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The Death Penalty And Capital Punishment Essay

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The death penalty also known as capital punishment is a government issued practice by the state where person is put to death as a result of their crime(s). Before a person gets executed they have to carry out a sentences which can sometimes take decades. A person would have to commit a crime classified as a “capital crime” in order to be given the death penalty. There are 41 capital offenses listed under the U.S. federal government which are punishable by death (41 Federal Capital Offenses). Nonetheless, there are certain certain circumstances that can spare a person from the death penalty even if the are said to have committed a capital offense. For example, if a person was under the age of 18 before the commission of the crime or if the person is recognized to have a mental illness. With this being said, there are countless faults with death penalty in America. Whether a person gets the death penalty or not sometimes is not determined by the atrocity of the crime but instead by the quality of the defense lawyer, the race of the victim and the county and state in which the crime was committed. Since 1976 a total of 1440 execution took place in the U.S. There are currently 31 states which allows for the death penalty and 19 states which abolished it. In a report done by the National Research Council it stated that the claim that the death penalty has a deterrent effect on murder rates are “fundamentally flawed” and should not be used in policy making decisions (FactSheet).

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