The Death Penalty Is Not A New Practice Essay

“I think capital punishment works great. Every killer you kill never kills again” (Brainy Quotes). As far back as the death penalty began, it was established as a punishment in the United States in 1608. Britain influenced America's use of the death penalty more than any other country had. When European settlers came to the new world, the settlers practiced the capital punishment. The first execution was set in the new colony of Jamestown Virginia. Although some may say the death penalty is wrong and cruel, the penalty is necessary so that people in the world or society feel like justice is being made.

The Death Penalty in America has been a talked about issue for some time now. Americans have their own opinions on the death penalty. Some people feel it is too harsh of a punishment, some believe if you take a life you should lose your life. I myself do not believe in the death penalty. To me it goes totally against what Americas was built on God. Even though over the last fifteen years or so we have slowly drifted away from “In God We Trust”. Looking at the death penalty in a whole it was never something that the United States came up with. It was adopted from Britain. (Bohm, 1999)The first ever recorded death penalty in United States history was that of Captain George Kendall in 1608. He was executed for being a spy. The death of Captain Kendall started a chain of other colonies jumping on board for the death penalty. In some colonies they were sentencing people to death for petty crimes, such as steeling, or trading with Indians. Over the years after the death penalty would be reformed and revamped numerous of times. Until it was only used when murder or treason occurred. Matter of fact Pennsylvania was the first state

     The death penalty is absolutely outrageous. There is no real reason that the government should feel that it has the right to execute people. Capital punishment is murder just as much as the people being executed murdered. The is no need for the death penalty and it needs to be abolished. It goes against the Constitution which states that there will be no cruel and unusual punishment. There is nothing crueler than killing a person.

The death penalty has been around since the time of Jesus Christ. Executions have been recorded from the 1600s to present times. From about 1620, the executions by year increased in the US. It has been a steady increase up until the 1930s; later the death penalty dropped to zero in the 1970s and then again rose steadily. US citizens said that the death penalty was unconstitutional because it was believed that it was "cruel and unusual" punishment (Kurtis 67). In the 1970s, the executions by year dropped between zero and one then started to rise again in the 1980s. In the year 2000, there were nearly one hundred executions in the US (Biskupic 34). On June 29, 1972, the death penalty was suspended because the existing laws were no longer convincing. However, four years after this occurred, several cases came about in Georgia, Florida, and Texas where lawyers wanted the death penalty. This set new laws in these states and later the Supreme Court decided that the death penalty was constitutional under the Eighth Amendment (Biskupic 34).

The death penalty, as we know it today, didn’t exist in the United States until 1976. However, the American penal system has incorporated capital punishment since the earliest settlements were founded in the early 1600’s. The first recorded execution in the United States occurred in 1608 in Jamestown, Virginia when Captain George Kendall was executed just one year after the Jamestown settlement had been established after he had been convicted of being a spy for Spain (Part I: History of the Death Penalty). Over the next 250 years, several states moved toward abolishing capital punishment altogether. While there has been serious push towards ending capital punishment, more than half of state governments within the United States cling onto their right to execute criminals who perform truly heinous crimes.

The Death penalty has been a controversial subject since the beginning of time. People are concerned about the morality of the death penalty thus making it a debatable subject. Because of this, James Freeman, columnist for USA Today, decided to write an editorial on the subject of “Does America need the death penalty?” While being a writer for USA Today, one would think that he would effectively use the appeals of rhetoric (ethos, pathos, and logos), but in fact he does not and concludes with a poorly writing argument.

Capital punishment has existed in the United States since before declared independence. Currently, 32 states and the federal government allow the death penalty under

In Britain, hanging was the most prominent method of execution. Over 200 different crimes were punishable by death. However, in the eighteenth century 100 of the crimes were eliminated from the death penalty. Britain was the primary influence on America’s use of the death penalty. The death penalty has been used in America for several different crimes, such as murder and treason.

The first known time they used the death penalty was in the colony of virginia in 1622. (Goldberg) . Many colony have different rules and view when it comes to the death penalty even to this day, but that is not how it use to be. It use to be that if you were found guilty by the jury your only choice was the death penalty until the 1990s when the jury's got to choose if you got the death penalty or life in prison. When the death penalty started getting more popular the United States was a top contender. In 2015 twenty-eight people when executed including one woman (Goldberg) Many people think that the death penalty is unfair and

Capital Punishment has been a part of the United States since 1622. In fact, at this point in time, there were no arguments over whether killing a person was immoral or unfair. Killing a person for committing murder or other serious crimes was simply required by law. Over the course of the next five centuries however, an

Death penalties are first recorded in the eighteenth century B.C.E. In the eleventh century C.E., William “the Conqueror” would only allow people to be hanged in cases of murder. In 1608, Captain George Kendall became the first recorded execution in the U.S. As the U.S. emerged as a sovereign nation, many questioned the use of the death penalty. By the nineteenth century, abolitionist believed that America had evolved morally and petitioned to have it repealed(DPIC). They had no success. Now, about 60 percent of the states in the U.S. have a death penalty, but some want it declared unconstitutional. In court cases, though, the Supreme Court has upheld the death penalty as constitutional. The debate will continue.

The death penalty was started in the era of king Hammurabi of Babylon. The code of Hammurabi codified the death penalty for 25 different crimes. The death penalty has changed from the 18th century to present day. After Britain had their death penalty, by hanging, later rulers became more violent with the means to how they execute someone, with little to no good reason. Britain influenced America’s use of the death penalty. When new settlers came to America they brought with them the practice of capital punishment. In 1612 Thomas Dale started the Moral and Martial Laws, which provided the death penalty to be used for minor crimes like traffic offenses, possession of small amounts of illegal drugs with no intent in selling. The law varied from colony to colony. 1982 the United States became the first country to use lethal injection.

The death penalty, properly known as capital punishment, has always been a controversial topic. People of the United States often find themselves in heated discussions over whether or not the death penalty is right. Some would argue the death penalty is right for a small percentage of certain crimes. Although the death penalty can be used as a tool of justice, I still think the death penalty is wrong because it goes against many American beliefs.

The Death Penalty has been used in the United States since the very foundation of our nation; the first recorded case was the execution of Captain George Kendall in 1608 in the Jamestown colony as it was believed Kendall was a spy (DPIC). Americans have seen executions throughout history and are somewhat exposed to the idea but the 21st century is a very different place than the 17th century. This century is a time of equality and rights for people of all

The issue of the death penalty has been of great concern and debate for a number of years now. Prior to 1976, the death penalty was banned in the United States. In 1976, though, the ban was lifted, and many states adopted the death penalty in their constitutions. Currently, there are 38 states that use the death penalty, and only 12 states that do not. The states that have the death penalty use a number of ways to go about executing the defendant. Thirty-two states use lethal injection, 10 use electrocution, 6 use the gas chamber, 2 use hanging, and 2 states use a firing squad (Death Penalty Information Center, 1997). The 12 states that do not have the death penalty are Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota,