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The Death Penalty Is A Capital Punishment

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What is the death penalty? The death penalty is a capital punishment that is punishable by death or execution. This is usually given to people that have committed serious offences or capital crimes. There are 31 states in the United States that are for the death penalty. Crimes that are punishable by the death penalty, vary from state to state. Examples of such crimes are; first degree murder or premeditated murder, murder with special circumstances, such as: intended, multiple, and murder which involves another crime, rape with additional bodily harm, and the federal crime of treason. The first known civilization to use some type of death penalty, were the Babylonian’s. The Babylonians developed a law called The Code of Hammurabi around the 1700’s BC, which consisted of twenty-five crimes, that were punishable by death. These crimes included adultery and helping slaves escape. This code was to become the stepping stones of laws of many civilizations to come. In the Tenth Century A.D., hanging became the usual method of execution in Britain. In the following next century, William the Conqueror, king of England would not allow people to be executed for any crime, except in times of war. This did not last, for in the Sixteenth Century, under the reign of Henry VIII, as many as 72,000 people are estimated to have been executed, by boiling, burning at the stake, hanging, and beheading. Capital punishment has had a long history in the United States. Before

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