The Death Penalty Is Not Justice

The death penalty also known as capital punishment is an execution in which the person who committed the offence is put to death by the state. It was first practiced in Jamestown colony, 1608. The person was hanged for spying for the Spanish government and was the 1st person sentenced to death in America. Since then, it has been a form to punish the criminals for committing such heinous crimes and putting end to violence and crime rates. Despite how people agree that the death penalty is justifiable, however; it still violates the international human rights laws. These laws were created to protect the lives of all human beings including the criminals, who some might agree they do not deserve to live. Even though some might say that the

Death penalty violates the eighth constitutional amendment. Death is both unusually severe punishments, unusual in pain, in its enormity and its finality. It does not serve as a penal purpose effectively but a less severe punishment. The constitutional infirmity in the death punishment is that it treats human race members as nonhumans and as objects that need to be toyed with and discarded. It is thus not in consistent with the fundamental premise of the Clause that even the criminal who is the vilest still remain a human being possessed of common human dignity. Death penalty, therefore, subjects human beings to a fate that is forbidden by the principle of civilized treatment that is guaranteed by the clause. It is, therefore, clear that according to this clause, death today is cruel and unusual

The courts positions of the death penalty has changed over the years. For centuries societies have used death as the ultimate penalty for crime. In the 1960's, the court ruled against the death penalty as a "cruel and unusual punishment", which was forbidden by the eighth amendment of the Constitution. By the 1990's the death penalty was again in wide use supported by the court and Congress, which continually expanded by legislation the crimes for which death would be an acceptable penalty.

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 is when a person is put to death, by the state, for a crime that they have committed. The death penalty is also called Capital Punishment. The first recording of the death penalty was recorded in 1608 when a man named George Kendall was sentenced to death for spying in Spain. This happened in Virginia and after four years things such as, exchanging goods with Native Americans or killing chickens were considered crimes and people could be punished by death. Capital Punishment had then spread through Pennsylvania to Michigan, and then started spreading throughout the United States.

The eighth amendment is designed to protect us from cruel and unusual punishment. Conservation of the United States Constitution, and all moral ideologies have been set aside. An old form of barbaric punishment and the saying "eye for an eye" is still being widely accepted by Americans today. The old form of barbaric punishment is capital punishment. No matter how "humane" the death penalty has become, it is still the killing of another human being. When people stand outside prisons and cheer that an individual was murdered, there is a problem. When people justify the killing of another person, there

The act of killing another human being cannot be considered retribution because it is irrational. According to a Jesuit priest and community professor, Raymond Scroth, the cycle of vengeance will never end through the enforcement of the death penalty. Expressing this anger will not get rid of the emotion and will instead grow. Others argue that the death penalty is a form of retribution and the offender receives what he deserves, emphasizing the phrase “an eye for an eye.” It should not be left up to the majority to decide another’s punishment. Continuing the quote. according to Gandhi, “an eye for an eye makes the whole world go

The death sentence is a form of punishment for the criminals that create first degree offenses or worse. That is the ultimate punishment. It began in the Eighteenth Century B.C. when death penalty laws were first put in place. In the Eleventh Century A.D. William “the Conqueror” would not allow people to be hanged except in cases of murder. Then in 1608 Captain George Kendall became the first recorded execution in the U.S. Over time history changed and new rules were made for the Death Penalty. The constitution eventually came to be, and abolitionist believed that America had evolved within morality standards, away from the death penalty and petitioned to repeal it.

Due to the brutality of capital punishment, two human rights are breached when the death penalty is used on convicted criminals: the right to life and the right to live free from torture. Rights for humans are tremendously important to the human race. They are protected under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (“Death Penalty”). Within the Universal Declaration, the right to life and to live free from torture are protected. When a person is executed, the death penalty violates both of them. The right to life is a moral principle based on the belief that a human being has the right to live and, in particular, should not be killed by another human being (“Death Penalty”). The judge sentencing a person to death is breaking the human right

By reinstating the death penalty, it is not guaranteed that justice will be served. Family and friends of victims of serious crimes are left longing for closure for the actions inflicted and often seek retribution (SOURCE). By allowing the death penalty, the victim’s family and friends are offered closure by the means of taking the assailants life. Commonly known as an “eye for an eye,” this form of punishment is classified as retributive justice as it requires the assailant to give up his or her own life to balance out the social order (SOURCE). In some cases, victim’s families have commented on the closure that the execution of the offender has brought them, as it ends the period of longing for justice for the victim (SOURCE). However, case 36 in Murder Victim Family Members describes the victim’s family feeling relief instead of closure, commenting that they will only receive closure after working within themselves. This view is further evident in comments about closure not being achievable through the execution of the offender as it does not bring back their loved one while allowing the offender to get off easily. The family and friends of the victims that found the death penalty to be unsatisfactory, agree that a life sentence in jail without parole would have been a better opinion. This is due to the offender suffering to the same extent of the victim while in solitary confinement (SOURCE). Furthermore, cases with individuals receiving the death penalty tend to span

An Impassioned Debate: An overview of the death penalty in America depicts the facts about the eighth amendment. The eighth amendment is the prohibition on cruel and unusual punishments (Masci 1). There are two significant cases that have inflamed the debate over the capital punishment, The Baze v. Reese case, and the Kennedy v. Louisiana case. The first case reveals the strong debate that the execution by lethal injection is inhuman and in violation of the eight amendment. The second case inflamed the

The death penalty is not a justifiable or moral punishment for Dick Hickock’s actions on the night of November 15, 1959, because he is mentally impaired, which causes him to act antisocially and impulsively without thought of future consequence. Additionally the only crime he committed that night was breaking and entering, and robbery.

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

From the time that America was first colonized, the death penalty has been a punishment carried out in our country (Part I: History of the Death Penalty). Many viewed it as an integral part of

When one thinks about the death penalty, they usually think of capital punishment, which is punishment by death as well as a practice by the government of killing people as punishment for serious crimes. Capital punishment has been used in the United States since 1775 when all thirteen colonies were at the outbreak of the American Revolution. It was not until 1787 that the founding fathers allowed the death penalty when writing the constitution. In 1790 United States Congress established a Federal Death Penalty, which was also called the Crimes Act of 1790, that created six capital offenses, treason, counterfeiting, three variations of piracy or felonies on the high seas, and aiding the escape of a capital prisoner, also in that same year the first person was executed under the United States Federal Death Penalty for committing “murder on the high seas”. The end of the 1700s, brought reform for the death penalty laws, like in 1793 the concept of varying degrees of murder was introduced, which softens the death penalty laws.