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The history of capital punishment
The history of capital punishment
History of the death penalty in the usa essay
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Sitting in the living room will never be the same. That was ruined by one person committing a violent act. One night of sexual activity, without consent. People who have committed violent acts against or to another person should face charges equal to the crime committed. This means that the death penalty should be legal for anyone charged and proved guilty of murder and rape.
I believe that death penalty is considered to be a cruel and unusual punishment. In my opinion, a life is priceless and shouldn 't be taken away without their willingness. All men are created equal- no man was made better than the other and therefore should not bring death on their life. On the other hand, I think that there are more reasons why people would support the death penalty.
To go into detail, I believe it is important that the federal government still have the ability to preform executions when it deems them necessary. The death penalty should only be abolished for cases involving murderers, or other crimes against civilians which would have perviously considered execution. Terrorism, crimes against the government, and other federal crimes should still have the ability to impose the death penalty on convicted terrorists and similar individuals. There are many reasons that the death penalty should be changed from todays standards. There are situations which I would deem it necessary, and situations in which I believe it to be excessive and unnecessary to the bettering of todays society.
Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is a legal process in which a person is put to death as a punishment for a crime by the government of a nation. The United States is in the minority group of nations that uses the death penalty. There are thirty-three states that allow capital punishment and seventeen states that abolished it (Death Penalty Information Center). The morality of the death penalty has been debated for many years. Some people want capital punishment to be abolished due to how it can cost a lot more than life imprisonment without parole, how they think it is immoral to kill, and how innocent people can be put to death.
The death penalty is a punishment of execution, given to someone legally convicted of a capital crime. The death penalty laws were established in the 18th century B.C when king Hammaurabi of Babylon instituted the law for 25 different crimes. In Jewish history the death penalty could only be given after trail by the Sanhedrin, which was composed of twenty-three judges. There were four different ways the death penalty was imposed on an individual, these were burning, stoning, strangling and slaying (Talmud). In today’s society most countries have abolished the death penalty due to various reasons such as unfair justice, but others still have it in place, for example some states in The United States of America.
As of July 2017, there were 2,817 Death Row inmates (Death Penalty Information Center, 2018). These individuals have been convicted of a crime so heinous that the sentence was death. Confined to a small cell for 23 hours of a day, they wait for execution (McCray, 2017). However, for 40% of these individuals the wait has been over 20 years (McCray, 2017). This means that the families of the victims are also waiting over 20 years for closure.
At the same time, murder rates began to plummet—to 9.6 per 100,000 in 1993, 7.7 in 1996, and 6.4 in 1999, the lowest level since 1966. So, in conclusion the number of murders committed grew as the numbers of executions were reduced. Abolitionists claim that one of the alternatives to the death penalty is life in prison without parole. I don’t think this alternative is good deterrent because the criminal can ask for appeals and as we all know laws can change. Take the James Moore case in New York State for example.
When people commit into crime or offenses seriously, they should be sentenced to be punished as a result of death. This is the definition of death penalty. Nowadays, there are many kinds of sanctions to punish those criminals and death penalty is definitely the most cruel and extreme one. Some people think a government should ban the existence of death penalty in a country because such penalty is a symbol of disregarding of human rights. Other people consider death penalty as a effective way to prevent revenge by those criminals and threaten other offenders in order to keep the order of society.
I agree that the death penalty is inhumane and should be abolished; no one deserves to be killed, even those who have killed. However, I also feel that the death penalty solves nothing because all the government or state does is end the person’s life. This means they don’t get to learn from what they have done; they don’t receive punishment. It is better that the prisoner be sentenced to life so that they could ‘feel’ dead, but still have to live in a confined space for the rest of their lives, thinking about what got them there in the first place. That to me, is a real death penalty.
Although the death penalty may bring some closure to families of the victims and even the victims themselves it still should be abolished because the negatives outweigh the positives. People could be murdered by the state even if they are innocent. They are taking away any chance these people have at a normal life even though it's a life that they deserve and did nothing to have it taken away. 6. Conclusion
In truth, As humans we all deserve a chance at repentance also there are a lot of wrongfully convicted inmates. According to an article in Issues and Controversies, “Too many people are sentenced to death for crimes they did not commit. The death penalty is unconstitutional, inhumane, and ineffective at deterring crime” (“Capital,” Issues). Many wrongfully committed convict are on death row. Even if there is a small chance that the convict did not commit the crime, they should not be punished with death.
The fact that the death penalty has been around for so long allows millions of people to be involved one way or another. The ones affected by it the most are the innocent; a total of 69 people have been released from death row in the past 35 years after evidence of their innocence (Innocence and the…). The reason for this is because the criminal justice systems block the potential use of DNA evidence; they refuse to consider it even when it could confirm someone’s innocent or quilt (Hooper). For example, in Francisco Juan Larranga’s case, he was convicted of kidnap, rape, and murder of his sister, he was sitting on death row. There was no specific evidence to prove that it was him and his lawyer mentioned that the DNA test would have proven him innocent because they only based it off of one body that they found; courts were not sure if it was even the sisters body.
Despite all the reasons that the death penalty should be abolished, others still argue that the death penalty should be in use. David R. Dow, a professor at the University of Houston Law Center, believes that the death penalty is much better than life without parole in regards to the criminal. He recalls cases where he had clients facing the death penalty. “I've had clients who want me to fight for them, and then when we win and get their death sentence converted into life, end up telling me I've betrayed them,” (Pro). Dow’s clients believe that he had failed at his job and that life without parole is even worse than the death penalty.
The Death Penalty, loss of life due to previous crimes and actions, is believed by some to be extremely costly, inhumane, and cruel unlike some others whom believe it is just, right, and provides closure. The Death Penalty is not a quick and easy process. Most who get sentenced to deaths row wait years for their ultimate punishment of death. Some believe that it is not right to punish and kill a human for actions they have done because, they believe that the inmate should have another chance. Then others believe that it is right to punish someone for their actions especially if their actions involve killing another or multiple humans.
Should Death Penalty be abolished? Over decades people have been arguing about whether the death penalty should be abolished or not if death is morally right or cruel and unusual penalty. Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is a government-sanctioned practice whereby a person is put to death by the state as a punishment for crime. Is it right to see people dying even though it’s under the act of government punishment?