The Pros And Cons Of The Death Penalty

The death penalty is one of many controversial topics that are present in modern day society in the United States and has been a subject for debate since it was first established. Since the establishment of capital punishment many organizations have been formed to support the abolition or the maintenance of capital punishment. These organizations and the people who form them have developed arguments that support their position in the death penalty argument. Some arguments that have been presented talk about the morality, efficiency, constitutionality, or benefits and disadvantages of capital punishment. In recent years, the arguments of the anti-death penalty movement have become stronger and more prominent than those of the advocates of the

The death penalty became a Federal law under the Constitution, even though it was never mentioned directly within the text. In the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, it is openly assumed that there will be crimes considered to be “capital” and that the death penalty would be imposed through due process of law. (Little, 360) On April 30, 1790, a year after the “constitutional formation” of the United States, Congress declared twelve new capital offenses that carried a mandatory death sentence. (Little, 360) The death penalty was set as a mandatory conviction for treason, murder, piracy, and forgery under the Act for the Punishment of Certain Crimes Against the United States. (Little, 362) The method of execution for those crimes was primarily hanging. The electric chair, the firing squad, the gas chamber, and lethal injection were introduced as the years went on as another execution option. The government also recognized that the federal capital cases were going to be different. They specified special procedures for the handling of these cases such as appointment of up to two "counsel learned in the law," the requirement to be given "free access at all seasonable hours" to their client, full rights of “compelled process for witnesses”, and the required production of an “advance copy of the jury list ‘two entire days at least before the