Arguments Against The Death Penalty

The death penalty is the punishment of execution, administered to someone legally convicted of a capital crime (law.cornell.edu, 2015). The first Congress of the United States authorized the federal death penalty on June 25, 1790 (deathpenalty.org, 2011). The death penalty can also be referred to as capital punishment, however capital punishment also includes a sentence to life in prison, as opposed to strictly executions. A convict can be sentenced to death by various methods including lethal injection, electrocution, gas chamber, firing squad, and hanging. After the death penalty was established, many debates have arisen arguing that these methods violate several of the United States’ Amendments. Select cases have been accused of violating the Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments. It is important to note that the judiciary goes through a series of processes prior to deciding a sentence for a capital crime. Many factors influencing the verdict include proportional analysis, individualized sentencing, method of execution, and classes of people not eligible of the death penalty. This paper will discuss brief descriptions of the methods used for executions, economical issues, the Supreme Court’s opinion regarding the death penalty, as well as important factors that make up the proportional analysis, individual sentencing process, method used, and determining classes of people who are not eligible for the death penalty.

Capital Punishment, also known as the Death Penalty, has been a part of the United State’s justice system for the majority of the country’s existence. Today, 31 out of the 50 states still recognize the death penalty as a viable option when dealing with high profile crimes, most notably murder and sexual assault. While many people argue that the death penalty should be made illegal, there is also widespread support in favor of keeping the death penalty, leaving the nation divided on the issue. Both sides of the argument possess valid evidence that supports their claims, but in the end, the arguments in favor of the death penalty are noticeably stronger. The death penalty is an appropriate sentence that should continue to be allowed in the

In this article, it talks how the government carries out executions, not merely to its choice of particular execution methods. and execution method such as lethal injection that can be humane in theory and can be carried out by means of flawed or haphazard procedures that create a foreseeable danger of inflicting severe pain in actual practice. Also, it said in the article that over time in the absence of adequate safeguards, such a method of execution will inevitably involve the infliction of gratuitous pain in some executions. The Inflicting gratuitous pain on a subset of condemned prisoners is no more tolerable than inflicting gratuitous pain on all condemned prisoners.

In the article "The Case Against the Death Penalty," which shows up in Crime and Criminals: Opposing Viewpoints, Eric Freedman contends that capital punishment does not discourage fierce crime as well as conflicts with decreasing the crime rate. This essay will analyse Freedman 's article from the perspectives of a working man, a needy individual, and a government official.

In the debate over capital punishment, the opponents argue that capital punishment should not be practiced because it has a civilizing effect and practicing capital punishment has do deterrent effect. On the other side of the debate, the supporters argue that capital punishment should not be abolished because it is just retribution and has a deterrent effect. In this paper, I will argue that capital punishment should not be practiced.

In 1940, Lawrence Bittaker, an infamous serial killer from the 1970’s, was born to two unloving parents in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was adopted but eventually left abandoned by his adoptive parents who could not put up with him anymore (Chojnaki, M. & Danz, E. p. 1). By the age of 17, Bittaker dropped out of high school, never to obtain his GED. From the ages of 21 to 26, Bittaker was diagnosed “borderline psychotic” and “basically paranoid” multiple times by different doctors (Chojnaki, M. & Danz, E. p. 1). Bittaker was in and out of jail before murdering five teenage girls in 1979 with a partner, Roy Norris (Chojnaki, M. & Danz, E. p. 2). In 1981, Bittaker was sentenced to death. As of today, he is 70 years old and is still on death row at San Quentin Prison in California (Chojnaki, M. & Danz, E. p. 3).

