The Controversy Of Capital Punishment

Capital punishment has been a controversial issue that still exists in America today. Capital punishment is a law passed by the government to punish any individual that has been convicted of committed a heinous crime. The death penalty has been a method used throughout history as punishment for criminals. The punishment also known as the death penalty is a scheduled execution, which would be done with lethal injection. The reason why this punishment is chosen is because when crimes are committed that shock the conscience, the immediate emotional reaction is to retaliate with severe punishment (Schnurbush 2016). The death penalty is debated when it is brought up, opinions vary from one group of people to another, one side says the execution is murder, and the other saying that it is justice being done. Each side presents valid arguments to why people should be for it or against it; people’s opinions are formed by personal beliefs.

The death penalty is the punishment of execution, administered to someone legally convicted of a capital crime (law.cornell.edu, 2015). The first Congress of the United States authorized the federal death penalty on June 25, 1790 (deathpenalty.org, 2011). The death penalty can also be referred to as capital punishment, however capital punishment also includes a sentence to life in prison, as opposed to strictly executions. A convict can be sentenced to death by various methods including lethal injection, electrocution, gas chamber, firing squad, and hanging. After the death penalty was established, many debates have arisen arguing that these methods violate several of the United States’ Amendments. Select cases have been accused of violating the Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments. It is important to note that the judiciary goes through a series of processes prior to deciding a sentence for a capital crime. Many factors influencing the verdict include proportional analysis, individualized sentencing, method of execution, and classes of people not eligible of the death penalty. This paper will discuss brief descriptions of the methods used for executions, economical issues, the Supreme Court’s opinion regarding the death penalty, as well as important factors that make up the proportional analysis, individual sentencing process, method used, and determining classes of people who are not eligible for the death penalty.

Why is the death penalty used as a means of punishment for crime? Is this just a way to solve the nations growing problem of overcrowded prisons, or is justice really being served? Why do some view the taking of a life morally correct? These questions are discussed and debated upon in every state and national legislature throughout the country. Advantages and disadvantages for the death penalty exist, and many members of the United States, and individual State governments, have differing opinions. Yet it seems that the stronger arguments, and evidence such as cost effectiveness, should lead the common citizen to the opposition of Capital Punishment.

Capital punishment is a sentence that is given to someone that has committed a capital crime. This is a subject of great debate; some people agree and some do not. There are times when a crime is so heinous that the majority would seek capital punishment. Susan Gissendaner received this sentence for plotting to kill her husband, although her boyfriend actually killed her husband. Since being in prison, Susan has undergone a conversion and transformation. She is now a model prisoner. Due to Susan’s transformation, they are trying to have her sentence changed. Should Susan’s sentence be commuted to life in prison is the question being asked? This paper will answer the question by providing a moral judgment viewed by two non-consequentialist theories. The strengths and weaknesses of these positions will be assessed. Whether I agree or disagree will be answered and explained.

In David M. Oshinsky’s book, Capital Punishment on Trial: Furman v. Georgia and the Death Penalty in Modern America, he discussed the case of Furman v. Georgia. He explores the controversy that capital punishment holds in the United States of America. The death penalty has been in practice for many centuries. For example, “In Massachusetts, where religion had played a key role in settlement, crimes like blasphemy, witchcraft, sodomy, adultery, and incest became capital offenses, through juries sometimes hesitated to convict” (Oshinsky, 2010). For the punishment of death these offenses do not fit the crime. However, capital punishment at this time was rarely criticized. The death penalty demanded many executions including public ones. Many of these were hangings and were public events. After the American Revolution the death penalty began to be questioned. For example, Benjamin Rush stated, “Capital punishments are the offspring of monarchial governments. Kings believe that they possess their crowns by a divine right. They assume the divine power of taking away human life” (Oshinsky, 2010). By the 1840’s there were organized groups opposing the death penalty such as the Society for the Abolition of Capital Punishment. Within the coming years, the support for capital punishment fluctuated. Throughout the book, Oshinsky explores the many cases leading up to the Furman v. Georgia decision.

Since the earliest times, man has struggled with the concept of justice. The controversy of capital punishment has weighed on the minds of humans since the beginning. When we are wronged it is our natural instinct to demand compensation. This thirst for revenge can be seen in the earliest civilizations and societies. Ancient Hammurabi code states “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” (History of the World). For many people this little axiom seems fair. Others however, think otherwise and warn of a blind and toothless community. What is it about capital punishment that divides so many Americans? Is it the possibility of an innocent man being executed too much of a risk? Should our current

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.

