Free Essays on Death Penalty

The Death Penalty Introduction: The death penalty is a hot topic on many people’s minds these days. From John Lee Malvo to innocent citizens on death row, everybody seems to have an opinion on this touchy subject. Having just returned from a semester studying abroad in Spain, my conversations with people from other cultures has altered my view on this controversial issue. Before these conversations, I would not consider myself an advocate of the death penalty, but I was definitely not against it. In fact, when confronted (unconfrontationally) by foreigners, I would support the federal death penalty, arguing that our streets were safer with these murderers and rapists getting what they deserved. I would argue that children and elderly women were being taken advantage of by these coward criminals and I would point to the instances when a paroled convict would be let free only to commit these inhumane crimes again. But when all was said and done, these people convinced me that maybe our leg al system wasn’t as fool proof as I had thought. Within this paper, I hope to show some of the factors that influenced my change of opinion. Background: The United States federal death penalty was first used on June 25, 1790, when Thomas Bird was hanged for murder in Maine. Since then, according to studies by the Capital Punishment Research Project, 336 men and 4 women have been executed under federal backing. Of these inmates, 134 (39%) were white; 118 (35%) black; 63 (19%) Native American; and 25 (7%) were Hispanic or unknown. The federal government has utilized hanging, electrocution, and the gas chamber to execute these 340 prisoners. The majority of inmates were executed for murder or crimes resulting in murder, but convictions for piracy, rape, rioting, kidnapping, and spying and espionage also yielded federal executions. The Questions: As presented in class, sociologists generally use two definitions in the identificatio... Free Essays on Death Penalty Free Essays on Death Penalty To kill or not to kill is a extremely arguable question in society today. This question has been asked for years and will be asked for many years to come. Capital punishment has been in America since the early seventeenth century. The first recorded execution in America was that of Captain George Kendall in the Jamestown colony of Virginia in 1608.Tthe cost of keeping a 25-year-old inmate for 50 years at amounts to $805,000. Assuming 75 years as an average life span, the $805,000 figure would be the cost of life in prison. So roughly it is costing us $2 million more to execute someone than it would cost to keep them in jail for life. So why do we use capital punishment? One reason why the death penalty is so controversial is because many people feel it is a cruel way of punishment and it is not necessary, even if the crime is a murder, they believe there are other ways of conviction besides execution. In the case of an accidental death, feelings are that the perpetrators should have the right to live, but have to face each day with the fact that they killed someone weighing on their conscience. On the other hand, such as with an intended murder, the ideas are somewhat similar. They believe the murderer doesn’t deserve the death penalty. Chances are if a person is insane enough to kill another human being in the first place, they aren’t going to care what happens to them. They realize that their execution, in most cases, is going to be short and painless. This is not a punishment for someone who has inflicted severe pain upon someone else’s life life. Our court system, after giving a life sentence without parole, should not let t hese killers have the comforts they have in jail. They should be treated more or less like animals in a way. Therefore, let the ones who institute a crime unwillingly live, but do not let the punishment be as severe as it would for a voluntary criminal. There are a many people who believe that increasin... Free Essays on Death Penalty Capital punishment has been a cause for debate for many years, and people continue to disagree on the topic. There are many reasons why the death penalty should be used, but the three most important are that it deters potential murderers from committing crimes, it saves our government money in the long run, and most importantly, it guarantees that these convicted murderers will not kill again. Why does the United States need capital punishment? The main purpose of the death penalty is to protect the rights of other Americans to live. In his book, The Law, Federic Bastiat writes, â€Å"humans have inalienable rights that existed outside of and before government. These rights are life, liberty, and property. The only legitimate purpose of government is to protect these rights. When one person infringes on another’s rights, he must be punished. To do this, the punishment must be harsh enough to deter potential criminals†(Bastiat). This punishment is of the harshest form, b ut it is necessary to maintain order. Is capital punishment in fact a deterrent? Studies show that it most definitely is. In fact, of the fourteen states that have at one time or another abolished the death penalty, murder has increased by seven percent. Likewise, a study by Stephen K. Layton at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill showed that each execution in the United States deters an average of eighteen murders (Lowe). If the death penalty were in-acted in a swifter manner, it would most likely deter even better. The average amount of time spent on death row is ten years! John McAdams, a professor of Political Science at Marquette University sums it up best: â€Å"If we execute murderers and there is in fact no deterrent effect, we have killed a bunch of murderers. If we fail to execute murderers, and in so doing would in fact have deterred other murders, we have allowed the killing of a bunch of innocent victims. I would much rather risk the former. This, t... Free Essays on Death Penalty Research Paper- Death Penalty Capital punishment has been in use since the ancient times; it was common among all ancient civilizations. Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Hebrews, Persians, Greeks, Romans, and Chinese prescribed it for a variety of crimes, including acts that today are considered minor offenses or not crimes at all (McCuen). In recent centuries the use of the death penalty has been a controversial issue in today’s society. Some people believe that capital punishment can reduce the rate of the crime happening and relieve the pain of victims and their families. On the other hand, some people consider that capital punishment denies humans’ right to live and is inhumane (Nathanson). In the community today, whether or not the death penalty should be in use to punish criminals is also a difficult decision for the justice system and class representatives. Death penalty is also known as capital punishment, this is the most severe form of corporal punishment, as it requires law enforcement officers to kill the offender (Duhaime & co. Legal Dictionary). Methods of execution have somehow always fulfilled the aims of torture and revenge – nowadays surreptitiously – and usually in a highly dramatic way. There were many kinds of cruel executions such as burring the condemned alive, pinning people on the wooden cross, drowning in ponds, stoning to death, thousand cuts, and many other inhumane executions. In the 19th century, humanitarians demanded for less torturous methods to execute offenders. These methods include electrocution, gas chamber, hanging, and lethal injection (McCuen). All the states with death penalty have the method, lethal injection (Death Penalty Information Center). The purpose of the death penalty is to punish the offender of the laws and rules and use death as a threat to prevent crimes. But in fact, the death penalty does little to prevent crime. It’s the fear of apprehension and the ... Free Essays on Death Penalty The Death Penalty In the highly debated issue of whether the death penalty is just, I choose to voice my opinion. The death penalty to me is almost an easy way out. Does killing fix killing? Are we living in Babylonian times under Hammurabi? I don’t think so. It’s not so much the fact that we are killing killers, it’s the fact that we are simply wasting and eliminating them from society where they could be used to do better things. A lot of people think and voice that the death penalty is the most correct way to deal with brutal murderers. They should also believe that if you get caught raping someone your Johnson should be cut off. They should also believe that the punishment for stealing should be the removal of your hands. Its nonsense. I’m not going to argue this against a family whose loved one has been murdered. That’s just silly. All the family wants is some justice for the loss of their own. The justice they feel necessary is the chair or the needle which is totally understandable. But don’t you think that the murderer is almost getting off easy? Wouldn’t it be more of a punishment to be condemned to hard labor or devoting your life to the family you have so dearly hurt? A lifetime in solitary is not a fun and exciting thing. I feel that there should be fewer executions a year. And these executions should be for extreme cases. Bin Laden should be executed. McVeigh should have been executed. Only people of that stature and of such heightened single acts of violence should get the chair. I watched a special on HBO about 3 months ago about a 30 year old woman named Wanda Jean or Jeannie. She was charged and convicted of the murder of her girlfriend in the first degree. Jeannie was drugged up at the time and is also a borderline retard (literally) with an I.Q. below 70. The act of violence came out of rage in which she had no reasonable thought of her actions. Yes. Jeannie did kill. Jeannie was sentenced... Free Essays on Death Penalty DEATH PENALTY Many people will argue that capital punishment is inappropriate as a proper means of punishment for murder and rape. The truth is the death penalty is the most effective form of retributive justice for those crimes. The death penalty is a fitting punishment for violent crime because executions maximize public safety through a form of incapacitation and deterrence. The death penalty has been around since the days of Moses and it is still around today. The reason for this is simply because it works. The Jews believe that the death penalty was God-given and therefore a necessary part of their religious and judicial system. The Jews use the death penalty to punish such grotesque offenses as bestiality and incest to somewhat minute charges of striking, cursing, or mere disobedience to one's parents. The methods the Jewish people use to inflict capital punishment are as varied as the crimes for which it is used: Stoning, burning, hanging, beheading, and several more less popu lar methods. If we look at the Roman Empire we see that crucifixion was a popular mode of execution because, not only did it get rid of the problem, it also punished the criminal with a great deal of torture. Crucifixion is probably the most cruel way to execute someone and therefore one of the most effective ways to deter crime. Crucifixion involved hanging a person to a device called a cross. The person first had to carry his cross through his hometown and to the place of his death. This further helped to deter crime since few people want their family and friends to witness such a humiliating experience. The criminal was then tied or nailed to the cross with his knees bent. The cross was then lifted up and set into a hole in the ground. This force would dislocate every joint in the body of the criminal. While the criminal hanged there, he could push himself up on a foot pedestal so that he could breathe. Eventually the man grew tired, suffocated, and died.... Free Essays on Death Penalty Death Penalty Capital Punishment: a.k.a. the death penalty. To kill, or not to kill, this is an extremely controversial question in today’s society. The number of people who are for it still believe in the saying, â€Å" an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.