Capital punishment, just or unjust ?
Some crimes are so heinous that no punishment is great enough in the United States is the worst punishment that can be inflicted. Many people have strong opinions about capital punishment and if it is constitutional or not. The infliction of capital punishment greatly divides the people and the country.
The death penalty dates back to the Eighteenth Century, some methods of capital punishment used is hangings, burnings boiling, beheading, drawing and quartering. (introduction) These ways of execution are atrocious and horrendous. Killing humans people this way must have been hard to see. During biblical times death was required for many crimes like adultery, working on a Sunday and murder.(Religious
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To Begin the eighth amendment states Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment (capital punishment) The points this amendment makes are very important, they ensure justice for every criminal. This is a clear version of protection under the law. Additionally courts enforce no criminal will be deprived of his life without due process of law. Under the eighth amendment prisoners do have rights although some feel they do not. The law helps prisoners. Therefor to repeat prisoners do have rights under the eighth amendment. Capital Punishment is the just way to execute convicted criminals.
It helps deter societies criminals.(The Supreme court & capital punishment) With knowing they have a risk of being killed it will deter them from committing heinous crimes. Criminals need this fear of death or our society would fall the shambles. The absence of Death Penalty would make the Death rate increase(reconsidering old debate) With murders knowing the worst convention they could get is time in jail it would make them kill more with less guilt.To sum up Capital punishment benefits society and keeps people
Capital punishment can be a tough topic to approach because people tend to have many different opinions on it. The death penalty is an advantage to society; it deters potential criminals as well as serves retribution to criminals. There is a huge difference in expenses of a lethal injection and life in prison. The death penalty can be an extremely beneficial tool in sentencing criminals that have committed some of the worst crimes known to
In my opinion, the 8th amendment is important because this amendment gives people the right against excessive bail, fines, or cruel and unusual punishment. No citizen of the United States should be subjected to cruel or insane punishment, and they shouldn 't have to pay a bail amount that is too excessive for the crime. This Amendment was added to the Bill of Rights to ensure greater stability and was a compromise between the legislature election in the original non-party elections and the new president. The Amendment’s Bail Clause is a result of injustices perpetrated in England, were judges often abused their power in determining whether bail should be allowed to suspects. After a number of unsuccessful attempts at reforming the law, the English Bill of Rights in 1689 specifically outlawed excessive bail. The U.S. supreme court 's held in 1987 that the eighth Amendment 's Bail Clause had only one meaning that bail conditions, when compared with the magnitude of
Historically, executions have been around for a long time. The first established death penalty laws date as far back as the Eighteenth Century B.C. but didn’t make an appearance in the United States until 1608 (Part 1, n.d.). Death penalty is seen as a form of accountability for someone’s action. Most easily understood when you take a life, you lose your life--an eye for an eye. Nonetheless, over time people have started humanizing the situation and creating controversy. The Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments were interpreted as permitting the death penalty, until the early 1960s, when it was suggested that the death penalty was a "cruel and unusual" punishment, and therefore arguing it as unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment (Part
The Eighth Amendment was introduced as a part of the Bill of Rights into the U.S. Constitution on September 5, 1789, and was voted for by 9 our of the 12 states on December 15, 1971. Many of us may ask what exactly is the Eighth Amendment? The amendment states that excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed. It also states that cruel and unusual punishment shall not be inflicted. What does that mean? That means: “Bail” is money that a charged person gives to the court as a guarantee that he or she will be there for a trial. The amount of bail assigned depends on the type of crime committed, if the crime is serious the bail will be higher. When the Eighth Amendment was written, the framers were taking into consideration
As to why and how it benefits society. One of the main reasons is that it will make police officers focus on ways to prevent crimes and find the criminals. Not on going to court and taking all that time to decide how the criminal will pay for his crimes. Abolishing death penalty will be a big advantage because a lot of money and time will be saved. Anyways, there is no need in death penalty existing because it doesn’t stop or lower the murder rate. When a criminal is committing crime they don’t think about the outcome they just do. So that is not a valuable reason on why death penalty should be legal. In the end death penalty should become illegal in all the states and be replaced with alternative
The Bill of Rights consists of ten amendments, which protects the natural rights of all American citizens. A major variety of these ten amendments helps assure the protection of some aspects that contribute to our daily lives. One amendment that stands out is the 8th Amendment: “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” This amendment provides American
If someone committed a crime so harsh, and inhumane do you believe that they should be put to death? The death penalty, also known as capital punishment is defined as “punishment by death for a crime; death penalty.” (Dictionary.com). The first recorded execution in the United States English American colonies was in 1608 (Reggio). There are multiple execution methods such as; beheading, crucifixion, poisoning, hanging, and electrocuting. Currently, as of 2017 capital punishment is legal in 32 out of 50 States in the United States (CNN). This paper will be discussing the benefits and disadvantages of the death penalty currently in the United States.
