...society is the use of capital punishment, informally known as the death penalty. There are two main sides to this topic; some people want to abolish the death penalty, while others want to continue or even increase its use. The people that want to abolish the death penalty view it as unconstitutional, as they see it as “cruel and unusual;” while others view the death penalty as an appropriate punishment that fits the horrendous crime of murder. The death penalty has been shown to have a deterrent effect on crime, which is why the U.S.A and other nations worldwide should continue the use of capital punishment (Muhlhausen). HISTORY The death penalty has been around since the start of time. It is...
Words: 1700 - Pages: 7
...to the death penalty to express their loved one’s situation with the death penalty. Death penalty is also known as capital punishment or execution. Communities from all over the world have used this punishment at one point in history, in order to avenge criminals. Most common reasons for being sentenced to death were war crimes, war treason, murder, theft, property damage, practicing magic, and espionage. In America and England, there are still cases where the death penalty occurs. In America, the idea of capital punishment has been proposed to be abolished but was rejected. In England, the idea of capital punishment was abolished first and came back into the people’s lives. The idea of abolishing capital punishment is similar in America and in England because it was thought to be abolished by both countries but was approved in England. In America, proposals were made to abolish capital punishment, but were not successful, while in England capital punishment is abolished, which holds meaning to the people in both countries. The United States has had the death penalty since the eighteenth century. Execution in the United States became the first legal system which continues to enforce the law and its responsibilities. The death...
Words: 1752 - Pages: 8
...Statement Body History of Capital Punishment a.k.a. the Death Penalty B. The Catholic Church and the Death Penalty Conclusion Works Cited Christine Boothroyd Professor Doris Neuzil REL 401 - The Catholic Tradition September 24, 2011 The History of the Catholic Church and the Death Penalty The Ten Commandments, principles issued by God for us to live our lives by, includes one that states – “Thou Shall Not Kill.” However, on Wednesday, September 21, 2011, two men in the United States were executed – Mr. Troy Davis in Georgia, and Mr. Lawrence Brewer in Texas. (Jonsson) While the approaching execution of Mr. Brewer was almost unmentioned, the approaching execution of Mr. Davis garnered much public attention with many believing his claims of innocence. According to an article published in The Christian Science Monitor, this public attention included world leaders, a former president and Pope Benedict XVI - the head of the Catholic Church. (Jonsson) Pope Benedict without a doubt was against not only Mr. Davis’ execution but that of Mr. Brewer’s as well. With the Catholic Church against the taking of another life, what exactly is the history of the Catholic Church and the death penalty? The Death Penalty, also known as capital punishment, can be traced back to the Eighteenth Century B.C. in Babylon and the first recorded execution in what eventually would become the United States dates back to 1608. (Death Penalty Information Center) Back in the colonial times, the...
Words: 1629 - Pages: 7
...THE DEATH PENALTY IS CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT PHI 103: INFORMAL LOGIC JUNE 2, 2012 THE DEATH PENALTY IS CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT In the United States there are currently 33 states that have the death penalty as a form of punishment. The legal system in the U.S. is imperfect resulting in many innocent people’s convictions of death. There have been several exonerations of innocent people on death row. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, “From 1973-1999 there was an average of 3 exonerations per year. From 2000-2011, there has been an average of 5 exonerations per year” (Death Penalty Information Organization, pg 2 para 3). Because of the imperfections of the legal system there are thousands of people as well as politicians that believe the death penalty should be abolished in the the United States, I am one of the people that are against the death penalty but for more reasons other than just the imperfections of the legal system. The other reasons the death penalty should be abolished are more based on the ethical issues, people’s rights to life, and the economic issues associated with the death penalty. Because of all the exonerations in the past three or four decades this form of justice should be abolished, it is not applies fairly and just and it makes me wonder how many people were actually put to death that were innocent. Fact is that in the 33 states that use the death penalty as a form of punishment do not all use the same...