† These are the people who feel if you intentionally take the life of someone else, then yours should be taken as well. But then there are the other people who feel the death penalty should be banned because of its cruel and unjust way of punishment. Should we keep it or not? And if it is kept, how do we determine who should be sentenced to death? An easy way to answer these questions is to totally nullify capital punishment completely. One reason why the death penalty is so controversial is because many people feel its cruel ways of punishment are unnecessary, even if the crime is murder, whether it be premeditated or unintentional. They believe there are other ways of condemnation besides execution. In the case of an unintentional death, feelings are that the perpetrators should have the right to live, but have to face each day with the fact that they killed someone weighing on their conscience. On the other hand, such as with a voluntary murder, the ideas are somewhat similar. They believe the murderer doesn’t deserve the death penalty. Chances are if a person is insane enough to kill another human being in the first place, they aren’t going to care what happens to them. They realize that their execution, in most cases, is going to be short and painless. This isn’t a just punishment for someone who has inflicted severe pain upon another life. Our court system, after initiating a li fe sentence without parole, should not offer these killers the comforts they have in jail. They should be treated more or less like animals. In short, let the ones who institute a crime unwillingly live, but do not let the punishment be as severe as it would for a voluntary crimi... Free Essays on Death Penalty Everyday, thousands of innocent people are murdered by vicious criminals who have no regard for life. These criminals are taking mothers, fathers, and children from their families for no reason. Yet, there are thousands of people who criticize the death penalty. They will give emotional speeches about the one innocent man or woman who might accidentally get an execution sentence. However, all of these people are forgetting one crucial element. They are forgetting the thousands of innocent victims who die each and every year by the hands of cold blooded murderers. Who deserve much worse than the death penalty. I, as well as many others, have total confidence in the death penalty. It is a vital component of our justice system. The death penalty saves lives by stopping those who murder from ever murdering again. Not only that, it prevents potential murderers from ever committing the crime. Unfortunately, the death penalty is currently used so rarely that it is not nearly as effective as it could be. In order for it to work, we must put it into practice more often. In recent years, crime in America has been on the rise, in particular, violent crime. This has led not only to an overcrowding of prisons in our country, but also to an increase in the number of death sentences handed down by the courts. Despite the fact that the number of inmates on death row is climbing, the number of death sentences actually carried out in any given year is far behind. People simply aren’t fearful of the death penalty when it isn’t used the way it should be (Stewart 50). If the death penalty has been declared legal, then the federal and state governments must employ it to its fullest as a means of stopping previous murderers from recommitting their crimes. Since most of the prisoners on death row are there for murder, executing them would ensure that they would never kill again. Obsessive murderers, who know no alternative to killing, need to ... Free Essays on Death Penalty The Debate over the merits of capital punishment has endured for years, and continues to be an extremely indecisive and complicated issue. Adversaries of capital punishment point to the Marshalls and the Millgards, while proponents point to the Dahmers and Gacys. Society must be kept safe from the monstrous barbaric acts of these individuals and other killers, by taking away their lives to function and perform in our society. At the same time, we must insure that innocent people such as Marshall and Millgard are never convicted or sentenced to death for a crime that they did not commit. Many contend that the use of capital punishment as a form of deterrence does not work, as there are no fewer murders on a per- capita basis in countries or states that do have it, then those that do not. In order for capital punishment to work as a deterrence, certain events must be present in the criminal's mind prior to committing the offence. The criminal must be aware that others have been punishe d in the past for the offence that he or she is planning, and that what happened to another individual who committed this offence, can also happen to me. But individuals who commit any types of crime ranging from auto theft to 1st-Degree Murder, never take into account the consequences of their actions. Deterrence to crime, is rooted in the individuals themselves. Every human has a personal set of conduct. How much they will and will not tolerate. How far they will and will not go. This personal set of conduct can be made or be broken by friends, influences, family, home, life, etc. An individual who is never taught some sort of restraint as a child, will probably never understand any limit as to what they can do, until they have learned it themselves. Therefore, capital punishment will never truly work as a deterrent, because of human nature to ignore practised advice and to self learn. There are those who claim that capital punishment is in itself a form o... Free Essays on Death Penalty Crime in today’s world has become more gruesome with the times. With the crimes comes jail, so more jails are being built for the prisoners. More people are be criminals are being sent to jail and getting the death penalty. Some feel that the death penalty is also a gruesome act of murder. People who commit crimes get what they deserve and if that’s the death penalty they should get it, because they are taking up our space and our time. Crimes have become a major pollution in this country. If people want to commit crimes so badly they should pay for what they do. Gangs and organized crime have added more to this countries problems. Some people think it is fun or they are deranged. To put it simply, they shouldn’t do the crime if they can’t do the time. Even though some people are committing crime and some of them are getting away with it. Today’s law system has many loop holes in it. This is what is putting gangs, drug dealers, and bad people on the streets. Lawyers are key weapons for these type of people, the lawyers help them get away with anything. A lot of people have been convicted of crimes and got away with it, do to their lawyers. The death penalty is a good punishment because people in this country deserve to feel safe. Some countries have had their crime rates lowered due to the abolishing of the death penalty, but we live in the U.S.A., country of lawyers, where money talks, and you can’t trust anyone. The death penalty is good because most people are afraid of death. Even though the death penalty is gruesome to some, it is good for our nation because of the thing we have running around in our streets. This is why the death penalty is good. To put it plain and simple the death