Capital Punishment Essay: Just Say No

Following the decline in the support of the death penalty, a moratorium on executions began in 1972 during the case Furman v. Georgia. Furman argued that the death penalty was arbitrary and violated the constitution (Mallicoat and Brown 255-280). In a five to four vote, the Supreme Court

"Individuals accused of a capital crime require legal counsel to navigate the complex appeals process, yet

This decline culminated in an unofficial national moratorium on executions in the late 1960’s that became official with the Supreme Court’s decision in Furman v. Georgia (408 U.S. 238, 1972). The decision in Furman officially ended the death penalty in the United States, as then practiced. However, just four years later in Gregg v. Georgia (429 U.S. 1301, 1976), the Supreme Court, citing change in public opinion and the passage of new death penalty statutes by 35 states, reauthorized the use of capital punishment. Despite the reversal, the effect of the decision in Furman was to put states on notice that the Supreme Court would be the ultimate arbiter of all future standards and rules regarding capital punishment administration (Cohen & Newcombe, 2014). At the national level, the 2001 execution of Timothy McVeigh marked the first time the death penalty had been used by the federal government in almost four decades, despite the continuous existence of a federal statute authorizing its use since the inception of the nation (“Federal Executions 1927-20013,” Death Penalty Information Center,

The death penalty has been around since the time of Jesus Christ. Executions have been recorded from the 1600s to present times. From about 1620, the executions by year increased in the US. It has been a steady increase up until the 1930s; later the death penalty dropped to zero in the 1970s and then again rose steadily. US citizens said that the death penalty was unconstitutional because it was believed that it was "cruel and unusual" punishment (Kurtis 67). In the 1970s, the executions by year dropped between zero and one then started to rise again in the 1980s. In the year 2000, there were nearly one hundred executions in the US (Biskupic 34). On June 29, 1972, the death penalty was suspended because the existing laws were no longer convincing. However, four years after this occurred, several cases came about in Georgia, Florida, and Texas where lawyers wanted the death penalty. This set new laws in these states and later the Supreme Court decided that the death penalty was constitutional under the Eighth Amendment (Biskupic 34).

Four years later, however, in Gregg v. Georgia, the Court paved the way for states to reintroduce capital punishment when it declared that the death penalty does not necessarily violate the Constitution if administered in a manner designed to guard against arbitrariness and discrimination. Most serious legal challenges to the death penalty since then have concentrated on demonstrating that states are not living up to the standards set in that case.

While many states have maintained their Constitutional right to perform actions outside of the realm of the Federal government, public opinion of the death penalty began to dwindle within the United States as many of its allies emerged from World War II. The United States and her allied nations bore witness to the devastating actions performed by Nazi Germany and the Concentration Camps and must have therefore felt a great desire to ensure that no such actions could be decreed by a government over its people. The landmark case for capital punishment in the United States occurred in 1972 in Furman v. Georgia. In the case,

The death penalty has been a controversy in the United States justice system since its commencement (Bakken & Morris, 2010). Although extremely controversial, it has stood the test of time as the definitive penalty. Numerous countries are at present bring an end their death penalty law. Contrary to that, the United States has thirty eight out of its fifty states with death penalty still operational. It seems the United States needs the death penalty more than ever before due to rising rate of sever violent crimes across the nation. Statistics shows that since the early nineties roughly around 355 people have been put to death through death penalty and approximately 3300 are still waiting on death row. Similarly since 1976 around 552 felons have been put to rest through death penalty across the United States (Bakken & Morris, 2010). If you break these deaths down according to the methods utilized about three hundred ninety-four by lethal injection, one hundred forty-one by electrocution, eleven by gas chamber, three by hanging, and two by firing squad. Almost half of the 1976 executions have taken place within the last five years, which includes 52 that took place this year. Even though the death penalty has brought countless gooey criminals to end, the course of death penalty that it is founded on is inconsistent one.

More than 1,300 people have been executed in the U.S. since 1976. Another 3,100 are presently on death row. The vast majority of those individuals are guilty of truly heinous crimes. No one 's surprised to find drug addicts, thieves and sex offenders in criminal courtrooms, but there is even people getting put on death row who have no one credible to defend them. In more than a few cases, the defense attorney had a criminal record of their own and would attempt to persuade the victim to take a deal so it would better benefit the attorney and give the victim’s family closure.