Words: 1804 - Pages: 8
...Death Penalty Abolishment Jason Martin CJA/394 August 24, 2015 B. Hale Death Penalty Abolishment The issue of the death penalty and its Constitutionality has been an area of debate in the United States for years. When looking at it from a global standpoint it becomes even more controversial, many other countries consider the practice to be barbarian. A US Supreme Court ruling on the subject, declaring it unconstitutional has led to states being required to change their existing laws in order to eliminate it. The main problem seems to be that the population in each state may have a different take on whether it is good or bad for society. The death penalty remains the definitive, unalterable rejection of human rights. By working in the direction of the abolition of the death penalty on a global level, organizations goals to terminate the series of violence generated thru a method riddled with financial and ethnic prejudice and stained by hu20man inaccuracy. The death penalty places innocent people at risk. ("The Facts: 13 Reasons To Oppose The Death Penalty", 2015). Ever since the restoration of the death penalty in the United States in 1976, 138 not guilty males and females have been free from death row, containing individuals who came in moments of execution. In Missouri, Texas and Virginia inquiries have been started to decide if those places executed guiltless males. The unlawful killing of a guiltless individual is a wrong that can under no circumstances be mended...
Words: 1842 - Pages: 8
...Death Penalty Mead Shumway of Nebraska was convicted of the first degree murder of his employer's wife on circumstantial evidence and sentenced to death by jury. His last words before his execution were: "I am an innocent man. May God forgive everyone who said anything against me." The next year, the victim's husband confessed on his deathbed that he [the husband] had murdered his [own] wife (Radelet, Bedau, & Putnam, 1993). There are an uncertain numerous amount of incidents similar to the one depicted above, that have repeatedly occurred throughout the course of history. Two highly distinguishable figures in the area of capital punishment in the United States, Hugo Bedau and Michael Radelet, discovered in 1992, at least 140 cases, since 1990, in which innocent persons were sentenced to death (Hook & Kahn, 1989). In Illinois alone, 12 death row inmates have been cleared and freed since 1987. The most conclusive evidence in support of this "comes from the surprisingly large numbers of people whose convictions have been overturned and who have been freed from death" (Bedau, 1997). One out of every seven people sentenced to death row are innocent (Bedau, 1997). The numbers are disturbing, innocent people are becoming victims of the United States judicial system by its overlooked imperfections. A former president of the American Bar Association (ABA), John J. Curtin Jr., said it best when he told a congressional committee that "Whatever you think about the death penalty...
Words: 3811 - Pages: 16
...Death penalty in America Death penalty debate has been a daily talk for quite some time now. This has been a very controversial that has engaged many organizations and countries in the debate. Some oppose this form of punishment based on moral and judicial grounds. These grounds include wrongful conviction base on DNA tests. Other grounds include wrongful conviction based on race. Those supporting death penalty argue that death penalty creates a feeling of safety since it instills fear in potential criminals. They also hold that those convicted despite their race actually did the crime they are convicted for. Some countries like Canada and New Zealand do not believe in the administration of death penalty as a means of punishment. Therefore, until today there is no agreed provision used by the judiciary to reach at a decision of such cases. United States, China and Japan among other countries believe that death penalty is a favorable sentence. United States has authorized death penalty in most federal governments, including the military. Some of the methods used in death penalty include the electric chair. Most of these procedures used in death penalty have been considered to be violating constitutional rights. Though fewer legislatures have been made to change these procedures, death penalty should be abolished. This is the position that is appropriate and offer should be supported. It is a racist tool of criminal punishment. Evidences explaining the reasons against this...
Words: 2146 - Pages: 9
...Denied: The Effects Being Ignored Death by lethal injection, death by electrocution, or any form of the death penalty given that people find to be fit for capital crimes is not a human’s right. We as humans do not have the right to end someone’s life based on the fact that they committed a crime. We have to take into accountability the countless amounts of lives that are impacted by this. Even on the international level, there are hundreds of countries who have abolished the death penalty completely. There is more to this than others think, yet they do not take the time to research or study the adverse effects of what this kind of punishment can cause. The death penalty violates the human right to life and causes a ripple effect that destroys the lives of the families of the individuals being executed. Death penalty supporters can be very profound with their opinions on what they believe is an excellent crime deterrent. In an article written for the Journal of Criminal Justice between May and June 2009, one of the authors by the name Shanhe Jiang stated, “Supporters of the death penalty argue that sentencing criminals to death deters others from committing a similar crime in the future.” He states that future crimes could indeed be deterred because of the continued support for the death penalty. In many cases, people see the death penalty as a form to punish those who commit murder, mass murder, rape and any other crime that warrants death. Supporters of this crime deterrent...
