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Death Penalty Essay

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I. After spending ten long years on death row, he is escorted today by the warden down the dimly lit white hallway to the room in which judgement day will finally arrive. As he moves closer, he begins to regret having led a violent life of crime and murder that had caused him to be sentenced to death so long ago. The door finally opens, and there he stands face to face with “old sparky”, a.k.a. the electric chair. He is strapped in and a leather helmet containing a wet sponge is placed over his head along with a brass liner that functions as an entry electrode through which nearly 2500 volts of electricity will pass. The exit electrode- a band of brass also with a soaked sponge- is attached to the prisoner’s …show more content…

Generally, colonies authorized capital punishment for a smaller number of offenses than English law allowed, but all colonies authorized public execution as mandatory punishment for some crimes against the state, people, or property. Massachusetts was the first American jurisdiction to prohibit cruel and unusual punishments with its adoption of the Massachusetts Body of Liberties in 1641. The Puritans, however, did not consider execution cruel and unusual punishment, and even authorized it for some religious offenses (Smith 2).
III. Even though capital punishment has been practiced in the US since Colonial times, many people believe that the death penalty is unconstitutional and should be completely abolished in the United States. They believe that one of the alternatives to death sentencing is jailing offenders for the rest of their lives without the chance of parole, commonly known as “life without parole” or LWOP. However, capital punishment contains many advantages over LWOP and other forms of punishment for murderers.
IV. The death penalty is both constitutional and morally right. It is true that prisons serve in reforming criminals, but in certain cases where the offender is unmistakably guilty and has a history of violent behavior, society has the right to demand the ultimate punishment to ensure their own safety. It is all too

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