penalty is an efficient way to lower crime in this country. Lawyers, and money absolutely aren’t helping this country and it crime. People in this country should be able to trust each other but, ... Free Essays on Death Penalty Capital Punishment Is it really cruel and unusual? Is the death penalty really cruel and unusual punishment? Murder is only cruel and unusual punishment to the victim. Criminals executed do not become repeat offenders. In the Death Penalty argument’s, There are four main reasons for punishment: rehabilitation (to return someone to a former status), reformation (to re-form or re-create an individual), deterrence (to deter others or to deter the person punished), and retribution (an eye for an eye). The death penalty is a punishment to a person in which the person is put to death for a very serious crime they have committed, usually when they take another person's life. Our state(S) and federal legislators have created laws that specifically identify which crimes a person commits that can be punishable by the death penalty. The death penalty is seen as a deterrent to increasing and more serious crime. If members of the society know that if they commit serious crimes they could be put to death for it, they are less likely to commit these crimes. However, there is great disagreement in our society about whether it is a true deterrent to crime or not. When I think of the thousands of inhabitants of Death Rows in the prisons in this country...my reaction is: "What's taking us so long? Let's get that electrical current flowing. Whenever I argue this with friends who have opposite views, they say that I don't have enough regard for the most marvelous of miracles - human life. However, it is just the opposite. It is because I have so much regard for human life that I favor capital punishment. Murder is the most terrible crime there is. Some people say that the death penalty is not a deterrent. Dismissing capital punishment on that basis requires us to eliminate all prisons as well because they do not seem to be any more effective in the deterrence of crime. Others say that states which do have the death penalty have higher crime... Free Essays on Death Penalty The worst thing that could happen to anyone is to have his/her life taken away from him/her. If you die by someone’s elses cause, then the murderer must be killed as well, thats why I support the death penalty. The death penalty brings justice and relief to the family of the victim. No one has the right or power to take away the life an innocent human being. Only god has the right to take away our lives, because most of us know that god gave us life to begin with. I am not the only one that believes that the death penalty is the only solution for justice, but several other people would agree to my opinion. Edward Koch is someone that would agree that the death penalty brings justice. He provided a few examples which I found interesting on why we should practice the death penalty. One of the things that Edward koch said in his essay that I found to be true is when he said in his essay that â€Å" Human life deserves speacial protection, and one of the best ways to guarantee that protection is to assure that convicted murderers do not kill again. Only the death penalty can accomplish this end†( Edward I. Koch, 240). People who kill once are very likily to kill a second time, and so the death penalty will assure that murderers would not get away with murder for the second time. Murderers in the past have been released and got away with another murder, â€Å" In a recent case in New jersey, a man named Richard Biegenwald was freed from prison after serving 18 years for murder; since his release he has been convicted of commititing four murders† ( Edward I. Koch, 241). Another similar example is â€Å" A prisoner in named Lemuel Smith, who, while serving four life sentences for murder in New York’s Green Haven prison, lured a woman corrections officer into the chaplain’s office and strangled her†( Edward I. Koch, 241). As you can see it only makes sense to have the death penalty, because it stops and gets rid of criminals who have ... Free Essays on Death Penalty When it comes to the death penalty I feel that it is very cruel and it should not be practiced in the U.S. Many other countries in the world have outlawed it yet the U.S. still keeps it as form of punishment. Killing a person is wrong under intentional circumstances. People can always be forgiven and they should always get a second chance in life, even if they have made a horrible mistake. Sometimes the death penalty is given to a â€Å"guilty† person, but then they later found out that the person was innocent. The authorities have just hurt the family of that person and everyone else that surrounded them. I believe that any form of the death penalty is inhumane. It is the worst form of punishment that they shouldn’t be receiving. Jail time might make the guilty person realize just what they have done wrong. We were all created by God and we should be taken from this world within his will. People shouldn’t be forced to leave this world. People that are for the de ath penalty say that it is a just form of punishment, just to remove them from this world so that they are not capable of doing anymore crime. I think that if you punish them well, such as a long period of time in jail, than they should probably learn their lesson. And murdering a person is not a just form of punishment. It is very vindictive. Even though authorities claim that very few people receive the death penalty, there are more people that receive it than those that the media represents. The death penalty can not just hurt the person receiving it but their family and friends as well. Through anger it might cause a loved one to accidentally commit a crime because they aren’t in the right mind and they want revenge on authorities. God doesn’t promote the death penalty, and if punishments are going to be handled properly than the death penalty should be banished and not used anymore in the States. Although it is seen as a good way to get rid of criminals, it isnâ⠂¬â„¢t r... Free Essays on Death Penalty Life or Death Capital punishment has been an emotionally charged issue in the United States for over two hundred years. This is easy to understand, since the taking of another human’s life, even by court order is irrevocable. The purpose of this essay is to give you background information so that you can be informed regarding the pro’s and con’s involved in this issue. Forming