The Death Penalty: United States Criminal Justice System

In this paper I will be discussing everything you need to know about the death penalty such as its pros and cons. While the innocent can be killed, the death penalty has its pros because it prevents them from killing again if they are released or have escaped from prison, it helps overpopulated prisons, and it can help victims’ families get justice and closure. Not only can the innocent be killed, but in the past the death penalty was very inhumane. To some its feels right but to others they feel like 2 wrongs don’t make a right. Most people think that the defendant deserves the death penalty, but what does the defendants’ family think?

The debate on whether or not the death penalty should be abolished has been ongoing for quite a long period of time. While there are those who believe that the death penalty does not serve its intended purpose, proponents of the same are convinced that the relevance of the same cannot be overstated and hence it should not be abolished. In this text, I examine the arguments for and against the death penalty.

The death penalty was introduced to The United States by Britain. There have been over 14,000 executions in The United States since 1608. In 2011, 36 states held 3,158 inmates under the death sentence. Hanging, firing squad, the gas chamber, the electric chair, and lethal injections are all methods that are and were used in the history of The United States. Many individuals do not realize what the prisoners go through before getting executed. They also do not know what happens during the execution. The means of execution can be carried out through what types of executions are there, the development of lethal injection, botched execution through the eighth amendment, and the conflict of a trained medical

Werent 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 go as far back 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 go about 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 someone who has committed an extremely wrongful crime when there are better ways to deal with such individuals. Capital punishment is barbaric and goes against what is said in the Bill of Rights. There are numerous reasons why the death penalty should be removed from the 32 states that still allow it.

The use of the death penalty in the United States has always been a controversial topic. The death penalty, also known as Capital Punishment, is a legal process where a person is put to death by the state as a punishment for a heinous crime. The judicial decree that someone be punished in this manner is a death sentence, while the actual enforcement is an execution (Bishop 1). Over the years, most of the world has abolished the death penalty. But the United States government, and a majority of its citizens, defend and support its continued use. There is evidence, however, that some attitudes about the death penalty are changing.

Al lot of people will either be for capital punishment or against i.e. choose to write about being for capital punishment because I think it’s far when they keep killing over and over they need to know they can’t get away with it

The death penalty is the lawful execution of a person for a crime. The first death penalty law goes back to the eighteenth century and has been used in many cultures. It was also used in Greece as the punishment for all crimes, Rome also adopted the death penalty. The methods of execution in these times were crucifixion, drowning, impalement, and even burning alive.

Capital punishment, more commonly known as the death penalty has been a divided issue in the United States for a long time. The argument for capital punishment is important because no problem has ever been more consistent in a society as much as crime and the reliable methods of preventing it. Currently there are 31 states in which the death penalty is legal with the primary use being lethal injection. However this leaves 19 states where the most dangerous criminals relax for the rest of their lives costing hard worked tax dollars and providing nothing back to society. I believe the death penalty should be legalized in the entire nation and I will prove why the opposing arguments do not hold up.

The death penalty does not keep crime from happening. Over the years, the death penalty has been a very major moral issue within today’s society. This particular form of punishment is usually given to people who have been found guilty of capital crime. However, penalizing an individual in this manner is not a solution to the problem. The United States is already in a tremendous amount of debt and dealing with budget shortages, so spending thousands even hundreds of thousands on ending an individual’s life because they were found guilty of a crime is absolutely absurd. The death penalty costs taxpayers way more per year than a prisoner within the general population. It is a cruel punishment against mankind and therefore should be ceased. In conclusion, the death penalty should be discontinued in the United States because it uses up tax

The death penalty is sometimes known as capital punishment. This where a person can be put to death legally by the state for a crime he/she is accused of committing. The sentence to execute the person is called the death sentence and carry out the act to punish the violation is the execution. The death penalty is not a new practice and is not limited to the United States. Literally death penalty refers to a person being tortured in public. About 90% of all execution occur in Asia. Many nations now prohibit the use of the death penalty as punishment.

The death penalty is engaged to show governmental power and is used against people to show others that you will not have the right to live if commit such a terrible crime. People have been killed by the death penalty for many reasons such as treason, terrorism, espionage and murder. Having the death penalty gives closure to the families victim, justice is better served, and deters criminals from committing crimes. Think about if you were close to a victim who traumatized or even killed by a master criminal. You would want the same to be served to the harsh owt law who endangered your

The death penalty has been in the justice system of America tracing all the way back to the days of its founding fathers. Though it is a highly controversial legal and moral matter, it still stands today as the most ultimate punishment in the United States. Many countries have been or are currently abolishing their death penalty under the notion that it is unjust and morally wrong. The United States, on the other hand, has 38 out of its 50 states with laws that state the death penalty as its ultimate punishment. Since 1990, more than 350 people have been put to death with another 3,300 waiting in death row. Another statistic that is an eye opener is since 1976, 552 executions have occurred in the United States, with 394 by lethal injection, 141 by electrocution, 11 by gas chamber, three by hanging, and two by firing squads. Half of the executions that have taken place after 1976 have happened within the last five years, 52 happening so far this year (Death Penalty). The Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment violates the 8th Amendment, which protects the right from “cruel and unusual punishment, on June 29th, 1972. The respective states halted executions in 1967, awaiting the ruling of the case. However in July, of 1976, the Supreme Court, as a just punishment for certain crimes, upheld the death penalty (Fagan, n.d.). For the nine years that the death penalty was suspended, the United States did not have a substantial amount of crime increase, which is somewhat

The first death sentence that has been historically recorded was as far back as 16th century BC. This occurred in Egypt, the wrongdoer was accused of magic and he was then ordered to take his own life. In present day the death penalty has changed drastically. The death penalty has undergone many changes since then. In medieval times the methods used to kill people were inhumane and often times cruel. In modern times the methods to kill people are much more humane. The death penalty has been used less and less often and even outlawed in some states. The death penalty should be used more often and for more crimes. If the death penalty was used more often there would be a deterrence for future crimes, it is more cost effective, and it would

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%

Death penalty dates back to the 1700's B.C. The first document to contain laws on the death penalty was known as the Code of Hammurabi. This document was written in ancient Babylon which is now modern day Iraq and consisted over 250 laws. These laws mentioned twenty five crimes which were deemed punishable by death and committing a murder was not a part of it.