Pro Death Penalty History

Based on the research I did on various documents and articles that came from the schools library database system, I was able to find out that the death penalty was officially passed and recognized as the eighth amendment in 1791 as a part of the bill of rights, but based on the “American Government” library database, "The death penalty has a long history. Hammurabi's Code and the Old Testament of the Bible both provided for it. It was practiced in both ancient Greece and Rome. Capital punishment persisted into the Middle Ages when it was often applied to heretics,

“And despite scientific efforts to implement capital punishment in a "humane" fashion, time and again executions have resulted in degrading spectacles, including the botched lethal injection in April 2014 that took more than 40 minutes to kill Oklahoma inmate Clayton Derrell Lockett and prompted Glossip v. Gross” (Heyns and Mendez). Capital punishment is an inhumane and outdated way for punishing criminals. The use of capital punishment is hundreds of years old in America. It is used as a punishment for criminals who have committed a violent crime in which they physically harm others. The point of the death penalty is to show that these kinds of crimes are not tolerated, and to deter criminals from committing these kinds of crimes. Unfortunately

“The first established death penalty laws date as far back as the Eighteenth Century B.C. in the Code of King Hammurabi of Babylon, which codified the death penalty for 25 different crimes.” Capital punishment has been used as a form of justice in the United States for nearly four centuries. It was first used by Captain George Kendall in the Jamestown colony of Virginia

Furthermore, in the 1830s and 1840s capital punishment was targeted nationwide (Henderson, 9). The movement against the death penalty sought to “halt public executions” (Henderson, 9). Public executions at the time were widely attended and seen as a form of entertainment (Henderson, 9). The most popular form of execution at this time (and still today in some countries) was hanging (Beliveau, 202). Although this type of execution was common when carrying out the death sentence, it was not always the most humane. Beliveau claims that “contrary to what is often believed, in the majority of cases it is not the blocking of air entering the lungs that causes death” (202). In addition, the most common types of hanging were short-drop hanging and long-drop hanging (Beliveau, 203-4). Short-drop hanging was the more common of the two and had similar effects to dying by strangulation whereas long-drop hanging was created with the intent of executing someone in a more humane way (Beliveau, 203-4). Other methods of capital punishment include decapitation, lethal injection, electrocution, gas chamber, hanging, firing squad (Denver et al).

The death penalty has been around for ages, but criticism about the death penalty is new. The has been criticism has soared to a new high because some people believe it is inhuman. In recent years debate about death penalty has risen to a new height. The pros and cons of the death penalty are being weighed in court rooms across America because of court cases killing innocent people. While the cons have noble intentions behind them for saving a human life. The pros far outweigh the cons because certain situations, the only true justice is through the death penalty. The death penalty is beneficial to America due to the cost of keeping prisoners in prison, and it is the only moral way to punish some crimes while also keeping some crimes from happening.

Capital Punishment has been carried on for years for the people who committed horrendous crimes and you would probably want to know where it all began. In the 1700s B.C. the code of Hammurabi codifies the death penalty for the first time. This legal document contained the first penalty laws for the capital punishment. This document is from Babylonia and it listed the crimes that were punishable by death. On the website

The very first cases of capital crimes in the United States started with the original colonists. Of course there was severe punishment for bigger crimes such as murder and treason. In fact, treason was the reason the first man was ever executed in the United States. There was capital punishment for silly crimes, though, like stealing grapes, killing chickens and trading with Indians. Capital Punishment wasn’t perfect, far from it actually, but it was on it’s way to a long history of what was punishable and what was not in the eyes of the government.

The idea of capital punishment was brought over from Britain, when the founding fathers declared independence. Our ancestors quickly buy the idea of the death penalty, arguing that it was a common part of life. The death penalty was then implemented in Europe and used for various crimes. The first recorded execution in America occurred in Jamestown, 1608. A man named George Kendall was executed for treason. In the earlier colonial days, laws regarding capital punishment varied area to area.

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.

The death penalty has been promoted for thousands of years, for countless crimes committed by humans. The first established death penalty laws date as far back as the Eighteenth Century B.C. in the Code of King Hammurabi of Babylon, which codified the death penalty for 25 different crimes. The death penalty was also

The first death penalty laws go way back to the eighteenth century, in Babylon. In the tenth century hanging was the major execution style, later in this century William the Conqueror did not allow people to be hanged for any reason unless in times of war, that didn’t last. The American system of capital punishment comes from the British law. In America it mainly started in the ancient western. They encouraged people to seek retribution by killing their offenders; they also started listing what crimes would be reasons to use the death penalty. Around the 17th century government leaders realized crimes harm society and became more involved in controlling and punishing crimes. Laws focused more on keeping peace in society than serving justice. In the ancient Greco-Roman time, the prime reason for execution was to punish those who attacked the religion of the state. Throughout this era, punishment was violent and often means of inflicting torture along with death. During the middle ages it became very important to justify punishing and convicted criminals by making sure they were guilty. The usual methods of determining guilt or innocence at the time were trial by battle, the ordeal and compurgation. Trial by battle pitted the offender and the victim,

The death penalty had consistently been one of the United States’ most divided and controversial issues since the the sixteen hundreds. In 2015, twenty-eight people were executed in the United States. The use of the death penalty should be abolished. The death penalty in the United States is too expensive, inconsistent in rulings, and its popularity has declined in recent years. The death penalty is too final of a punishment for the United States to be using.

“Between 1930 and 2010, 5,093 people were executed in the United States. As of 2010, 35 states and the federal government authorize capital punishment” (Source #2). The death penalty has been brought to court many times. Today most states believe that lethal injection is the most humane method of execution, but some states still have the firing squad, hanging, gas chambers, and electrocution. “All jurisdictions provide for execution by lethal injections. 16 jurisdictions provide for alternative methods of execution, contingent upon the choice of the inmate, the date of the execution or sentence, or the possibility of the method being held unconstitutional”(Source

A brief history of the death penalty is in order so that one can be aware of this laws nature since that is how one would start to

The roots of the death penalty laws can be traced back to ancient Babylonia and The Code of Hammurabi which highlighted 25 violations that were deserving of death, yet humorously murder was excluded. The death penalty, in what is presently America, was a feature of England 's correctional framework that was received by the original states. The first recorded execution in the British American Colonies was in the Jamestown Colony in 1608.