...2009 Should capital punishment be abolished or retained? Capital punishment, or the death penalty, has been using for thousands of years. In the last two centuries, as people have realized the importance of human rights, debates over capital punishment have never stopped. More and more people join the campaign against capital punishment, while the others defend it. However, either abolishing the death penalty or retaining it has inextricable problems. The writer’s opinion is that capital punishment will vanish from this planet someday in the future, but for a long span of time from now, to abolish it or not depends on the social situations of different countries. People who are against capital punishment, and advocate replacing it with lifetime imprisonment, list five reasons why they condemn it. Right to life is the first punch. In The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 3 says, “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person” (1). Among all the human rights, right to life is the cornerstone and the carrier of all the other human rights. Deprivation of the right to life is equivalent to deprivation of all the rights, which is inhumane in modern society. On the other hand, capital punishment is a product of the old barbaric concept “an eye for an eye, a life for a life;” and it is actually vengeance killing. Nowadays, most societies do not agree with vengeance killing. Such a brute act does nothing but more harm. Criminals should be punished...
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...Capital punishment: A gruesome punishment To start off my paper here is a definition of what capital punishment is. Capital punishment is a cruel punishment used to punish those guilty of murder, but has also been found to be useful for other crimes such as armed robbery,kidnapping,rape and treason. Capital punishment is a punishment so cruel that people feel it’s the only punishment for wrongdoing. Capital punishment is an effective way, but is not always the answer for punishment. Capital punishment is another word for death penalty is given to those convicted to those found guilty of crimes they committed. The death penalty has been around since the beginning of civilization. In ancient times the Romans use of the death penalty was stoning,...
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...April 15, 2012 Capital Punishment Capital Punishment is the killing of people as punishment for their crimes legally (Haines 3). Since the beginning of time, capital punishment has been a way of punishing people who have committed higher levels of crimes. Although capital punishment has been around for centuries, the first known case of the death penalty in the American colonies happened in the James town colony in 1608 when George Kendall was executed for spying for the Spanish (Green, Melissa S.,compiler. (1998-2009). Focus on the Death Penalty). Capital Punishment is a subject in the United States that was and still is very controversial. Many people want capital punishment to be abolished but on the other hand there are a handful of people who want capital punishment to end. The purpose of this study is to show why capital punishment should be abolished. Capital punishment needs to be abolished because there are way too many cases and executions. During the time span of the Revolutionary war, capital punishment was widely accepted. During this time 162 documented cases of capital punishment were recorded. In the nineteenth century, following that era, capital punishment had increased to 1,391 documented cases. As of April 1, 2008, there were a total of 1,099 people who received the death penalty. The State of Texas had the most cases of capital punishment with a number of 405 cases (Bureau of Justice Statistics 1-2). That is way too many cases just for one state. The...
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...America still commits Capital Punishment, and regularly, too. The topic is debated whether or not the Capital Punishment should be legal. The government is already involved in the lives of those who commit crimes, but the idea of it taking away someone’s life creates an uneasy thought. Some people believe that execution is wrong, inhumane and should be abolished while others believe that it projects positive impacts and will benefit the world, in such ways as lowering crime rates and ridding the world of the worst criminals....
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...known as capital punishment, has been a topic of heavy debate and discussion since some of the earliest stages of the United States. For a long time, a majority of the general public approved of capital punishment, but within the past century, especially, opponents have made significant moves in trying to prevent its further use. A majority of what makes the death penalty so controversial are the moral and ethical issues involved in taking people’s lives as a punishment. Although morals hold some weight, the most significant reasons for debate consist of the capital punishment’s legal fairness and accuracy. The death penalty is the use of death as a punishment for committing capital crimes such as first-degree murder, rape, and treason. The problem is, why does the United States still use the death penalty? The government uses different ways to put those who have committed capital crimes such as first-degree murder, rape, and treason, into permanent sleep. The different grueling methods used to bring death to the inmates include the uses of the electric chair, the gas chamber, hanging, and the most “civilized” approach, lethal injection.1 Under these judgments, I believe that the death penalty should be abolished. Punishments need to be enforced when a person is guilty of a committing a serious crime such as first degree murder, which is the unlawful killing of another human being with malicious intent.2 Those who support the death penalty may believe that capital punishment is the...
