The Death Penalty Is Not Legal Essay

Throughout the United States an argumentative topic is the death penalty - should it be legalized across the 50 states or be declared unconstitutional? Some believe the death penalty is a better option for those who deserve the highest form of punishment available. However, others argue capital punishment is a waste of resources and should be brought to an end. Therefore, while many believe the death penalty should be legalized throughout the United States because it offers a higher form of punishment, others believe the death penalty should be repealed because it causes unnecessary deaths.

     There are many reasons to both support and oppose the death penalty. Many people can feel very strongly about whether or not they approve of this method of punishment. I feel that the death penalty is wrong, and I believe that there is much support to back this up. I believe that the death penalty is wrong because it is not an effective deterrent, racially and economically bias, unreliable, expensive, and morally wrong of society.

The death penalty was established as a form of punishment as far back as the 1600's. There are many controversial issue's in our world today whether it goes against our civil rights or not. As of today there are thirty-two states who still allow the death penalty and seven states who have completely abolished it ( Norton,W.W.& Company, Inc 115.) Even though the use of the execution has gradually decreased, there have still been many cases in the past years that states have still used it. At one point there was a time the Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional, but after a couple years the court allowed states to bring back the death penalty. The courts have struck down many laws where states have tried making it mandatory in

There are currently 31 states with the death penalty. The states are Alabama, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Mississippi, South Carolina, Arkansas, Missouri, South Dakota, California, Montana, Tennessee, Colorado, Nebraska, Texas, Florida, Utah, Nevada, Georgia, New hampshire, Virginia, Idaho, North Carolina, Washington, Indiana, Ohio, Wyoming, Kansas, Oklahoma, Kentucky, And Oregon. All of these states have lethal injection. Three have hangings. Eigth have electrocution. Three have lethal gas. Two have firing squad. There are eighteen states without the death penalty. The states are Alaska, Michigan, Vermont, Connecticut, Minnesota, West Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Hawaii, New Mexico, Illinois, New York, Iowa, North Dakota, Maine, Rhode Island, Maryland Massachusetts.Maryland was the most recent to abolish the death penalty in the year 2013.

     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.

There are currently 31 states with the death penalty. The states are Alabama, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Mississippi, South Carolina, Arkansas, Missouri, South Dakota, California, Montana, Tennessee, Colorado, Nebraska, Texas, Florida, Utah, Nevada, Georgia, New hampshire, Virginia, Idaho, North Carolina, Washington, Indiana, Ohio, Wyoming, Kansas, Oklahoma, Kentucky, And Oregon. All of these states have lethal injection. Three have hangings. Eigth have electrocution. Three have lethal gas. Two have firing squad. There are eighteen states without the death penalty. The states are Alaska, Michigan, Vermont, Connecticut, Minnesota, West Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Hawaii, New Mexico, Illinois, New York, Iowa, North Dakota, Maine, Rhode Island, Maryland Massachusetts.Maryland was the most recent to abolish the death penalty in the year 2013.

The history of the death penalty goes back to the earliest civilizations where it was used to punish all sorts of crimes from robbery, to murder, to different forms of heresy. In the United States it evolved to just punish murder, treason, and some cases of rape. It has been an issue that has sparked a never ending debate that goes back to colonial times. The general public traditionally supported the death penalty in a majority with only a few politicians speaking out against it (i.e., Benjamin Rush, Ben Franklin and later on Horace Greeley). Once the U.S. gained independence, each state went back and forth in abolishing and reinstating the death penalty and methods of

The death penalty is the sentence of execution for murder and other capital crimes. Which are punishable by death? The death penalty is used only in 38 states (www.deathpenalty.org). The state of California is home to the nation's

The death penalty is legal in thirty-two states and illegal in eighteen states. The state law and government make the decision if it is legal or illegal in the states. For example, the lethal injection execution method is legal in thirty-seven states including the Federal Government and U.S. Military, but the Firing Squad method is legal in two states. Lethal gas is legal in three states, electrocution is legal in nine states, and hanging is legal in three states. Each states government and laws make all of those methods.

The death penalty is a punishment of execution. The first recorded execution in the new colonies was of Captain George Kendall in Jamestown colony of Virginia in 1608. The ultimate cost to taxpayers for 30 years of the death penalty in Maryland was $186 million resulting in five executions. The death penalty isn’t the best thing in the world but there are some people that do stuff that is bad enough that might deserve is but I am not sure how I feel about it. The methods of death penalty is the gas chamber, hanging, firing squad. Alabama, Arkansa, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia all use the death penalty. Capital offence is what gets you in the death penalty like treason and stuff like that. If you

“Murder is wrong” (“Capital Punishment”). We’ve been taught this indisputable truth since childhood. The death penalty is defined as one human taking the life of another. Coincidentally, that is a classification of murder. There are as many as thirty-six states with the death penalty, and it’s essential that they change it. The United States needs the death penalty abolished because it is filled with flaws, cruel and immoral, and is an ineffective means of deterrent for crime.

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 earliest historical record of the death penalty otherwise known as capital punishment goes back as far as the eighteenth century B.C., when the code of King Hammurabi of Babylon listed 25 crimes which were punishable by death. Since then, the uses of the death penalty have prevailed throughout the ages in laws and justice systems of different civilizations. For instance, the Draconian Code of Athens punishes all crimes with the death penalty. During those times, the death penalty involved suffering a gruesome death such as being burnt alive, impaling, crucifixion and stoning (Death Penalty Information Center, 2011).

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,

The most recent state to enact a death penalty law was New York in 1995. As of January 1998, 38 states and the federal government have capital punishment laws in effect. Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin do not have a death penalty. (http://www.uaa.alaska.edu/just/death/)