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Death Penalty

In: Social Issues

Submitted By nickernoodle
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Death Penalty 1

The Death Penalty
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PHI 200
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Death Penalty 2
The Death Penalty
The death penalty is a decision that causes frustration and tension within society as there is a battle of its justification and validity. It seems to be a great divide between opinions of justification, retribution, and deserved punishment to the potential of killing an innocent person and simply the fact that execution is murder. Crime is an everyday threat to our lives and will always be, the questions is how do we deal with it and to what extent do we take the punishment. This has been a question that goes as far back as Biblical times. History tells us that capital punishment is an acceptable and efficient deterrent of crime. Even today the death penalty remains an effective punishment in some states for heinous crimes and murder, while others have abolished this penalty.
The death penalty has been challenged in the realm that it is a violation of the Eighth Amendment, which states that the United States cannot use cruel and unusual punishment. Punishment itself is an infliction of suffering which is legal and somewhat cruel. It is not however unusual as it has long been used in history. During the eighteenth century B.C. the death penalty was codified for 25 different crimes, in the Fifth century B.C. death was the only penalty for all crimes. Death sentences were carried out by such means as crucifixion, drowning, beating to death, burning alive, and impalement (Randa, 1997). In Britain during the Tenth Century A.D. hangings became the norm for execution prisoners, in the following century William the Conqueror would not allow persons to be hanged outside of war times. This trend however didn’t last long as Henry VIII took rein executing around 72,000 people. The methods during this time were torturous including boiling,

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