Analyzing Capital Punishment Essays

One of many issues that have been core of moral and legal discussions over history has been the death penalty (capital punishment).

The legitimacy of the use of capital punishment has been tarnished by its widespread misuse , which has clouded our judgment regarding the justifiability of the death penalty as a punitive measure. However, the problems with capital punishment, such as the “potential error, irreversibility, arbitrariness and racial skew" , are not a basis for its abolition, as the world of homicide suffer from these problems more acutely. To tackle this question, one must disregard the currently blemished universal status quo and purely assess the advantages and disadvantages of the death penalty as a punitive measure. Through unprejudiced examination of the death penalty and its consequential impacts, it is evident that it is a punishment that effectively serves its retributive, denunciatory, deterrent, and incapacitative goals.

The United Nations is strongly against the use of the death penalty. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon remarked “capital punishment has no place in the 21st century”. The ICCPR(International Covenant on Civil and Political RIghts) has already petitioned for a ban of the death penalty’s practice, however, it states that in certain circumstances use of capital punishment is considered acceptable.

In 1972, at the time of Supreme Court’s Furman, the majority of public tends to agree with the death penalty. The major reason for support of the death penalty was the serious violent offenders need to be executed in the interest of public safety. However, according to a Gallup poll, supporter for the death penalty dropped from 76 to 53, public started to against the death penalty. Since then, the world has the trend toward of abolishing the death penalty.

The Death Penalty, or capital punishment is nothing new in the world. SInce the dawn of civilization people were sentenced to death for sometimes even the most minor of crimes, such a theft. As the world has changed in the last few thousand years, so have attitudes toward the Death Penalty,yet it is still a punishment that is carried out throughout the world today. In the United States, as of July of 2015, 31 states in the Union actively carry out the death penalty. Only 19 states have abolished the death penalty and replaced it with life in prison without the possibility of parole as the maximum sentence. However, with the declining popularity of the death penalty in the United States and throughout the world, the question that needs to be

The use of the death penalty in the United States has always been a controversial topic. The death penalty, also known as Capital Punishment, is a legal process where a person is put to death by the state as a punishment for a heinous crime. The judicial decree that someone be punished in this manner is a death sentence, while the actual enforcement is an execution (Bishop 1). Over the years, most of the world has abolished the death penalty. But the United States government, and a majority of its citizens, defend and support its continued use. There is evidence, however, that some attitudes about the death penalty are changing.

This paper will tend to look at capital punishment in the US with a look down memory lane on how it came to be established and what has been the stand of the Roman Catholic Church in the matter. The research done also looks at reasons why death sentences are still being passed in the country despite numerous calls by human rights group to abolish this inhumane act. It will also portray why this practice should be abolished with reasons supporting its abolishment. The establishment of death penalty was first executed back in the eighteenth century B.C (Cole & Christopher, 76). It was

The use of the death penalty is controversy. Some oppose it for political reasons, others say religious, while others see the practice as inhuman and barbaric. Most recent trends in the world is to go

One clear anomaly to this international trend of decline is the United States (U.S.) as capital punishment flourishes there. Due to this unique fluctuation in pattern, The United States of America has been chosen as the country of focus for this dissertation.

A rarity exists in a single topic that can cause a degree of controversy so large that it attracts politicians, judges, community organizers, economists and even religious officials to discuss it. This issue is one that some support and others oppose; that is, the issue of capital punishment. Capital punishment is loosely defined as the execution of an offender who is sentenced to death after conviction by a court of law for a criminal offense (Encyclopedia Britannica). This execution of an offender model exists in many nations and also in many forms. For instance, in the country of Zimbabwe, executions are carried out for individuals convicted of treason and drug trafficking, and is exclusively in the form of hanging (Death Penalty Worldwide 2015). Although capital punishment exists around the world, the focus of this paper will be centered on the United States, on the state level. Capital punishment is legal in some states, but the legality does not imply that it is free of problems. There have been growing concerns and strong evidence of the problem of capital punishment. However, the two issues featured in this paper will be issues on racial bias, questions of innocence. These concerns will be analyzed in the following sections: definition of the problem, unit of analysis, analysis of political coalitions, analysis of policy

Criminal law is imposed by almost every nation in the world to reduce crime rate and maintain law and order of the society. An individual who found guilty of a crime will have to face corresponding punishments. Among all penalties, capital punishment is considered to be the most severe and cruelest one which takes away criminal’s most valuable right in the world, that is, right to live. It is a heated debate for centuries whether capital punishment should be completely abolished world widely. The world seems to have mixed opinion regarding this issue. According to Amnesty International (2010), currently, 97 countries in the world have already abolished capital punishment while only 58 nations still actively adopt death penalty.

In society there many things that are debated among the people based on their beliefs, morals, and values. For this paper chose the death penalty because it is one of the highly debated topics in not only today’s society but also in the past. The death penalty, also known as capital punishment, it used as a procedure of retaliation against those who commit violent crimes such as murder and other capital crimes. There are many forms of this punishment, for instance, the electric chair, lethal injections, and the firing squad. There are many feelings and arguments in relation to capital punishment. Some people believe that the death penalty is moral because they deserve it and it provides protection to the society. However, in this paper I will argue that capital punishment is totally immoral because it is not fair, is it unnecessary, and unethical.

As the abolition of the death penalty was only made apparent after the Universal Declaration of Human rights and the Second World War, many countries after the 1980s had started to abolish the death penalty due to international treaties being drafted to make it all happen. Now the death penalty is forbidden in countries which are “abolitionist for all crimes” such as Europe, South Africa, Argentina and Venezuela but is “abolitionist for ordinary crimes only” in countries such as Brazil, Chile and Israel where the death penalty is used for exceptional crimes (Anckar, 2014). Other countries are “abolitionist de-facto” which means they have not executed anyone during the past ten years and have obliged to not use the death penalty. The choice of countries to use the death penalty or not is influenced by international actors and governments of other countries (Anckar, 2014).

Article 6(1) of the ICCPR states that every human being has the inherent right to life, which parties to the Convention must protect, and not allow for deprivation of the life arbitrary . The UN Human Rights Committee (hereinafter 'Committee') monitors states compliance with the Treaty. The Committee stated in its General Comment No. 6 that it follows from the article 6(2) of the ICCPR that states are not obliged to abolish the use of death penalty totally, however, they are obliged to limit the use and abolish it for other than the „most serious crimes“ . However, in the United States of America do not comply with this vision. For a long period of time United States violate human and fundamental rights. They do not comply with the provisions of not only ICCPR but also other important international treaties. It is not the first time that United States violated fundamental rights and its time for this to come to the

Capital punishment is the sentence of death, or practice of execution, passed on as penalty for an illegal offense by a state is being exacted to accelerating criticism. In 2008, the United Nations adopted a verdict (62/149) asking for a ban on the employing of capital punishment, however fifty-eight countries, including the United States and China, still make use of the death penalty. The topic remains highly disputed. However, if the benefit of the death penalty as an impediment is considered, we would comprehend that there is no reason to abrogate it because it is greatly effective for the most abhorrent crimes.