by applying the death penalty amongst individuals.
The dependent variable would be the changing perceptions of roles played by the criminal justice system in the enactment of the judicial execution law. In contrast, the independent variable is the death penalty. In this study, the cross-sectional research design is a sufficient methodology because various samples can be obtained from different regions and categories of people, and further analysis (compare and contract techniques) done to depict a concrete conclusion (Lindell & Whitney, 2001). This involves the use of both qualitative and quantitative research methods to understand the relationships and offer logical reasoning of the outcomes (Dunning et al., 2008).
Sampling Method
Stratified and selective sampling methods would be used in this study. Stratified sampling usually improves the overall accuracy and the degree of representativeness for different results, thus preventing biases (Marshall, 1996). Using a stratified method would consider the nations that have had many cases of judicial execution as the primary population of interest. Lawyers, members of legislative bodies, law students, and all authoritative organs from various nations where the cases of judicial execution are rampant would serve as the sampling frame for this method. The choice is made based on the study's dependent variable. Therefore, ideas and results would be generated from a knowledgeable audience who understand the components of the law and how criminal justice systems operate in their respective countries.
For the effectiveness of this sampling method, individual lawyers, students, legislators, and authoritative organs would be randomly selected (selective sampling) to obtain the sampling units for this study. The selective sampling method is often more appropriate because it enables a researcher to point their participants of interest, whom they perceive that can have the most essential required piece of information. Therefore, a specific approach to individuals with particular characteristics based on gender, qualifications, and achievements would be employed to obtain the elements from the pre-identified population and sample frame.
Sampling Plan
Finally, various activities are useful for the organization of this sampling plan. The parameters include: to identify the differences in ideas concerning judicial execution after a specified duration; to determine the metrics used by the legislators to formulae the guidelines contained in the criminal justice system and to discover the ideas of lawyers and law students on the existing laws. Depending on the nature of outcome on various regions, because recommendations to eliminate laws in support of judicial execution would be derived based on obtained conclusions from the specific population in the sampled nations. The samples would be taken regularly after some time using the selective random sampling technique to find out whether an individual's ideas and concepts changed with time. After that, administrative questionnaires and interviews would be used to obtain the results for use in making conclusions. Letters containing all the requirements were distributed evenly in the sample frames to ensure that the selected participants were literate about the ongoing study. This would be possible because the stratified sampling method involves the categorization of sample units into their respective categories such as A, B, C, D to make the process of measuring changes in the individual's ideas more straightforward.
These sampling techniques may be accurate based on the fact that the conclusion is made after a thorough analysis of the data obtained, and the sample units are also selected professionally based on the characteristics that best suit the demands of the study. However, they pose the challenge of bias since stratified sampling uses the same sample chosen units for the entire sampling process. Their contributions may not reflect the most accurate image of a particular entire nation.
Ethical Considerations
It is always critical that ethical guidelines are maintained during the implementation of a sampling plan to ascertain that there are no violations. In this study, only a few of the ethical considerations were violated. For instance, the principle of informed consent was adhered to. Using letters allowed people from the sample frames to make informed decisions based on the data that they read on whether they wish to participate in the study or not. Similarly, the use of letters promoted an advanced adherence to the principle of voluntariness, since every individual had the right to accept or reject the offers, in case of a coincidence random selection. As a result, the participants were not coerced whatsoever to engage in the study process; neither were any restrictions posed that bars a participant from freely withdrawing in case of loss of confidence or any other reason. Since the practice was voluntary, principles such as autonomy and confidentially were highly considered as well. Stratified sampling methods often involve categorization, and the letters (A, B, C) instead of real names were used to mark the samples collected to promote participants' privacy. It means that the principle of anonymity was also observed.
However, the principle of beneficence was violated by the sampling team. The main aim of beneficence is usually to do good or act morally to others. Although the decision to abolish the death penalty would be arrived at, ideas of the majority who are not knowledgeable on law issues but understand the concepts of judicial executions were neglected. In the future, better methods should be used to engage half or more of the population of interest to improve the accuracy of results and reduce potential errors of omission.
