Capital Punishment Vs Retributive Justice

Capital punishment in America developed as a result of the influence of the British when they settled in America. They brought with them the laws that include capital punishment. The earliest form of death penalty ever recorded was that of Captain Georg Kendall in the year 1608 in Jamestown Colony, Virginia. Kendall’s execution was attributed to his being a spy of Spain. Captain Georg Kendall was a member of the first council that was appointed in Jamestown in Virginia colony. In that year, he was executed by a firing squad making him the first person to have ever been sentenced to death in the United states.

The death penalty was first developed in the Eighteenth Century B.C. by King Hammurabi who mentioned death as a punishment over 20 times. In Britain around the Tenth Century A.D., the method of hanging was extremely common. Other methods developed over time such as boiling, beheading, burning at the stake and quartering. In order to be ‘executed’ the criminals would commit capital offenses such as not being honest to a law officer or treason. As time passed, the amount of criminals executed grew larger every year and the government in England knew something had to change. Therefore, the death penalty was reduced by about 45%. The first usage of the death penalty recorded in America was the death of Captain George Kendall in 1608. He was caught as a spy for Spain which lead to his violent death. In 1612, the Governor of Virginia, Sir Thomas Dale began the Divine, Moral and Martial Laws, which allowed the death penalty for multiple small crimes. The death penalty became inactive in the early

In 1608, George Kendall, who was a captain of the British Crown and a member of the first council at Jamestown, was the first person to be sentenced to death by the Virginia government in the U.S. George Kendall was a spy of Spain and he offered the British Crown’s secret information to Spain. For this reason, George Kendall was executed by a firing squad (Grizzard and Smith 108-109). The death penalty, also as known as capital punishment, can be defined as a sentence of execution for criminals such as terrorists, murderers, or spies. The death penalty are nine methods to execute criminals, which are “hanging, shooting by firing squad, shooting, beheading, lethal injection, stoning, gas chamber, electrocution, and falling from an unknown height.”

The Death Penalty and Capital Punishment have been a topic for concern with many people in the past and the present today. The death penalty and capital punishment have been used throughout history going back as far as Ancient China in which they would sentence a person to death for committing a capital offense, such as spying, murdering, acting as a traitor, etc. The earliest documentation of the use of the death penalty in the United States was in 1608 when Captain George Kendall was executed for being a spy. In 1612, Thomas Dale, governor of Virginia, enacted the Divine, Moral, and Martial Laws which could enact the death penalty for minor offences, like stealing grapes, trading with Indians, etc. The crimes that were considered logical for the death penalty varied from state to state, but they mainly had the same reasons for doing so. The death penalty has

The moral and ethical debate on the sentencing and enforcement of capital punishment has long baffled the citizens and governing powers of the United States. Throughout time, the interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, and the vast majority beliefs of Americans, have been in a constant state of perplexity. Before the 1960s, the Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution were interpreted as permitting the death penalty. However, in the early 1960s, it was suggested that the death penalty was a "cruel and unusual" punishment and therefore unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment. Many argue that capital punishment is an absolute necessity, in order to deter crime, and to ‘make things right’ following a heinous crime of murder. Despite the belief that capital punishment may seem to be the only tangible, permanent solution to ending future capital offenses, the United States should remove this cruel and unnecessary form of punishment from our current judicial systems.

Capital punishment, the state imposed penalty of death, continues to be one of the most controversial issues in contemporary American public policy. Since the earliest days of its employment in the colonial era until today, citizens have struggles with the issue of when and under what circumstances the taking of a human life by the state can be morally or legally justified. For some opponents of the death penalty, the simple answer is that the taking of a human life is always morally and ethically wrong, even when conducted under the auspices of state authority as a legal punishment. In contrast, proponents of capital punishment have contended with equal fervor that the death penalty is morally justified as a form of retributive justice,

When European colonists came to the America, they brought the tradition of capital punishment. Capital punishment came on the North American shore with the British colonies. The first recorded case of capital punishment was established in the new colonies. Captain George Kendall was first executed in 1608 in the Jamestown colony of Virginal Unite State. First execution was by hanging to the