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...America today is a highly debated issue and has been for many years. Could you imagine not having a life threatening consequence at all, such as the death penalty when it comes to criminals that commit very severe crimes? There are many people in the United States today with many different opinions on why the Death Penalty should or shouldn’t be abolished in our Country. I’m one who feels that we should not abolish the Death Penalty; however our Capital Punishment system can be much improved. One advantage to keeping the Death Penalty is that it’s suppose to act as a deterrent against those people who might think about committing a serious crime. I believe that it does help as a deterrent for some people, but not to the extent that it should. If we started sentencing more murderers and serious offenders to death, then I believe that more people will fear the consequences in which they may face. Now, if we start convicting the serious criminals to death, then that doesn’t mean continue to let them appeal their sentence and take years before they’re actually put to death. One other thing that I believe that keeps the Death Penalty from being as effective as it should be is T.V. I know it’s only T.V. but that’s what people see and a lot of people believe that is the way it is. Whether or not T.V. is how it is or not, most people don’t really know. Many of the Law programs could be influencing people with the idea that all a person needs to do is basically tell the truth to get the...
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...Capital Punishment Many distinctive doctrines in criminal law originated in efforts to restrict the number of capital crimes and executions. For instance, in the late 18th century, when all murder in the United States was punishable by death, Pennsylvania pioneered in dividing murder into two categories. The state enacted laws that authorized punishment of first-degree murder by death, while second-degree murder was punishable by imprisonment only. Elsewhere, penal codes uniformly required death for certain serious crimes. In these jurisdictions, discretionary powers to commute death sentences gradually expanded. (A commutation substitutes a lesser penalty for a more severe one—for example, replacing execution with a life sentence.) Today in many nations, including Turkey and Japan, the death penalty remains legal but the number of executions has declined over time. Although many jurisdictions limited imposition of the death penalty, no government had formally abolished capital punishment until Michigan did so in 1846. Within 20 years Venezuela (1863) and Portugal (1867) had formally eliminated the practice as well. By the beginning of the 20th century the death sentence had been abolished in a handful of nations, such as Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Norway, and The Netherlands. Although not formally eliminated, it had fallen into disuse in many others, including Brazil, Cape Verde, Iceland, Monaco, and Panama. The defeat of the Axis powers provided a foundation for...
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...Capital Punishment Many distinctive doctrines in criminal law originated in efforts to restrict the number of capital crimes and executions. For instance, in the late 18th century, when all murder in the United States was punishable by death, Pennsylvania pioneered in dividing murder into two categories. The state enacted laws that authorized punishment of first-degree murder by death, while second-degree murder was punishable by imprisonment only. Elsewhere, penal codes uniformly required death for certain serious crimes. In these jurisdictions, discretionary powers to commute death sentences gradually expanded. (A commutation substitutes a lesser penalty for a more severe one—for example, replacing execution with a life sentence.) Today in many nations, including Turkey and Japan, the death penalty remains legal but the number of executions has declined over time. Although many jurisdictions limited imposition of the death penalty, no government had formally abolished capital punishment until Michigan did so in 1846. Within 20 years Venezuela (1863) and Portugal (1867) had formally eliminated the practice as well. By the beginning of the 20th century the death sentence had been abolished in a handful of nations, such as Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Norway, and The Netherlands. Although not formally eliminated, it had fallen into disuse in many others, including Brazil, Cape Verde, Iceland, Monaco, and Panama. The defeat of the Axis powers provided a foundation...
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...California Does Not Need Capital Punishment Capital punishment is the legally authorized killing of a person who has committed a heinous crime. Capital punishment has been around for centuries and is still used today in various countries including the United States. All though throughout the years capital punishment has lost its appeal and is gradually being ruled unconstitutional in the United States, the earliest being Michigan in 1846. Some of the 18 states that have already abolished capital punishment are New York, New Mexico, Alaska, Hawaii, and Iowa. Sadly, California is not apart of the list of states that have abolished capital punishment. Capital punishment should be abolished in the state of California because too many innocent people have been executed, it cost too much money, it does not act as a deterrent to crimes, and life without parole is a more practical option than capital punishment. There are too many flaws in the capital punishment system and many of them lead to innocent people being executed. According to John W. Whitehead in his article “The Death Penalty Should be Abolished”, “In a Columbia University study on 5,760 capital cases, the report found an overall rate of error of 68 percent. In other words, courts found serious reversible errors in nearly 7 out of 10 capital cases.”(1). If one innocent person was executed that would be one to many, but the fact that there is an error rate of 68 percent is unacceptable. The most infuriating thing however...
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...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 the death...
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...Capital punishment, also called death penalty, is the execution of an offender sentenced to death after conviction by a court of law of a criminal offense. The practice of executing people for certain crimes is very old; in fact, the term itself dates to a Latin root, capitalis, which means “of the head,” a reference to a common execution method used in Roman times. Currently 58 nations actively practice it, 97 countries have abolished it, and the remainders have not used it for 10 years or allow it only in exceptional circumstances such as wartime. However, It is a matter of active controversy in various countries as it violates human rights. What Is Capital Punishment Capital punishment is a practice in which prisoners are executed in accordance with judicial practice when they are convicted of committing what is known as a capital crime or capital offense. In other words, capital punishment or the death penalty is a legal process whereby a person is put to death by the state as a punishment for a crime. The judicial decree that someone be punished in this manner is a death sentence, while the actual process of killing the person is an execution. History Of Capital Punishment Early Laws The first established death penalty laws date as far back as the Eighteenth Century B.C. in the Code of King Hammaurabi of Babylon, which codified the death penalty for 25 different crimes. The death penalty was also part of the Fourteenth Century B.C.'s Hittite Code; in the Seventh...
