Capital Punishment College Essays Samples For Students

Introduction

Capital punishment has been used by many countries since time immemorial to punish people and bring justice in society. Death penalty as a form of punishment continues to elicit different opinions among many groups of people with the punishment receiving an almost equal measure of support and condemnation. The death penalty has been introduced in several states in the United States and whether this has succeeded in reducing crime is a debatable issue. Capital punishment has not been effective in reducing crime. The death penalty does not deter others from committing murder. The rates of homicides are consistently higher in states ...

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Introduction

Capital Punishment, also known as a Death Penalty, is a legal process by which a person accused of a crime is put to death. The term is derived from the Latin word “capitalis”, meaning beheading. Widely regarded as one of the most controversial topics of the 21st century, this paper focuses on the historical, moral and social aspects of the use of capital punishment. It covers all arguments both in favor of and against this form of punishment.

Historical Significance

Capital Punishment and Death Penalty Law is a centuries old phenomenon. The first death penalty laws were established in Eighth Century B.C for 25 ...

Capital punishment uses death penalty as a form of punishment in many states and countries. It is a practice that has raised endless questions all over the world. Capital punishment or death penalty policy has changed in many countries overtime. Countries such as, New Australia, Zealand and 15 states in the US do not have capital punishment. One of the major concerns arising with capital punishment is because it causes ending of a human life. People and organizations of different backgrounds are not pleased with the practice because it undermines humanity. Society being mixed of different people there are different opinions. Some ...

While it is true that Mills recognizes the need to uphold an individual’s rights and privileges, he supports the need to impose capital punishment for capital offenders. His argument is based on the principle of utility, which is aligned with Benthamite’s principle of frugality, and exemplarity. Mills further notes that the punishment should emphasize on its core role; that of deterring crime; hence, it should not be imposed in a severe manner that disregards its intended purpose. In arguing for capital punishment, Mills concurs that murder remains to be of the greatest crimes recognized by the law. For ...

In his speech; in favor of capital punishment, Mill argues in favor of the death penalty for worst murderers on the basis of Benthamite’s principle of exemplarity and frugality. As Mills states, punishment as an intrinsic form of mischief should not be excessively severe than is required to attain its anticipated effect; that of deterring crime. Although Mills recognizes the needs to uphold one’s rights, he explicitly advocates for the preservation of capital punishment in cases of aggravated murder. Mill states that whenever the greatest crime as a recognized law; murder, and when the culprit’ position suggests no ...

How Mill Apply the Principle of Utility to the Issue of Capital Punishment

In his parliamentary speech in, 1868, Mill argues in favour of capital punishment retention. In support of capital punishment, Mill argues that a punishment being an essential malice, it should be accomplished in a more severe way that it ought to be in order for the punishing party to attain the anticipated effect to the murderer. He further accentuates that, the desired effect of punishment can best be achieved economic wise if the suffering is inflicted more severe that it ought to be. Based on his perceptions, execution is less cruel when compared to life imprisonment where one will have to ...

Is the death penalty fair or is it cruel and unusual punishment?

Capital punishment is fair when applied on stricter terms and case by case basis.It is only applicable to heinous crimes The punishment, however, should not be a preserve of the state but a decision that has to go through the federal courts (Bedau and Cassell 83). This is because various states have various degrees of determining how heinous a crime is in order to impose capital punishment. For instance, Texas is more than willing to hand over this sort of punishment for a crime that would attract 25 years to life imprisonment. Death penalty can only meet its legal and moral threshold if ...

Capital punishment is one of the oldest forms of punishment, the roots of which can be found in various social phenomena, including the law of retaliation (lex talionis) – "an eye for an eye." In many ancient societies, such principle seemed fair: money for money, a destroyed house for a destroyed house, murder for murder and so on. After a while, capital punishment was replaced by a fine, corporal punishment, imprisonment, etc. However, many countries still allow the death penalty. This situation raises a natural question – should there be the death penalty or should we get rid of it as an inhumane holdover of past ...

