Capital Punishment : The Death Penalty

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.

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, or death penalty, has been here for thousands of years around the world. Capital punishment is when a criminal or offender is convicted of a heinous crime and is then sentenced to death. Ancient Greece was one of the first civilizations to start using capital punishment, followed by the Romans and religions such as Christianity and Judaism. The death penalty was used on anyone who committed crimes such as female adultery, violence against a King, religious deviance, counterfeiting, and murder.

Over the course of human history the earliest known concept of capital punishment has been around since the 18th Century BCE, where the Code of King Hammurabi of Babylon codified the death penalty for twenty five different crimes (Reggio, 2015). From the 18th Century until now there have been many other societies that have used capital punishment for various crimes, such as the Hittite Code, Draconian Code of Athens, and also Roman law. Those different cultures used different methods for execution and followed different rules for people of different race, religion, creed, social status, etc. As history progressed, capital punishment itself has gone through many changes; the ways of execution have evolved from brutal and torturous methods such as burning at the stake, burying alive, bludgeoning to death, impalement,

Capital punishment has been around since the 5th century B.C., even existing in Ancient Rome’s laws. In the early days, the death penalty was used all around the world, in places such as Rome, Athens, Babylon, and Britain. Methods of execution included hanging, drowning, burning, beating, and beheading. Crueler methods included crucifixion, boiling, impalement, and

Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the execution of a capital offender carried out by the state. As of 2018, 31 out of the 50 United States practice capital punishment. Although some may say capital punishment brings justice to the maleficent people of this world, it should be abolished throughout the United States because of its racial bias, its high costs to society, and its infringement upon basic human rights.

Capital punishment, which is also called the death penalty, is the execution of an offender who is sentenced to death after being convicted of a criminal offense. We mostly hear about capital punishment for someone who is convicted of a murder or of multiple murders.

Governor Jay Inslee once said, “One person gets life, the other person gets death -- it depends on which side of the county line you are.”(Anderson A.6) It is often assumed that the death penalty is a federal law, but each state actually has control over it’s death sentence. The death penalty dates back into even the old testament times, when prisoners would get hanging as their punishment. During the old testament times the death penalty was issued for insulting your parents, being a stubborn child, and even eating leavened bread during the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Bushman). Now, the death penalty is issued for much more serious acts, such as murder. Murders result from a fit of rage, an intense argument, or people who are just careless

Ever since the eighteenth century there has been thousands of deaths in the United States because of the death penalty. While having an inmate sit in a jail cell for life can cost taxpayers a lot of money, I feel as if we should find alternative ways to hand down consequences because it does not decrease the murder rate, Taxpayers put millions of dollars into the death penalty system, The death penalty puts innocent lives in danger, and we force other civilians to kill another human being.

Many people begin their morning with a cup of coffee and the daily news, whether attained by social media, television, or the radio. News coverage of death penalty cases, grabs the attention of an audience. The death penalty is an emotional issue for individuals to ponder. In fact, America’s opinion of capital punishment depends on its constitutionality, deterrence, retribution, and the irrevocable mistakes made by sending an innocent defendant to death row. The death penalty also known as capital punishment is legal in thirty-one states and illegal in nineteen states, to include the District of Columbia, (“History of,” 2015.) There has been 1,418 executions in the United States since 1976, the most recent execution was in Texas on October 2015, (“Executions by,” 2015). First, the Supreme Court sets the perimeters on the legality of the death penalty. Second, consider the pros and cons of the death penalty as a deterrent to murder and retribution, not revenge, (“Top 10,” 2009.) Third, the lethal injection drugs that are available for some states to use are brought before the U. S. Supreme court because of the complaint of inmates on death row of the “risk of severe pain,”(“Lethal Injection, ”n.d.) The death penalty is an allowed form of punishment for defendants that are convicted of murder or other capital crimes as long as it does not violate the Constitution.