an opinion about capital punishment is something you must decide for yourself. The three basic aspects of the issue are: the moral factors; [Is it Just], the legal factors; [Is it administered according to the rules], and the practical factors [Does it prevent Crime]. First we will talk about capital punishment as it took place in early America starting with the Massachusetts Bay Colony of 1636. â€Å"The Capital Laws of New England,† listed these â€Å"crimes† as worthy of the death sentence: Idolatry, witchcraft, blasphemy, murder (excluding self defense) assault in sudden anger, sodomy, buggery, adultery, statutory rape (death sentence optional), man stealing, perjury in a capital trial, and rebellion (Worsnop 200). Executions were public displays until the mid-nineteenth century. It was believed that public display would by example deter crime. In the early nineteenth century, public hangings were occasions for sadistic celebrations where thieves and pickpockets joined the onlookers in merriment (Worsnop 200). Between 1930 and 1950, executions in the U.S. ranged between 117-199. A murderer â€Å"lived with the expectation that he might forfeit his own life in return† with a 1 in 25 chance, whereas in 1992 that probability dropped to 1 in 625(Tucker 24). By the latter part of that century it was recognized that such publicity seemed to serve no deterrent effect. Practically speaking, law enforcement officials [today] don’t consider the death penalty as an effective deterrent. According to a new national poll of 386 police chiefs and sher... Free Essays on Death Penalty At the dawn of the 21st century, the death penalty is considered by most civilized nations as a cruel and inhuman punishment. It has been abolished de jure or de facto by 106 nations, 30 countries have abolished it since 1990. However, the death penalty continues to be commonly applied in other nations. China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the United States and Iran are the most prolific executioners in the world. Indeed, the US is one of six countries (including also Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen) which executes people who were under 18 years-old at the time they committed their crimes. While international documents have restricted and in some cases even banned the death penalty, its application is still not against customary international law. Much debate continues in the US as to whether it constitutes an appropriate punishment, at least to the most heinous crimes. In recent years, the debate has been further fueled by the use of new technologies which have shown that a large proportion of people sentenced to death are, indeed, innocent.... Free Essays on Death Penalty Death Penalty Many Americans are astonished by the U.S.’s high murder rates and lack of abolition of the death penalty when in comparison with other countries. The U.S. is very far behind when it comes to abolishing the death penalty. Capital punishment caught my attention because I always see people in the news protesting against it, so I decided that I wanted to learn a little more about it. Over time the death penalty has evolved in many different countries. Stoning to death, a practice of the Jews, was one of the first recorded methods of punishment. Crucifixion was one of the most brutal and painful ways of capital punishment. Romans practiced it during New Testament times. The death penalty was later publicly inflicted by the guillotine in France, Belgium, Denmark, Hanover, and two cantons of Switzerland. Today, the death penalty has become much more private and technologically advanced with the invention of the electric chair and lethal injection. Unusually, the U.S. is behind the rest of the world in one aspect, which is the abolition of the death penalty. More than half the countries of the world have abolished practicing the death penalty. Statistics say that more than two countries on average a year have abolished the death penalty in law since 1976. Worldwide abolition is not a myth and it is in the near future. Europe has designed a European Union which is a capital punishment free zone. Internationally, the death penalty will soon become a criminal punishment of the past. When the U.S.’s reputation of sophistication is considered, many Americans are astonished at the murder rates of the U.S. The U.S. murder rate is about six times higher than any other industrialized country. Crime rates in the U.S. have dropped considerably over the past 20 years except for the murder rate. Even though the U.S. practices the death penalty, it’s murder rates are still higher than the murder rates of countrie... Free Essays on Death Penalty The Death Penalty Reflection to Editorial Capitol punishment is necessary in order for justice to be prevailing. Capitol punishment is the execution of criminals for committing crimes, regarding so bad that this is the only acceptable punishment. Capitol punishment lowers the murder rate, but values as retribution alone is a good reason for handing out death sentences. It is only fair by the judicial system. Another issue is that it saves money compared to the alternative of life in prison. The death penalty deters murder and prevents murderers from killing again by putting the fear of death in to would be killers. A person is less likely to do something, if he fear of death in to would be killers. A person is less likely to do something, if he or she thinks that harm will come to him. Another way t he death penalty may help deter murder is the fact that if the killer is death, he or she will not be able to kill again. There are two different opinions to the death penalty. 