Words: 2025 - Pages: 9
...Introduction Nowadays, the death penalty debate is a heated issue in many countries, especially in the United States. The death penalty or the capital punishment is a sentence imposed by the law, which remove the legal life of the person who commit or is suspected of having committed a serious crime. The history of death penalty in the U.S is long and ruthless and the first recorded execution was in 1608. There are many kinds of death penalty which have been used in US such as shooting, electric chair, hanging, lethal injection. Some people believe that it is never ethical and justifiable to carry out the death penalty as means of punishment by the law. Nowadays, approximately 2/3 of all countries have banned the death penalty included 18 states of the United States. Most executions take place in the Southern states, according to this source, until 2008, 930 out of 1136 executions took place there, with Texas having carried out 422 (The pros and cons of the death penalty in the USA, n.d). This research will indicate whether the death penalty in the U.S should be abolished. Body Paragraph Reasons for the abolishment of Capital Punishment in the U.S It is possible to argue that the death penalty in the U.S should be eliminated because of inviolable human rights, unjust punishment and faint correlation between executions and crime rates. Firstly, inalienable human-rights are against the death penalty in all over the world because no one can decide who could be...
Words: 1238 - Pages: 5
...Should Death Penalty be abolished in America? Death penalty, or capital punishment, the most severe punishment for criminals, has been in the punishment system in countries all over the world for thousands of years. The history of death penalty is almost as long as the history of human beings. Death penalty was once considered as natural as life itself. It was usually applied to those criminals who had conducted grave crimes and no one would feel pity for the criminals in the past. However, with the development of human beings, different voices about death penalty appear more and more often. Some people argue that in modern society where life is highly valued, death penalty that deprives of a person’s life would be too cruel. Therefore, campaigns are launched for the purpose of abolishing death penalty. However, there are still some other people who firmly support death penalty. As a result, in today’s society, death penalty has become an extremely controversial issue, both sides of which have its own supporters and reasons. This paper explores to the different sides of death penalty, to find whether death penalty is necessary or not in today’s world. In the coin of death penalty, side A stands the firmly supporters of death penalty, claiming that death penalty is a cruel necessity in today’s world. A latest Gallup poll shows that 64% of the Americans support death penalty and 29% oppose it. For especially atrocious crimes, the support rate rises to 80% (Jones, Jeffrey M)....
Words: 2317 - Pages: 10
...and empirical aspects of human justice. Ultimately, the key issue regarding the death penalty is as follows: is the death penalty as appropriate form of punishment for the United States of America’s judicial system to impose? This key issue incorporates the empirical and moral claims of those both for and against capital punishment in America. The main empirical issues center on whether or not the death penalty is imposed with bias, whether it serves as deterrence for future crimes, and whether it is an economically beneficial option for the country. Moral concerns include the idea of justice being “an eye for an eye,” whether or not capital punishment is “playing God,” and if the death penalty is a cruel and unusual form of punishment. The position we recommend to our legislators is opposition to capital punishment because evidence demonstrates that it is biased, unjust, fails to deter crime, is not cost effective, and cruel and unusual government action. The death penalty in America dates back to the colonial period. Its use was fragmented at best throughout the colonies and eventually the states, with each state having its own laws concerning the use of capital punishment. As long as it has existed in the United States, there has been controversy and divided views regarding the death penalty. One of the earliest views from the nation was from Dr. Benjamin Rush, who argued that the death penalty did not deter crime, but actually caused crime rates to rise. This is a view that...