The Furman v. Georgia case has set a precedent on how the courts deal with the disputable issue that is capital punishment because it was the first time the Supreme Court addressed the problem. Both racism and the morality of the death penalty have been relatively controversial issues in the United States for several years. The Furman v. Georgia case conjoined both matters. The case declared that if capital punishment were to be used, it was going to be used for all the right reasons, not due to any prejudices or discrimination by reason of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. Additionally, the case placed a moratorium on the death penalty because it was argued that the application of Furman’s sentencing would be an example of “cruel and unusual

As stated by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, capital punishment is defined as “the practice of killing someone as punishment for serious crimes.” such as murder or treason. The Furman V. Georgia case was the reason some states reinstated the death penalty. It consists of three black men committing gruesome crimes, two being rape and one being murder in Georgia and Texas. Currently, there is thirty-one states that have legalized the death penalty and nineteen that have abolished it. Five hundred forty death row inmates have been executed in Texas since 1974 post- Furman v. Georgia, leading our nation as the number one state with the most executions performed.

The death penalty, also referred to as capital punishment, is when a criminal is sentenced to death for their offense. Capital offenses, crimes for which the death penalty can be used, include treason, espionage, and murder. Texas is the state that uses the death penalty most frequently. In the 1932 court case, Powell v. Alabama, it was ruled that counsel must be provided to the defendant if the defendant is indigent and facing the death penalty. In the 1972 Supreme Court case, Furman v. Georgia, the court under Chief Justice Warren E. Burger ruled that capital punishment was unconstitutional and violated the 8th amendment’s ban against cruel and unusual punishment unless a uniform application of the death penalty could be implemented. They believed that the use of the death penalty at that time was often discriminatory and haphazard. As a result of the courts decision, capital punishment was ruled illegal in 1976; however, In Gregg v. Georgia the court ruled that the death penalty was allowed but only if sentencing was delivered at the time of the trial and that the jury had heard and analyzed all evidence in a respectful and unbiased manner. Methods of execution condoned for use for capital punishment

Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is a constitutionally acceptable form of criminal punishment, but its use has created serious controversy in the United States. The use of the death penalty has changed throughout history. At one point, capital punishment was the automatic conviction for murder and other high felonies. Standards were later created in 1972 to lessen arbitrary imposition of the death penalty by Furman v. Georgia. In 1977, Coker v. Georgia established that the death penalty is not a proportionate punishment to rape, and in 2005, Roper v. Simmons made it illegal to sentence those who were under eighteen when a crime occurred to capital punishment. Some states have abolished the death penalty, whereas others allow it, but the

Capital punishment which is also known as the death penalty refers to the court-ordered execution of a prisoner. It is a punishment of a serious crime called the capital offense and generally involves felony murder and more. Not all states have laws that support the death penalty but those that do are prisoners sentenced to death. There are people who agree with the death penalty because people see capital punishment as payment for murder. Those who oppose capital punishment like me argue that the death penalty is unjust, immoral, and indefensible state sanctioned murder of a human being. Even though they have committed a heinous crime, that vengeance is not the answer for healing the grief of victim’s families or communities or other loved ones. It does not act as a deterrent to crime, and is not an acceptable alternative to long-term imprisonment because the death penalty carries the possibility of wrongful execution of an innocent person.

The anti-death penalty debate has waxed and waned over the course of the last forty years. Since the moratorium on capital punishment set forth by the Supreme Court decision on (Furman V. Georgia) was lifted in 1976, it became necessary to make the application and administration of the death penalty consistent within each state. The Supreme Court’s decision created a need for states to review their laws concerning the death penalty. Individual states legislative changes concerning the death penalty allowed the states to meet the requirements to continue their death penalty practices. The legislative changes where intended to bring a more balanced application of the death penalty. In reality the changes did little

The debate over capital punishment is in regards to whether the death penalty contradicts the Eighth Amendment. If the death penalty does contradict the Eight Amendment, then the State should not have the power to sentence criminals to death for capital crimes. However, if capital punishment is not against the Eighth Amendment, then the State has the right to sentence criminals to death. In this essay I will first summarize Justice Brennan’s argument on why the death penalty is beyond the power of the State to inflict. Then, I will explain and discuss each of Brennan’s premises. Finally, I will analyze each of Brennan’s faulty premises. If I can successfully prove that one of his premises is false, it will prove that his argument is unsound. Although Brennan’s conclusion follows with necessity from his premises, making his argument valid, his argument is unsound because his third premise is false.

Today, one hears often of the rights of individuals as Americans. Whether it be their Miranda Rights or the right to bear arms granted in the Second Amendment, people are very concerned with what rights they are guaranteed. One right that is the topic of much debate is the right to life. One question seems to consistently prevail in this talk: to what extent are people guaranteed this right to live? Some would argue that this right is for everyone, regardless of any other factors, while others would argue that there are limitations to this right. The controversial capital punishment, or death penalty, and its validity stem from these thoughts. When one considers the way that capital punishment deters crime, grants justice, and provides