1) Those who feel that the killer deserves to live and serve a life sentence in jail. 2) Those who are supporters of the death penalty that feel that criminals should be punished for their crimes, and that it doesn’t matter whether it will deter crime. Both groups want to make examples out of offenders so that the threat of death will be enough to stop them from committing such horrible crimes. Some people might say to give the murder life in prison. To others this is hardly a punishment at all. Today a lot of prisoners don't serve their full sentence. Another thing is that prisoners today are living very comfortable. Some people feel that it is OK and others feel that criminals live in prison off of other people's hard money. In the ending criminals should think of the consequences before they kill someone, If they don't do this or did and still kill someone, they probably are mentally stable and need medical assistance. To give a killer the deat... Free Essays on Death Penalty Both Sides of Capital Punishment Murder is the unlawful killing of another human being with an intentional or criminal intent. In today's world, terrible crimes are being committed daily. Many believe that these criminals deserve one fate: death. Capital punishment, the death penalty, is the maximum sentence used in punishing people who kill another human being - and is a very controversial method of punishment. In most states, a person convicted of first degree murder has the potential to be given the death penalty. Capital punishment is a subject that can be counted upon to stir emotion and controversy into any conversation or argument. The very concept provokes a profusion of valid questions and opinions. Today's daily world of crime and violence calls for punishment of a severe nature, and many citizens argue that the punishment necessary is the death penalty. These people quote passages such as the "an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" concept from the Old Testament of the Judeo-Christian bible. Some people take the neutral position that there is no right or wrong answer, that each opinion on capital punishment is valid in its own way. Opponents of the death penalty claim that sentencing a person to death does not change the reality of the situation; the harm already done simply cannot be fixed from a vengeance standpoint. You cannot bring the murdered person back by taking the prisone r's life. Proponents of capital punishment tend to defend their opinion mainly on two grounds: death is a fitting punishment for murder, and executions maximize public safety through incapacitation and deterrence. The view of proponents of the death penalty in reference to the "let the punishment fit the crime" ideal is that, in the eyes of many law officials and citizens of the United States, if a crime is so serious that it causes irreversible damage or the loss of human life, then the only penalty for such crimes would be death for the... Free Essays on Death Penalty On April 8, 2002, Ray Krone was released from prison in Arizona after DNA evidence proved that he was not responsible for the 1991 murder of a Phoenix bartender. Krone became the 100th person exonerated and released from death row since 1973. Convicted twice for a brutal murder, Krone spent ten years in prison, two of them on death row. The DNA evidence that ultimately proved his innocence also implicated the real murderer. Unfortunately, Ray Krone’s story is not unique. As of February 2004, 113 inmates had been found innocent and released from death row. More than half of these have been released in the last 10 years. That means one person has been exonerated for every eight people executed. A study by Columbia University professor James Liebman examined thousands of capital sentences that had been reviewed by courts in 34 states from 1973 to 1995. â€Å"An astonishing 82 percent of death row inmates did not deserve to receive the death penalty,† he said in his conclusion. â€Å"One in twenty death row inmates is later found not guilty.† The vast majority of those exonerated were found innocent because someone came forward to confess committing the crime; key witness testimony was found to be illegitimate; or new evidence was found to support innocence In many other cases, it was good fortune rather than the criminal justice system that established innocence. In several cases, college or law school students investigated cases and unearthed essential evidence. For example, students in an investigative journalism class at Webster University uncovered evidence of misconduct by prosecutors, who talked a witness into giving false testimony and withheld crucial trial evidence, and helped get a new trial for Louisiana death row inmate Richard Clay. If it had not been for the work of these students, an innocent person may have been put to death. Although there has been much attention surrounding the use of DNA tes... Free Essays on Death Penalty Epstein and Kobylka’s analysis of the Supreme Court decisions are based on three factors. They look at the court itself, the political environment of the country and the role that interest groups play in Supreme Court decisions. The authors pay attention to the role of the NAACP legal defense fund and the ACLU as interest groups advocating for the abolition of the death penalty. In the years leading up to Furman the NAACP LDF took several approaches to fighting the death penalty. First they attempted to prove racial discrimination in the use of the death penalty. The Wolfgang report showed that black defendants are more likely to be sentenced to death than white defendants. However, the court rejected this line of reasoning. After this failed the NAACP turned its attention to the problem with unitary trials in which guilt and sentencing are established by the jury at the same trial. They also called attention to the problem with standardless sentencing in which the Jur y was given no clear cases in which to invoke the death penalty. While the court passed down several favorable rulings on for abolitionists in the 1960’s, such as Witherspoon v. Illinois and Baykin v. Alabama., these cases focused only on specifics of these cases and did not address the constitutional validity of unitary sentencing and standardless sentencing. In McGutha v. California and Crampton v. Illinois, abolitionists experienced a defeat. The court ruled that these practices were in fact constitutional. From here the courts moved to address whether the death penalty constituted cruel and unusual punishment. In Furman v. Georgia, marked a major victory for the opponents of the death penalty. In 5 - 4 vote the court found that â€Å"Georgia’s procedures for implementing the death penalty violated constitutional guarantees.† The majority decision was not solid however. Douglas, Brennen and Marshall came out strongly against the death penalty. ... Free Essays on Death Penalty â€Å"THE DEATH PENALTY† The death penalty, or capital punishment which ever term you wish to use came into effect around the late 1960's, since then there are thirty-eight states with the death penalty; Georgia included, and twelve states without. Since the enactment of the death penalty in 1976 until today there has been a total of eight hundred and four people put to death, and about 4,000 intimates waiting to be executed. There are a lot of mixed emotions when it comes to the death penalty. Some people believe that the carrying out of the death penalty goes against a persons eighth and fourteenth amendment rights, and others believe that it will help deter crime. Many feel that the death penalty is such a cruel way to punish a person that they would rather them spend life in prison without parole. just like everything else putting someone to death cost a lot of money and it has to go threw a process. To give a person a death sentence there has to be a least 28 procedures necessary in making the decision. 