Capital punishment throughout history has had many faces in our society. In the early twentieth century capital punishment was viewed as an integral part of the criminal justice system. In the United States alone approximately thirteen thousand people have been legally executed sine the colonial times (ACLU, 2003). By the 1930's up to 150 people were executed yearly, because of various legal challenges the execution rate was almost zero by 1967. In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court banned the practice of capital punishment, citing the death penalty as it was practiced, cruel and unusual punishment arbitrarily administered by the courts and thus unconstitutional in Furman v. Georgia (Costanzo, 18). In 1976, in Gregg v. Georgia, the Supreme

Following a period of nine years (1967-1976) in which capital punishment lay dormant, thirty-eight of fifty American states and the federal government passed revised capital sentencing statutes that satisfied the more rigorous constitutional requirements that the Supreme Court issued between 1976 and 1983. Since 1983 the Court relinquished several procedural restrictions on the states and due to this the rate of electrocutions, gassings and lethal injections have steadily grown. Simultaneously, there have been conflicting societal views on the use of the death penalty and in response some scholars have claimed that, “citizens invariably signify their agreement with all the controversial

Multiple prisoners in the United States still receive death as a punishment for heinous crimes. More than 1,420 inmates have been sentenced to death since 1976 ("Capital Punishment: Should" 1). Because so many lives have been lost, some question weather death is a suitable punishment. In addition, there are a number of states of which have enacted the death penalty. According to the DPIC as of 2015, 31 states have enacted the penalty but several are debating abolishing it. The many issues of the punishment have provoked controversy within states. Lastly, the method of execution for the prisoners is also frequently debated. Although it has been rendered unaccountable, more than 85% of executions since 1976 have been by the method of lethal injection ("Capital Punishment: Should" 1). The inaccuracy of the method raises many suspicions of unreliability and violation of the 8th amendment. Overall, the debate over capital punishment is likely to continue in the near

According to the N.C. Department of Justice, the state murder rate declined in the years since executions stopped. ("Failure to Deter Crime Archives."). Since 1973 more than 150 executions were released with evidence of innocence. (DPIC: Facts about the Death penalty). "[Capital punishment] violates the Eighth Amendment because it is morally unacceptable to the people of the United States at this time in their history. (Thurgood Marshall, JD, late Justice of the US Supreme Court, on June 29, 1972, Furman v. Georgia concurring opinion). In conclusion people with counter arguments about the issue believe with the given data, people are wrongly accused and in the end, it’s a waste of time because it doesn't deter crime so in the people’s case the death penalty should be abolished overall do end their killing as

Georgia (1972), the Supreme Court put an end to capital punishment in a short run” (O’ Connor et. al 2014). The Court administrated that it underlies irreconcilable concerns and, thus affects the Eight and Fourteenth Amendments because of its “cruel and unusual punishments”. And in 1976 Gregg v. Georgia, the Court “ruled that capital punishment was unconstitutional” for its violation of rights and the given justification withheld by researchers. As a matter of fact, the United States “is the only western nation to put people to death for committing crimes”. It was illegal in many states, and was hardly implied in others states.

This paper is regarding the issues on the death penalty. The decision regarding either for the death penalty or against it. Should the death penalty be allowed or abolished? What is the death penalty? Death penalty has a couple of names such as capital punishment or execution. However all these terms mean the same which means punishment by death. Crimes that may result in the death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offenses. The sentence that carries out a punishment in this manner is a death sentence (1). Death penalty strikes many people to have heated debates over issues of gender, race, religion, and methods for execution. Top five states which have the highest number of execution rates since 1976 coming in at the highest is Texas with 524, followed by Oklahoma with 112. The next three states are Virginia, Florida, and Missouri. The bottom five states which have the lowest number of execution rates are Oregon with two and then New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Connecticut all have the lowest amount of one (2). There are currently nineteen states that have not put the death penalty in effect. Those nineteen states made the decision to abolish the death penalty (2). In the year 1999 there was ninety-eight executions. The number of executions are at a downfall though. In 2014 there were only thirty-five executions, the lowest number since 1994 (2).

The death penalty is a tough debate and an overwhelming argument in this country. We as Americans put Timothy McVeigh to death by lethal injection just three months ago. Arguments can be made for and against the death penalty, but this is not the problem. Capital Punishment is supposed to be a deterrent to crime, but is the death penalty really a deterrent? Capital Punishment is not a deterrent for crime, and the effects of Capital Punishment are actually hurting the American citizens. Capital Punishment affects the American citizens by having those citizens pay millions of dollars for death row inmates, and these criminals affect those same citizens because the