Capital punishment is a legal procedure whereby an individual is executed by the state for the crimes he/she has committed. Even though this sentence has been adopted by many governments, capital punishment has remained a controversial issue around the globe. Capital punishment is mainly used for the punishment of atrocious and heinous crimes, particularly murder. In addition, death penalty as it is also known is also used on crimes against humanity, espionage, reason, and crimes against the state. Many states and interest groups have mixed reactions and views on capital punishment depending on their country and their faith. In my view, ...

Human life is valuable; thus, even the worst of murderers or criminals must not be sentenced to death. If an individual is held accountable for any criminal act; the state has the right to give a death sentence against the individual who is termed as capital punishment. In some states, capital punishment may be a consequence for people who commit crime. However, in some states capital punishment is not an option, but the individual may be sentenced to life imprisonment or may be torture in torture chambers. The individual may be sentenced to death, but unless and until he is not ...

The Death Penalty

Overview
Death penalty is described as the capital punishment for murder and other major crimes. Senate or any state administration may regulate the death penalty. The Supreme Court has administered that the death penalty is not a violation of the Eighth Amendment in itself for regarding ban on unusual and cruel punishment, but this amendment form certain procedural features concerning when a jury may practice the death penalty and how it must be implied. The Supreme Court also decided that people who are mentally retarded should be exempted from the death penalty because they are mentally handicapped (cornell.edu).

Pros and Cons

The pros ...

Capital punishment has become a basis for serious conflict in the modern world, because it does not provide freedom to experience the grace of God for the criminals involved. Criminals are humans just like the rest of the people in the world and they have fundamental rights and, therefore, they have to be given the opportunity to reform in order to fit into society and the expectations of religion and God (Schabbas 2002). Supporters of capital punishment argue that murderers must pay with their lives for the crimes that they have committed but one wonders whether this is the right ...

Capital Punishment: Ethical considerations

The use of capital punishment is often framed as the action of society in acting on its moral responsibility to safeguard society and its citizens. For example, killers pose a threat to the safety and well-being of the society; by sentencing the murderer to death will ensure that society will never pose a threat to the society again. On the other hand, those that condemns the use of capital punishment is established on the foundation that rather than society is given the right to destroy threats to its safety, society in fact has a moral duty to safeguard human life.
The ...

Capital punishment is considered as legal sentence in 32 states and may be applied both by federal and state courts. In the United States, the traditions of capital punishment are borrowed from English common law. Historically, apart from the official, state-sanctioned executions, the United States had a peculiar phenomenon of public executions, also known as lynching.
In the Wild West, sheriffs who acted as law enforcement officials, at their own discretion, sentenced offenders to death and sometimes carried out the execution. Electric chair, as a method of execution, was invented at the end of the XIX century and in a short ...

Undeniably, the issue on whether death penalty should be imposed on criminals or not is one of the most discussed debates in the world. There are different groups and regions that have shown different reactions towards this issue. The discussion below shows different reactions and views of different religions and groups on the death penalty. Confucianism did not concur with the death penalty because. This is shown when Lord Chi K’ang, asked Confucius if he can use killing to get rid of those people who were not abiding to his laws. The Confucius had an opposing response, where ...

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Death penalty Methods & the Eighth Amendment: An Introduction
The American Congress or any state legislature may lay down the death penalty for a convict, as a result of murder and other heinous offenses. The US Supreme Court noted that the capital punishment is not a breach of the US Eighth Amendment; however, it outlined some practical features concerning when a judge might apply the capital penalty and how it must be performed. Due to the Fourteenth Amendment's Clause, the Eighth Amendment is pertinent against the US states, and the federal government.
Eighth ...

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History
With the crime rate steadily increasing in the United States, there have been talks of reinstating death penalty or capital punishment. This issue has sparked debate among people from different institutions. Capital punishment, however, is not something new.
Historically, capital punishment was already used in ancient Babylonia (which is now called Iraq) as early as the 1700s B.C. and the specifics are written in the Code of Hammurabi, a legal document stating 25 crimes, including adultery but excluding murder, punishable by death (Guernsey ...