1. The crime must be one listed as a capital crime in the penal codes. 2. A suspect must be identified and arrested. 3. Beginning with the bill of rights, the Miranda warning and the exclusionary rule U. S. criminal defendants and those convicted have, bu far, the most extensive protections ever devised and implemented 4. A panel of district attorneys determines if the case merits the death penalty as prescribed by the penal code. 5. A grande jury must indict the suspect of capital murder. 6. The suspect is presumed innocent, 7. The prosecution must prove to the judge that the evidence upon which the prosecution will rely is admissible, 8. The defendant is assigned two attorneys, county funds are provided to defense counsel for investigation and trial, 9. It takes 3-12 weeks to select a jury, 10. Trial is conducted, 11.... Free Essays on Death Penalty Mead Shumway of Nebraska was convicted of the first-degree murder of his employer’s wife on circumstantial evidence and sentenced to death by a jury. His last words before his execution were: â€Å"I am an innocent man. May God forgive everyone who said anything against me.† The next year, the victim’s husband confessed that he had murdered his own wife (Radelet, Bedau, Putnam 347). There are numerous amounts of incidents similar to the one depicted above that have repeatedly occurred throughout the course of history. Two highly distinguishable figures in the area of capital punishment in the United States, Hugo Bedau and Michael Radelet, discovered in 1992, at least 140 cases, since 1990, in which innocent persons were sentenced to death (Hook and Kahn 92). In Illinois alone, 12 death row inmates have been cleared and freed since 1987 (Execution Reconsidered). The most conclusive evidence in support of this â€Å"comes from the surprisingly large numbers of people whose convictions have been overturned and who have been freed from death† (Bedau 345). One out of every seven people sentenced to death row are innocent (Civiletti). That’s nearly 15% of death row inmates. The numbers are disturbing. Innocent people are becoming victims of the United States judicial system. A former president of the American Bar Association (ABA), John J. Curtin Jr., said it best when he told a congressional committee â€Å"Whatever you think about the death penalty, a system that will take life must first give justice. Execute justice, not people.† Though some of the innocent death row inmates have managed to escape their execution, there are numerous others who are unable to overturn their sentence through appeals. Many cases of innocence go unheard and result in the unfortunate fatality of an innocent. When the death penalty in 1972 was ruled unconstitutional in Furman v. Georgia, the Justices expected that the â€Å"adoption of narrowly crafted sent... Free Essays on Death Penalty Death Penalty Murder is unjustified intentional killing. It is not sufficient that there be justification (a sound reason) to kill somebody, the person doing the killing must kill for that reason. Thus, if I should shoot some random person in a drive by shooting, only to have it discovered later that, quite by coincidence, this was somebody who deserved to die, this would not mitigate against the fact that I committed murder. Capital Punishment, legal infliction of death as a penalty for violating criminal law. Throughout history people have been put to death for various forms of wrongdoing. Methods of execution have included such practices as crucifixion, stoning, drowning, burning at the stake, impaling, and beheading. Today capital punishment is typically accomplished by lethal gas or injection, electrocution, hanging, or shooting. The death penalty is the most controversial penal practice in the modern world. Other harsh, physical forms of criminal punishment referred to as corporal punishment have generally been eliminated in modern times as uncivilized and unnecessary. In the majority of countries, contemporary methods of punishment such as imprisonment or fines no longer involve the infliction of physical pain. Although imprisonment and fines are universally recognized as necessary to the control of crime, the nations of the world are split on the issue of capital punishment. About 80 nations have abolished the death penalty and an almost equal number of nations (most of which are developing countries) retain it. The trend in most industrialized nations has been to first stop executing prisoners and then to substitute long terms of imprisonment for death as the most severe of all criminal penalties. The United States is an important exception to this trend. The federal government and a majority of U. S. states provide for the death penalty, and from 50 to 75 executions occur each year throughout the United States.... Free Essays on Death Penalty The Death Penalty Introduction: The death penalty is a hot topic on many people’s minds these days. From John Lee Malvo to innocent citizens on death row, everybody seems to have an opinion on this touchy subject. Having just returned from a semester studying abroad in Spain, my conversations with people from other cultures has altered my view on this controversial issue. Before these conversations, I would not consider myself an advocate of the death penalty, but I was definitely not against it. In fact, when confronted (unconfrontationally) by foreigners, I would support the federal death penalty, arguing that our streets were safer with these murderers and rapists getting what they deserved. I would argue that children and elderly women were being taken advantage of by these coward criminals and I would point to the instances when a paroled convict would be let free only to commit these inhumane crimes again. But when all was said and done, these people convinced me that maybe our leg al system wasn’t as fool proof as I had thought. Within this paper, I hope to show some of the factors that influenced my change of opinion. Background: The United States federal death penalty was first used on