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...29th 2015 Should the death penalty be abolished or retained? Capital punishment, or the death penalty, has been using for thousands of years. In the last two centuries, as people have realized the importance of human rights, debates over capital punishment have never stopped. More and more people join the campaign against capital punishment, while the others defend it. However, either abolishing the death penalty or retaining it has inextricable problems. My opinion is that capital punishment will vanish from this planet someday in the future, but for a long span of time from now, to abolish it or not depends on the social situations of different countries. People, who are against capital punishment, and advocate replacing it with lifetime imprisonment, list five reasons why they condemn it. Right to life is the first punch. In The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the constitution states, “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person”. Among all the human rights, right to life is the cornerstone and the carrier of all the other human rights. Deprivation of the right to life is equivalent to deprivation of all the rights, which is inhumane in modern society. On the other hand, capital punishment is a product of the old barbaric concept “an eye for an eye, a life for a life;” and it is actually vengeance killing. Nowadays, most societies do not agree with vengeance killing. Such a brute act does nothing but more harm. Criminals should be punished...
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...beginning of crime and has been reserved for the worst of crimes. Many people believe it’s justified, reasoning that the punishment should fit the crime. However, a large demographic believes it violates the rights of man and is inhumane. The death penalty is a primitive idea and is reminiscent of the uncivilized ideas of the dark ages and is unfitting in the modern world. It has been abolished in 32 states and is likely to rise. It’s morally wrong and violates practically every religion. The premise behind the death penalty is murder for murder. The death penalty should be abolished because 1) it’s a waste of taxpayer funds, 2) innocent people can be wrongly sentenced, 3) and life without parole is more beneficial. Enacting the death penalty actually costs more than having an inmate spend the rest of their life in jail without parole. It’s better to put an existing death row inmate in life without parole because less money is spent and it does not stir up as much commotion on whether it’s lawful or not. The reason why the death penalty costs more than housing an inmate for life is because the appeals. A candidate can appeal on almost any grounds because of how sensitive the death penalty is. If a candidate was only allowed one appeal it would remedy this issue. Millions of dollars is spent on criminals deciding on whether they should live or not. Any money should not be put towards the benefit of criminals. Occasionally an innocent victim is sentenced to death row; it’s...
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...penal jurisprudence in abolishing the capital punishment. This is to counter the plenary provisions of Article 5 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 and its protocol in 1989 where the State parties believed that abolition of death penalty should be in the scale of enhancement of human dignity and progressive development of human rights and recalling Article 3 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted on 10th December, 1948 as well as Article 21 of our Constitution.1 It can be judicially said “I don’t punish you for killing the man but so that the other cannot be killed.” That is, the chief aim of capital punishment is to make deterrent to others for same crime . Now this concept is having a new direction. The Supreme Court and High Courts in India interpret the cases before giving the death sentence as rarest of rare cases. The Court moves its eye also for other aspects of society. The landmark cases where death sentences were awarded in India are Ranga Billa case2, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi Assassination case, Laxman Nayak case 3 and the lastly, it was awarded to Dhananjoy Chatterjee on 14th August, 2004 in connection with Hetal Parikh case of West Bengal after the Supreme Court affirmed the death sentence awarded by lower courts and President also refused to grant him pardon. In the year 2003, Government laid a bill in the Parliament which proposed to add a provision of the punishment, like death sentence in the Drugs...
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...pro capital punishment and there are people who are strongly against capital punishment. Capital punishment is defined as the most extreme sentencing option. (Schmalleger, 2011) Capital punishment is typically used for capital offenses which are offenses that are punishable by death. (Schmalleger, 2011) Capital punishment has become one of the most talked about topics, some people argue that the death penalty is an effective deterrent of crime while others argue that the death penalty is not consistently applied and claims the life of many innocent people. There is no question on whether or not the people who commit heinous crimes should be punished to the fullest extent of the law because they should. However, I for one am against the death penalty and feel that it should be abolished. Prior to this assignment I thought that maybe I was for capital punishment but when I actually sat down and thought about whether or not this was an effective deterrent of crime the answer on where I stood was clearer. Capital punishment would only be affective if it was consistently applied to crime. Although 38 states still have the death penalty there is still a consistent amount of crime in each state. If the death penalty was adequately applied I believe that the crime rate would probably go down because criminals would then understand the severity of the crimes they commit and the consequence for that crime. However, this is not the only reason I feel that the death penalty should be abolished...
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