Words: 3366 - Pages: 14
...Article Rebuttal Doug Petroff BCOM/275 December 14, 2011 DeeAnna Stiglich Article Rebuttal The article chosen for this assignment was published in the University of Denver student newspaper and titled Capital Punishment is Wrong, the United States needs to abolish the death penalty sentence. In this article, the author Ryan Hanschen states that the death penalty does not act as a deterrent to crime and offers supporting data to his claim that the death penalty should be abolished, but his sources lack credibility. The sources he cites in the article, such as Coloradans against the Death Penalty and Amnesty International are an interested party. These two sources stand to gain if the death penalty is abolished because abolishing the death penalty is their mission. Ryan Hanschens blatant use of rhetoric is obvious when he states for his argument, “How can we call ourselves the land of the free with a straight face while remaining one of the only first world countries that still executes its citizens?” Also his bias is apparent when he states, “we must end this vicious practice of capital punishment in the United States.” Included in the article is a University of North Carolina study that shows that the odds of minorities receiving a death sentence rose 3.5 times among those defendants whose victims were White, indicating a bias against minority defendants. However, this study did not provide data indicating the percentage of crimes committed by minorities vs. the crimes...
Words: 466 - Pages: 2
...for a specifically crime, and also an issue of in between controversial and dissenting in public nowadays. Capital punishment stated as death penalty, there is various form of death penalty which includes the gassing, hanging, shooting, electrocution, stoning, beheading, gas chamber, firing squad, and also comes with lethal injection. In the simplest way to define what capital punishment is, someone deprive his or her life. In my opinion, I think that capital punishment is considered as inhuman, cruel, an unfair cold blooded way of punishment, because it against the most basic of human rights. Well, to define what is basic of human rights, it can be explains that every people have the basic rights to be freedom and live, we have the rights to do the right things with the regardless of consequences in nationality or other more status. Nevertheless, although death penalty is executed for murders, but it is not the reason for government approval in use as legality, due the capital punishment destruction and also breaks the rules in order to protect the human rights. Therefore, I strongly agreed that capital punishment is brutal and it should be abolished. First and foremost, there are several arguments to put forward. Results in a system show that the necessity of legal and moral belief errors that must be kill some innocent victims. Death penalty deterrent people ineffectively especially when those innocent lives get destroyed. Based on the research which conducted by Bell (2011)...
Words: 1005 - Pages: 5
...Benchmark Assignment The Death Penalty Picot pg. 1 Keith e picot 3/28/2012 Criminal Procedure Benchmark assignment Mr. Jessie Torres The Death Penalty in America An unreasonable and Inhumane Deterrent The Death penalty has been a staple in U.S. justice system since its inception in 1608, when Captain George Kendall, in the Jamestown Colony of Virginia was ‘executed by firing squad for treason’. Even though controversial this punishment has no place in America. Death Penalty is unreasonable and inhumane deterrent for crime and should be abolished. First of all. data shows a racial bias towards black crimes against white victims. In addition, it is less expensive to house inmates than to execute them. Finally many countries have abolished the Death Penalty deeming it merciless I am a person that does not believe in the death penalty. The main thing we Question is, what purpose it serves for us to put another person on death row. By killing another human being it wont bring back that victim they murder. People against this method realize capital punishment does not stop criminals from killing or stop them from their mischief act. Many states that are against this method argue that the death penalty is both cruel and unnecessary that the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who done great evil. Prosecutor need to take time out to make sure that...
Words: 1758 - Pages: 8
...Death Penalty Capital Punishment also known as the Death Penalty has always been surrounded by controversy. As a result of killing someone said criminal will also be killed in return, some would say an eye for an eye. In the end it boils down to more than a question of morality and ethics. Capital Punishment is not necessary and should be abolished because the government shouldn’t decide who should live and who should die, its more expensive than life in jail, and its not an effective deterrent. Furthermore, Capital punishment is legal in the United States, in fact, legal in 33 states including Florida. Additionally, the death penalty is accepted internationally in 58 countries and use it regularly. China is the number one in the world for the number of executions done per year. The exact number is not none due to it being a ‘state secret’ but is said to be in the thousands. Not far behind is the United States which ranks number 5 on the list with 43 executions in 2011. The death penalty is universally reserved for heinous crimes that are considered completely devoid of morals and socially accepted standards. Crimes like murder after substantial planning in Florida and premeditation and treason in Arkansa. As well as rape of a minor, murder of a minor, murder of a senior knowingly, to avoid arrest and so on. (http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org) However, due to an evolving dilemma and expansion of human rights and the enforcement of the right to live, many countries have abolished...
Words: 995 - Pages: 4
