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Should The United States Use Capital Punishment?

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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.
Not every country used the death penalty though, under the Germanic kings, the Germanic law treated crimes as “private matters between the perpetrator and the victim or the victim's family.” (Hood) Germany tried to avoid using the …show more content…

Before achieving independence from Britain, the US followed Britain’s laws and that included capital punishment. The reasons of why someone would be executed varied from colony to colony. (DPIC) The United States Supreme Court almost declared the practice of capital punishment in 1972 because people thought it was unconstitutional. The eighth amendment states ‘Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.’ This particular amendment is suppose to protect the citizens of America from “excessive punishments.” Even if the convicted person plead not guilty and stuck to their original story, if they got the death penalty then that is it. This amendment, though, has not stopped the countless lives—innocent or not—, that have been sentenced to death. Capital punishment supporters argue that death is the only option for people who have allegedly committed heinous crimes such as murder and rape, that is their strongest argument. It is said that the death penalty is supported out of “desire for vengeance or retribution.”

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