The Death Penalty Of The United States

The justice system is filled with opposition. Those who support the use of Supermax, the death penalty and the execution of those who are mentally retarded and juveniles, and those who oppose the above mentioned. The following essay will discuss all mentioned topics.

This paper will discuss the Death Penalty. It analyzes the effectiveness of the death penalty. It covers the history of the death penalty as our nation shifts through various eras in its history, as well as the historical background of the death penalty in New York. It considers all factors such as crime rates, deterrence, the rights of the people, and consequences of the death penalty. Analogies were made of areas all over the country as to what degree the death penalty effects crime all around. It concludes this paper by reflecting on the information provided of the death penalty and provide an alternative to it.

The criminal justice system was made to protect the rights and the safety of the citizens of the United States, It was created to have justice in the United States, But even then it has some flaws. Three of the faults I decided to discuss about are the death penalty, Issues within prison for example; weapons and riots, and high incarceration rates.

The death penalty was first introduced into the criminal justice system in 1622. Since then, this capital offense has taken many strides in the system. The first execution, done in 1622, was given to a man on an offense of a theft. Now, the death penalty is only imposed on certain cases of murder, treason and in just a

Weren’t we taught as little kids that revenge is never the answer? Then why is there such thing as a death penalty? "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted." This is what is stated in the 14th amendment of the Bill of Rights. So why is there still a death penalty in the United States? The first laws created towards the death penalty dates back as far as the Eighteenth Century B.C. in the Code of King Hammaurabi of Babylon, which allowed the death penalty to be carried out for 25 different crimes. In these early times death sentences were done by means of crucifixion, drowning, beating to death, burning alive, and impalement. Newer ways to approach the death penalty, more nineteenth century, include hanging, electric chair, gas chamber, and lethal injection. What do all these methods have in common? Well, they are all used to execute an individual who has committed an extremely wrongful crime when there are better ways to deal with such individuals. Capital punishment is barbaric and serves against what is stated in the Bill of Rights. There are numerous reasons why the death penalty should be removed from the 32 states that still allow it.

    There has been about 15,760 executions in the United States since 1700, (http://time.com/deathpenalty/), but that is counting all types of executions, for example: burning, firing squad, hanging, gas, electrocution, injection, and others. Now looking from when the capital punishment was approved in 1976 (Death penalty Information Center), only 1,448 executions have been made. The capital punishment was made for “retribution, theory which demand for ‘tooth for a tooth and eye for an eye’ … if the criminal snatches liberty, peace, and lives… [they] should also be deprived of all these,” (http://listovative.com). It was also made to help have a more pure society, by placing fear, “best method to prevent

Until the 1890s, hanging was the primary method of execution used in the United States as it was quicker than the firing squad and there was no blood involved. The prisoners were hung and the platform below would open, causing a quick neck dislocation. The firing squad was first used in 1913 in Nevada, and was used in the first execution in America. The prisoner is strapped to a chair, has his heart marked with a cloth, then shot at by shooters, killing the person due to a vessel rupture. Seeing as how inhumane these were, the new method of electrocution was built in 1888 in New York, and in 1890 they executed William Kemmler, who is one of 158 inmates to receive electrocution. The inmate in strapped into a chair, has electrodes attached to their body, then are given regular shocks until their heart stops beating. Nevada still found this inhumane, so they developed a lethal gas execution process that would hopefully inflict less pain while remaining cost-effective and in 1924, Gee Jon was the first person of 11 executed by lethal gas (DPIC). The inmate is placed into a gas chamber, where once the room is sealed, is filled with hydrogen cyanide gas (or nitrogen gas). The prisoner is instructed to breathe deeply to speed up the process. Most prisoners,

America’s criminal justice system is based on equality, integrity, and fairness. All criminals are treated the same, given the same rights, and punished fairly based on their crimes. However, despite that, there are many controversial topics regarding the criminal justice system, such as the death penalty. Capital punishment has been used many times in history all around the world, and it was quite popular. Many people argue that capital punishment is useful in deterring crime and that it is only fair that criminals receive death as punishment for a heinous crime. On the contrary, others see the death penalty as a violation of the 8th amendment. It restricts excessive fines, and it also does not allow cruel and unusual punishment to be inflicted upon criminals. Although there have been many court cases discussing capital punishment, there is still much confusion regarding whether it violates the 8th amendment or not. Capital punishment is a very significant, and very controversial topic that has been around for a long time; the death penalty is still being argued today, with persuasive arguments on both sides.

The United States should not stop using the death penalty. Most criminals that are sentenced to the death penalty would have to serve 100 years to life prison sentences if not legally killed. Therefore, there would be more felons to be accommodated for in each prison, causing overcrowding. Which potentially could lead to lethal offenders getting parole and let out into the world. Another reason the death penalty should continue to be used in the U.S. is that it increases the possibility of prisoners escaping if we don’t. Like it was said before, there would be more prisoners, hence more odds of one or more escaping. Escaped prisoners are even more of a threat to the world than ever. This is because once they have escaped they are on the run,

In the jurisdiction of The United States we have what is known as the death penalty. The capital punishment consist of life in prison (25 to life) with parole, life in prison without (LWOP) parole and the death penalty. This controversial topic has been going on for decades because of the cruel punishment. Many of the victims family member search for an eye for an eye as their justice.

Now there is a lot that the United States could do to get rid of the death penalty. The government could pass a law on the Federal level or the states could individually do it. The last option would be the last option since many states, like Texas, would not willingly get rid of the death penalty. However if they, the Federal government should use a model similar to the European Model. It is common knowledge the stance of the European Union, but Behrmann and Yorke wrote it best in their article entitled “The European Union and Abolition of the Death Penalty:”

As we near the culmination of the twentieth century, capital punishment is in decline. Once a near universal practice, the death penalty has been abolished in 101 countries, as of July 2015(Amnesty International, 2015) and executions have become less common amongst industrialised democracies. Some nations keep capital statutes for instances of exceptional crimes such as treason, but parts of the former Soviet Union, Japan and the United States of America (USA) still administer death sentences for ‘ordinary’ crimes of violence.

The majority of people believe that the death penalty is applied fairly today in the US. According to Washington D.C; six out of 10 people favor the death penalty. People might think (at first,) that the death penalty is cruel, until they actually know what and why it is used for. The death penalty is mostly used on convicted murders, while some have been used for on extreme cases relating to aggravated rape. “When asked about the frequency with which the death penalty is imposed, 40% of Americans say it is not imposed enough, with the remainder equally divided between saying it is imposed "too often" (27%) or "about the right amount" (27%).”(Dugan) With this only 27% of people think that the death penalty is applied “too often”, while 40%

The United States of America has been influenced by the Britain’s use of death penalty when Europeans first settled into the new world. Majority of the states still carry out executions, and there are hundreds of people that are on a death row sentence. The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, and Criminal Justice Legal Foundation are two opposing organizations. The NCADP is against the death penalty while the CJLF is for the death penalty.

Capital punishment is one of the most debated topics in the history of the World. It has been implemented and repealed several times by several different countries (DPIC 2014). Capital punishment is the use of the death penalty on someone who has been found guilty of a crime. As of 2013 there are still 58 countries in the international community that still use the death penalty. Of those countries, China had the highest reported number of executions which was in the thousands, the next highest was Iran with 369 reported executions. The United States was among the highest with 39 reported executions. There are currently 3054 inmates on death row in the United States (DPIC 2014).