The earliest reported execution in the new colonies was Captain George Kendall from Jamestown colony of Virginia in 1608 because he was a spy for Spain. In 1612, Virginia Governor, Sir Thomas Dale signed the Divine, Moral and Martial Laws with the death penalty. The death penalty applied for the simplest offenses such as stealing grapes, killing chickens, and trading with Indians. The regulations of the capital punishment diversified from one colony to the next. (Randa, 1997)

The death penalty, as we know it today, didn’t exist in the United States until 1976. However, the American penal system has incorporated capital punishment since the earliest settlements were founded in the early 1600’s. The first recorded execution in the United States occurred in 1608 in Jamestown, Virginia when Captain George Kendall was executed just one year after the Jamestown settlement had been established after he had been convicted of being a spy for Spain (Part I: History of the Death Penalty). Over the next 250 years, several states moved toward abolishing capital punishment altogether. While there has been serious push towards ending capital punishment, more than half of state governments within the United States cling onto their right to execute criminals who perform truly heinous crimes.

Capital Punishment has historically divided the United States and its meaning has changed depending on the time period. Capital Punishment, the “punishment by death for a crime,” has existed in societies throughout history. In the United States, the constitutionality of Capital Punishment is a debated topic; but the morality behind the death penalty is an often passionate and intense argument. At the birth of the United States and creation of the Constitution, the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments have been interpreted to permit the death penalty. While the Fifth Amendment states, “no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law;” the Fourteenth Amendment restricts “cruel and unusual punishment.” Bruce Nelson,

The first known execution was in the colony of Virginia in 1622, by the 1800s the law in the United States not only accepted capital punishment but also required it (“Facts about the Death Penalty” 3). Execution was the automatic penalty for anyone convicted of murder or several other serious crimes. The debate has shifted from whether capital punishment is appropriate in a modern civilized society to questions about the fairness of the trials and the reliability of the results. These questions have contributed to the rise of citizens who oppose the death penalty (“Facts about the Death Penalty” 3). A divided United States Supreme Court also appears to be struggling with several important aspects of the death penalty. Especially vulnerable members of society like children, the mentally ill, and the mentally retarded who are viewed as undeserving

Retribution by definition is the “punishment inflicted on someone as vengeance for a wrong or criminal act” . Though this method justice can properly be served by restoring the order of justice. This simply means the wrongdoer pays the equivalent price as the harm done. Each criminal should

The Different Aims of Sentencing There are a number of reasons why a society punishes offenders. These include, among others, to discourage the offender from committing further crimes (individual deterrence), to help the offender, so that he or she won’t offend again (rehabilitation), to prevent the offender from committing further crimes through imprisonment (incapacitation) and to show society’s disapproval of the crime (denunciation). Retribution is to punish on the premise that it is a payback for the offence (Retribution carries with it the notion of “Do the crime, do the time”) Reparation is aimed at compensating the victim of the crime usually by ordering the offender to pay order to

Retributive theory of punishment was all about getting a punishment for the crime. Retribution is the idea that a person should be punished simply because they are guilty. Retributionist does not care about trying to make the criminal a better person so that they can get back into the community again. Their point of view is that if you committed the crime then you deserve punishment. It was focused on looking at the damage the convict did and how they should punish them regardless of its consequences. As Niriella (2013, 235) quotes, it is “warranted as a response to a past event of injustice or wrongdoing”. This contradicts the restorative style of justice which is more forward thinking and focuses on the consequences and future events. There are two forms of retributivism, positive and negative retributivism. The positive retributivism is

This paper will focus on retributive justice and restorative justice. Let’s begin with the definition of each. Retributive justice is a theory of justice that considers that punishment, if proportionate, is a morally acceptable response to crime. On the other hand, restorative justice is the opposite. It is a theory of justice that focuses on the needs of the victims and the offenders. So which of these should be morally right?