Tom Robinson is a Black, unfairly tried, innocent character being tried for Capital Punishment for falsely accused of raping a white girl in the book “To Kill A Mockingbird.” (Lee, Harper.). This is clearly wrong. Governments should not concern itself with taking people 's lives. Capital punishment is a legally authorised killing for a crime. In the modern United States capital punishment is only used for punishing murder. The 1930’s was the decade in which had the highest rate of capital punishment in American history. In that decade only two states made capital punishment illegal. Capital punishment is unjust because of the eighth amendment which wherein is

Capital punishment or the death penalty is punishment by death of a person who has been legally tried in a court of law for a capital crime. The morality and constitutionality of the death penalty has recently come up for debate again after the European pharmaceutical companies, who produce Pentobarbital, one of the drugs most commonly used to execute the death penalty sentence via lethal injection, stopped exporting and allowing the sale of the drugs to the United States. (Steiden, 2014) (Levitt & Feyerick, 2013) Since then multiple lawsuits have been filed by incarcerated individuals and opponents of the death penalty after several states began looking into new drug combinations or having variations of the banned drugs created by compounding pharmacies locally. (Levitt & Feyerick, 2013) Two such lawsuits were filed by Clayton Lockett and Charles Warner, who were both found guilty of capital crimes and sentenced to death in Oklahoma. Both Lockett and Warner argued for a stay on their execution dates until the controversies over the new drug protocols adopted by the state of Oklahoma were cleared up. (Eckholm, 2014) Other lawsuits filed have argued that using untested drug protocols in lethal injections should be considered “cruel and unusual punishment.” (Levitt & Feyerick, 2013) The debate really heated up after Clayton Lockett’s appeal for a stay was denied and he appeared to have suffered for an extended amount of time during his execution. (Steiden, 2014)

Capital punishment have been a main debate on whether it is a cruel and unusual punishment and what it actually consist of. Even though the death penalty has been abolished in most of the western nation, the United States remain to practice the activity. The death penalty is perceived by an abolitionist as a form of cruel, unusual punishment. The idea comes from the fact that the death penalty deny the criminal their right to life. The judgment to execute criminals comes from government officials that generally claim to “speak for God.” In addition, this act violates the Eighth Amendment; prohibiting the government from imposing cruel and unusual punishment. To receive this type of punishment, the individual have to commit an extremely murderous crime that strongly affects humanity. Before any action of executions occurs, the criminal is put on death row for random extents of time. This such procedure for most absolutely “evil” criminals is thought to be the humane form of showing other individuals not to commit extreme crimes such as murder.

For as long as our country has been in effect; we have created a culture of killing through the use of the death penalty. Capital punishment used to be very popular back in the 1600s but this is 2015 and things need to change. This USA is in league with Syria, Afghanistan, North Korea, and Iraq in enacting the death penalty. Why are we still accepting it as a form of punishment when so few accept it? Furthermore, several studies and research have shown that taking the life of another human being through capital punishment only perpetuates a cycle of violence. Also other research has shown that flaws in our justice system has led to innocent being prosecuted, guilty being set free, and a plethora of other biases being present during capital punishment cases. The whole process is flawed in many ways, but the scariest part about it is that very little has been done to change it. In this great and wonderful country we say that we value tolerance and diversity but in most cases we seem to forget this and instead look for vengeance and death. The death penalty is a heinous crime which enacts the very principles with which; we are condemning an accused individual. Due to its racial and economic injustices, and the inhumaneness of the torturous death penalty; the penalty of death should be abolished.

Capital punishment, which can also be referred to as the death penalty, has been around for hundreds of years. Ever since it began, there has been discussions as to whether it is morally correct, and as to whether it actually influences criminals. Some believe that the possibility of being put to death often stops criminals from committing violent crimes. Others believe the reciprocal, stating that those that partake in violent crimes are driven to do so for various reasons, and whether they have the chance of being put to death or not will not stop them from doing what they feel they must do. Some serial killers and other violent individuals think that they will never be caught. Others believe that they are doing God 's work, or they proclaim other 'important ' reasons for the killings and violence that they partake in. Sometimes this is due to mental disorders, but there are other reasons that people partake in acts of this nature. Regardless of these reasons, violent acts can and do happen and whether these people should be put to death for their crimes remains a widely discussed issue.