Another, negative characteristic about capital punishment is pain of death executing a person is occasionally instant, but also slow and painful. Some culture and state does not support capital punishment for this reason alone and certain culture prefer suffering, others do not. One of the methods for executing individuals that can lead with terrible pain is lethal injection. It a type of fatal dose of drug that must be injected by a needle, typically it kills the person by putting the person to sleep and then giving them a heart attack in their sleep. Lethal injection is painful because several possibilities can happen every person as well is different, and the outcome can lead to an individual still being awake at the time when he was injected

People who are against the death row are worried that people who are on it might be innocent. The people who support death row, are saying they can’t site one person in modern times who were executed and later proven innocent. DNA test prove that there are a lot more innocent people that have been convicted of a crime, than we thought. There are many cases where people were wrongly accused, and were close to being executed.

“Between 1930 and 2010, 5,093 people were executed in the United States. As of 2010, 35 states and the federal government authorize capital punishment” (Source #2). The death penalty has been brought to court many times. Today most states believe that lethal injection is the most humane method of execution, but some states still have the firing squad, hanging, gas chambers, and electrocution. “All jurisdictions provide for execution by lethal injections. 16 jurisdictions provide for alternative methods of execution, contingent upon the choice of the inmate, the date of the execution or sentence, or the possibility of the method being held unconstitutional”(Source

Capital punishment dates back to 18th century B.C. in the Code of King Hammurabi of Babylon. Under this code twenty five crimes, excluding murder, were punishable by death. In historical data, the first death penalty was imposed to offender who was blamed for magic in 16th century BC Egypt (Regio, 1997). Unfortunately, death penalty is still practiced in some countries. For example, in Egypt recently on 24 March 2014, Minya Criminal Court imposed death penalty to 529 followers of Egyptian ex-president Mohamed Morsi for their participation in violence (Amnesty International, 2014). Nowadays, United States also practices capital punishment. According to the fact sheet of DPIC (2014) 20 criminals from different states were executed this year

Lethal injection, electric chair, firing squad, gas, hanging, you name it, these are all the variations that states use to condemn their prisoners. The death penalty has been, ironically, alive since the 1600s, massacring thousands. A debate that has been ongoing brings the question today, should capital punishment be banned? or should it continue? The truth lies in the fact that injustice cannot be solved by inequity.

Life is sacred. This is an ideal that the majority of people can agree upon to a certain extent. For this reason taking the life of another has always been considered the most deplorable of crimes, one worthy of the harshest available punishment. Thus arises one of the great moral dilemmas of our time. Should taking the life of one who has taken the life of others be considered an available punishment? Is a murderer's life any less sacred than the victim's is? Can capital punishment, the death penalty, execution, legal murder, or whatever a society wishes to call it, be morally justifiable? The underlying question in this issue is if any kind of killing, regardless of reason, can be accepted. In this

Every day the news is filled with stories about people being killed in cities such as Chicago, Illinois even Orlando, Florida!! Detectives now have to ask questions about the victims like whether it was the car they were driving, the colors they was wearing, the shoes/clothes they had on, or their choice of partner that caused them to be shot. Some of the motives behind these senseless shootings vary from robbery, drug deals gone wrong to hate crimes which resulted in countless numbers of innocent individuals being killed daily. Some of the perpetrators are identified, apprehended, tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. Sentence to death may be

We should use the death penalty for sex offenders and violent criminals. Do you know anyone who has been the victim of murder? If you have, then how did it make you feel when you found out they were murdered? We should use the death penalty for sex offenders and violent criminals. While many people disagree with capital punishment, here are some reasons why it is perfectly justifiable.

How can America move forward when they are breaking their own laws and morals in attempt to punish prisoners? Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the act of killing a criminal whose offense was severe enough. Thirty-one of the fifty states in America practice the death penalty. The lethal injection procedure was first performed in Texas in 1982 and is the primary form of execution in America now (“State by State Lethal Injection”, 1). The injections are typically three separate parts, one to make the criminal unconscious, one to stop the breathing, and the last to stop the heartbeat. Capital punishment is viewed by some as morally good and just, however there is much more to this act of violence than people consider. The death penalty needs to be abolished in America due to the hypocrisy of law, moral being, global recognition, and financial benefits.