Capital Punishment And The Death Penalty

The death penalty, also frequently called capital punishment, is the executing for a crime. The most common crime referred to as “capital crime” is murder and specifically, murder in the first degree. Between 1892 and 1961, the death penalty was used in Canada and the result was death by hanging. The Parliament divided murder into capital and non-capital categories in 1962. It was not until 1976 that Parliament abolished the death penalty. The death penalty or capital punishment continues to be a controversial topic among many Canadians today. Canada, among many other countries such as Australia, New Zealand, and almost all European countries have abolished capital punishment. Others, however, such as the United States, China, Iran, and others preserve death penalty as an option. The death penalty should remain illegal as it is expensive, does not deter crime, and is immoral.

Capital punishment, otherwise known as the death penalty, is a controversial subject which has been argued for decades due to the ethical decisions involved. People believe the death penalty is the right thing to do and that it is the perfect example of ‘justice’ while others believe that it is immoral and overly expensive. The death penalty is not a logical sentence for criminals, it doesn’t give them the right type of justice and it is immoral.

Resolution—Execution should not be allowed in the United States, especially given the risk of executing innocent people.

The justice system is filled with opposition. Those who support the use of Supermax, the death penalty and the execution of those who are mentally retarded and juveniles, and those who oppose the above mentioned. The following essay will discuss all mentioned topics.

Capital punishment has been around since the eighteenth century, but it ceases to exist in the modern era for countries like Canada. Canada’s death penalty law was instated in 1759, but later abolished in 1976 (Statistics Canada).Along with being an extremely controversial topic, capital punishment has been sought to be safer for crime victims, cheaper and a better deterrent than prisons. However when looking at the facts it can be argued that the death penalty not only decreases crime rates and costs less, it is simply morally wrong.

Death penalty, also known as a capital punishment, is a punishment that requires the government to kill or execute the convicted criminals. Death penalty was inherent feature in American history since the colonial era. Today, not all of the states practice the Death Penalty. As of July 1, 2015, there are 31 states with the Death Penalty and 19 states without the Death Penalty . Some states want to keep the Death Penalty to decrease the crime rate, but some states argue that there is no evidence that Death Penalty deters crime. People are still debating whether the US should or should not abolish the Death Penalty. Therefore, U.S. should not continue the Death Penalty due to the high percentage of wrongfully convicted people and moral issues.

However, Australian institute of criminology suggest that“…the presence or absence of the death penalty does not appear to indicate any significant influence upon rates of murder and homicide”, furthermore they go on to say that

The death penalty has been in the justice system of America tracing all the way back to the days of its founding fathers. Though it is a highly controversial legal and moral matter, it still stands today as the most ultimate punishment in the United States. Many countries have been or are currently abolishing their death penalty under the notion that it is unjust and morally wrong. The United States, on the other hand, has 38 out of its 50 states with laws that state the death penalty as its ultimate punishment. Since 1990, more than 350 people have been put to death with another 3,300 waiting in death row. Another statistic that is an eye opener is since 1976, 552 executions have occurred in the United States, with 394 by lethal injection, 141 by electrocution, 11 by gas chamber, three by hanging, and two by firing squads. Half of the executions that have taken place after 1976 have happened within the last five years, 52 happening so far this year (Death Penalty). The Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment violates the 8th Amendment, which protects the right from “cruel and unusual punishment, on June 29th, 1972. The respective states halted executions in 1967, awaiting the ruling of the case. However in July, of 1976, the Supreme Court, as a just punishment for certain crimes, upheld the death penalty (Fagan, n.d.). For the nine years that the death penalty was suspended, the United States did not have a substantial amount of crime increase, which is somewhat

"Two Fishermen" examines the use of the death penalty within the justice system. Share your

I once was a strong proponent of capital punishment, trusting the criminal justice system would do the right thing. Moreover, I assumed that the justice system involved honest, ethical people all working together for the good of all mankind. I often argued the need for capital punishment and believed that it increases public safety, and acted as a deterrent to other would be heinous crimes and possibly saved countless lives while acting as a deterrent. As faulty as this thinking may have seemed these were my assumptions, and like most I truly believed in the criminal justice professional, after several years in law enforcement I have learned that there are unethical, criminal justice professionals that use the peoples power

Almost all nations in the world either have the death sentence or have had it at one time. It was used in most cases to punish those who broke the laws or standards that were expected of them. Since the death penalty wastes tax money, is inhumane, and is largely unnecessary it should be abolished in every state across the United States. The use of the death penalty puts the United States in the same category as countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia which are two of the world’s worst human rights violators (Friedman 34). Lauri Friedman quotes, “Executions simply inject more violence into an already hostile American society.”

that 350 people who were convicted of crimes for which they could have been put

Capital punishment, otherwise known as the death penalty, has been the center of debate for a long time. Capital punishment may be defined as the “[e]xecution of an offender sentenced to death after conviction by a court of law of a criminal offense” (Capital Punishment). Up until 1846, when Michigan became the first to abolish the death sentence, all states allowed legal practice of capital punishment by the government (States). Currently, there 32 states still supporting the death penalty and 18 that oppose (States). This illustrates the struggle experienced by state governments all across America and their progression to a more peaceful resolution. There are varying advantages and potentially severe disadvantages to this type of

Capital punishment is an issue that has been continuously debated for the past few decades and will keep on being discussed and argued about for a long time to come. Capital punishment is the act of executing somebody as punishment for committing a particular felony and crime after being served a lawful legal trial. Executions can only be utilized by a state, and if used by non-state organizations it is considered as committing a murder.

Capital punishment is defined as the legal killing of a human being as a punishment to an immoral crime. People who are charged with the death penalty tend to do cruel and harmful crimes of murder, homicide, and/or rape. The process of the death penalty and capital punishment has many flaws in its system. Often times people who are completely innocent of the charged crime get sentenced to the death penalty. The true criminal is often times never the one sitting on death row. A common argument that is “pro-death penalty” is murder and crime rates have gone down with the death penalty; this is a common misconception that many people believe in. An alternative for the death penalty is life in prison for these criminals. Capital punishment is wrong and an inhumane punishment for criminals who are still too human beings.