June 25, 1790, when Thomas Bird was hanged for murder in Maine. Since then, according to studies by the Capital Punishment Research Project, 336 men and 4 women have been executed under federal backing. Of these inmates, 134 (39%) were white; 118 (35%) black; 63 (19%) Native American; and 25 (7%) were Hispanic or unknown. The federal government has utilized hanging, electrocution, and the gas chamber to execute these 340 prisoners. The majority of inmates were executed for murder or crimes resulting in murder, but convictions for piracy, rape, rioting, kidnapping, and spying and espionage also yielded federal executions. The Questions: As presented in class, sociologists generally use two definitions in the identificatio... Free Essays on Death Penalty The most severe form of punishment of all legal sentences is that of death. This is referred to as the death penalty, or capital punishment; this is the most severe form of corporal punishment, requiring law enforcement officers to actually kill the offenders. It has been banned in numerous countries, in the United States, however an earlier move to eliminate capital punishment has now been reserved and more and more states are resorting to capital punishment for such serious offenders namely murder. â€Å"Lex talionis,† mentioned by the Bible encourages â€Å"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth† mentality, and people have been using it regularly for centuries. We use it in reference to burglary, adultery, and various other situations, although, some people enforce it on a different level, some people use it in reference to death. An individual may steal from those who have stolen from him, or an individual wrongs those who have wronged him, but should an individual have the right to kill to seek retaliation? Four issues are on the hot topic in the United States, stirring up America’s feeling towards this issue. There is controversy debating capital punishment today and whether or not it works, or if it is morally right. We have a certain privilege in our own lives, but should the lives of others belong to us as well? Do we have the right to decide on the lives of others; of people we may not even know? If we find someone guilty of murder, we sentence him to death. This makes us murders ourselves, but is there possibility in justifying these acts? Those who assist in the death penalty are they not partners in crime? Is death penalty a cruel and unusual punishment or is it now just a necessary tool in the war crime? The use of death penalty has actually declined throughout the industrial Western World since the 19th century. In 1972, a movement in America to have death penalty declared unconstitutional arose, during the landmark ca... Free Essays on Death Penalty The Unites States is one of the only industrialized countries in the world that imposes the death penalty on its citizens. One of the flaws of the death penalty is that it is imposed on the poor more frequently because they can’t afford to hire adequate representation and must rely on public defenders that are, in most cases, over worked and under paid. Another problem with the death penalty is that innocent people are at risk of being put to death. There have been hundreds of cases where innocent people have been released from death row. The death penalty in our country places innocent people at risk of being put to death. According to The American Civil Liberties Union, since 1976 more than 100 prisoners convicted of capital crimes and sentenced to death were released from death row with having strong evidence of their innocence. (ACLU) DNA tests played a major role in providing their innocence. Wrongful convictions often result from false confessions, which are frequent among juveniles and the mentally retarded, mistaken eyewitness evidence, jail house snitches, white collar fraud and prosecutorial abuse. (ACLU) While doing research for this paper I came across the story of Earl Washington. To make a long story short, Mr. Washington was mentally retarded and was sentenced to death in 1984 after falsely confessing to rape and murder of a woman in Virginia. DNA tests conducted after he was sentenced to death proved that he was not the rapist. Mr. Washington was ultimately released but not until after he served 16 years in prison, 14 of them on death row, for a crime he did not commit. (ACLU) The death penalty is unfair to the economically challenged. I am going to share a quote from Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, April 9th 2001. â€Å"I have yet to see a death case among the dozens coming in which the defendant was well represented at trial†¦ People who are well represented at trial do not get the death pena... Free Essays on Death Penalty Death Penalty Argument (against) The topic of the Death Penalty has been a heated debate for centuries and now with the state of Illinois pardoning all death row inmates, I thought I would touch on the subject. This essay is AGAINST the death penalty. The biggest argument against the death penalty is that it has shown to have tendencies of being racist. Over 80% of people on death row are convicted of killing a white person. According to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty more than half of the people murdered in the United States are black. Also according to the NCADP 90% of the people sought after by prosecutors for execution are either Black or Latino. Another misconception about the death penalty is that executing is cheaper than housing the offenders in prison. Data shows that an offender taken through the process of arrest all the way through execution often costs one million dollars to three million dollars. On average the cost of life without parole is $500,000 almost half of what it costs to execute. In 1991 New Jersey spent $16 million to impose the death penalty. The next year the state laid off 500 police officers because they could not afford to pay them. The death penalty has also not proven to be deterrence to committing such offenses as murder, rape, and other violent offences. Countries with the highest murder rates that do not oppose the death penalty are about 21.6 per population of 100,000 and the countries with the highest murder rates that do impose the death penalty are about 46.1 per 100,000. Thus these states do show that the death penalty could actually be related to increasing violence. In considering all these arguments one could easily have a new perspective on the death penalty and change to an anti-death penalty stance....