Capital punishment has always been a major controversy ever since the Supreme Court ruled it constitutional. Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, became extremely popular as a use of “punishment” for ones illegal actions. The death penalty was first established during 1834 for crimes committed such as “idolatry, witchcraft, blasphemy, murder, manslaughter, poisoning, bestiality, sodomy, adultery, man stealing, and false witness in case rebellion” (Bohm).
Let us begin by stating the death penalty is the punishment of execution, administered to someone legally convicted of a capital crime. The first recorded death penalty dates to the eighteenth century which can be found in the Code of King Hammurabi of Babylon (Death penalty curriculum). This code is arranged to the death penalty for over twenty different offenses. The United States of America adopted the death penalty from Britain and were performed as beheadings, boiling in oil, burying alive, crucifixion, and many other death punishments. The Death Penalty is only giving to punish criminals that
Old Sparky and Gruesome Gertie (affectionate names for the electric chair) have taken the lives of many, even the innocent (Finnerty 18). They are prejudiced and lack compassion. However, many Americans believe that they represent justice. Capital punishment does not represent justice, but vengeance and hate. Among the 7,000 people estimated to have been killed in the United States between 1900 and 1985, at least 23 were innocent (Finnerty 18). In at least 8 of 261 executions performed since 1976, something went wrong; for example, the executioner couldn't find a good vein, or the first jolt of electricity failed to do the trick (Finnerty 18). An innocent person, let alone 23 that
The establishment of the death penalty goes back as far as the Ancient Laws of China. In the Eighteenth Century B.C. in the Code of Hammurabi of Babylon, which gave the death penalty for 25 different crimes. When European’s came to America, they brought their practices of capital punishment with them. In 1608, the first recorded execution took place in the British American colonies when officials executed George Kendall supposedly for plotting to betray the British. By 1622, the legal executions for crimes began.
According to Billy Scott “The death penalty is discriminatory and does not do anything about crime.”in 1976, capital punishment was reinstated in the US following a four-year moratorium after the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional in 1972. The death penalty is a flawed system currently an injustice to society.
They claimed that it should be used only for the persistent. The Romans also used it for a wide range of offenses. Furthermore, it also has been approved at one time or another by most major religions. The early idea expressed in the code of Hammurabi “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life”. It was adopted in some societies to make sure that capital punishment was not applied in an unjust manner. People who follow Christianity, for example, have claimed to find justification for capital punishment in the bible passages “Whosoever sheddeth mans blood, by man shall his blood be shed.” Even with this justification, early sentences weren’t only results of murder. People were sentenced to death for adultery centuries ago. Even today, innocent people are sentenced to death due to misinformation. At this point, there is no biblical passage that can justify the incompetence of this social
Putting people to death for committing murder makes other potential murderers think twice about killing someone. Capital punishment deters many murders every day. If all that had to be done was spend life in jail, getting free meals, having a roof over their head, and place to sleep at night, then killing
The earliest historical record of the death penalty otherwise known as capital punishment goes back as far as the eighteenth century B.C., when the code of King Hammurabi of Babylon listed 25 crimes which were punishable by death. Since then, the uses of the death penalty have prevailed throughout the ages in laws and justice systems of different civilizations. For instance, the Draconian Code of Athens punishes all crimes with the death penalty. During those times, the death penalty involved suffering a gruesome death such as being burnt alive, impaling, crucifixion and stoning (Death Penalty Information Center, 2011).