The Implementation of Capital Punishment
George Bush once said: “I support the death penalty because I believe, if administered swiftly and justly, capital punishment is a deterrent against future violence and will save other innocent lives" (GOP Debate. Los Angeles, California. 2000). The history of the death penalty dates back to Eighteenth Century B.C. (History of the Death Penalty). When European settlers first came to the new world they brought over the use of the death penalty, thus causing it to be used in America. The first record of the death penalty was in the year 1608. Later, in 1846 Michigan stopped using the death penalty and since then eighteen other states have made this sentence illegal; Capital Punishment is only legal in thirty-one states currently. Throughout the years
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This sentence is to eliminate preventable death tolls nationwide. The theory of deterrence is that people who do wrong will fear punishment, causing them to act within the law. There are two different types of criminal deterrence, specific and general. Specific deterrence focuses on lessening the probability of having a repeat offender. The Three Strikes Law plays in accordance with this type of deterrence. The Three-Strikes Law, also referred to as the Habitual Offender Law, came into play on March 7th, 1994. This law states that those who commit one violent felony and have two other previous convictions will serve a mandatory life sentence in prison and potentially result in the death penalty. There are many different forms of this law and thirty one states implement it in some form. The second type, general deterrence focuses more on potential offenders. General deterrence is an attempt to influence future offenders in a positive manner. This type of deterrence is all about prevention. Police deter crime by reinforcing the fact that they will catch you and you will be punished for whatever crime that you