Capital punishment refers to a situation where an individual who commits an extremely inhuman act is sentenced death. There are different ways through which the victim is put to death. Different countries have unique methods of carrying out the punishment. In most cases, hanging is used. However, the issue of capital punishment remains critical and raises questions and concerns form different people on whether it should be executed or not. People have come up with different arguments in support of the form of punishment. There are individuals who deny the positive impact of the practice while others remain in support ...

There is an ongoing debate on the use of Capital Punishment. Discuss the social, moral, and historical aspects of this controversial topic
Capital punishment is seen as the act of killing an individual as a form punishment given to a particular crime. The act is carried out by a lawful hearing in a court of law. Capital punishment applies to cases of murder, but some countries apply capital punishment for fraud, adultery, and treason against the crown. Its use varies in many countries worldwide. Those who use capital punishment often justify their actions with the argument that such harsh punishments will deter ...

The ongoing debates about the capital punishment split the whole audience in two: those in favor of depriving criminals their basic right for life, and those, who think that it is inhumane, and must be abolished.
Even though every human has a right to live, there are certain circumstances whereby this right can be overruled, for instance, taking the life of a person. The death penalty has been adopted by many states and is commonly used for heinous crimes, especially murder. It is also used for crimes against the state, such as treason, crimes against humanity, espionage, and violent crimes, ...

Should we rape the rapist? Should we torture the criminals? Is Vengeance the right approach? Should criminals be reformed or executed? These questions crop up often especially when an inmate is executed. Death Penalty or capital punishment is a contested concept mainly on the basis of ethics and fundamental rights. There are arguments and equally strong counterarguments depicting the irrelevance of this practice.
Those who are against the death penalty argue that human life is valuable and even the worst offenders shouldn't be deprived of their lives. In addition, everybody has the 'right to life' and death penalty deprives a person ...

The debate on the morality of capital punishment has been going on for many years. But reading through the author’s thoughts, he introduces another aspect on capital punishment which may even be more controversial than capital punishment itself. The author advocates public executions. He argues that public executions can be a source of revenue for the government and the victim’s family.
One vehemently disagrees with the proposition of the author. First, one believes that capital punishment is morally wrong. Televising it would even make things worse. If one wants to help the victim’s family, turning the ...

Scruton clearly illustrates, in his works, that any call for sexual desire has a major base. He embraces theories that base on deliberateness which imply that the eventual sexual desire is always geared towards something or towards a given individual. It is worth noting that this is not just on the foundation of any real joy that may be picked up from that individual but on the groundwork of certain convictions and dispositions that one may have about that individual as a single person. On Scruton’s account the best sort of sexual desire is realized through personal associations with the other ...

The Error Rate, in probability terms refers to the number of mistakes/errors committed per a stated number of statistical attempts or actions. In the death row context, the error rate would hence represent the number of wrongful executions conducted per the total number of executions completed over a stated time period. Given the sanctity of human life, the Error Rate in capital punishment is only acceptable when it is at 0%. However, wrongful convictions are in most cases unintentional and regrettable and hence there is a need to mitigate the possibility of such occurrence and this can be greatly accomplished by the ...

The death penalty in the United States has long been a controversial issue – the idea of putting someone to death for their crimes is thought, by some, to be an antiquated idea that went out with the stocks. However, there is still significant public support for the measure as a deterrent. When considering the prison costs and the flaws inherent in the justice system, it becomes somewhat clearer that the death penalty is not a cost-effective or ethical measure. Given the non-unanimous level of support for the death penalty, as well as the possibility of executing innocent citizens who have been wrongfully ...

The Death Penalty Should Not Be Abolished

It comes to no surprise that the issue of the death penalty continues to remain in social forums and even in legislative debates as the punishment continues to reign in several parts of the globe. Debates would often range from the alternative punishments that would not constitute to killing to the idea that criminals do not deserve such death. Of course, supporters to pushing for the death penalty refuted these debates as the mentality goes that if criminals of high profile are punished to their death; others would not try to commit acts to protect their life. However, criminals ...

Introduction

Imposition of the death penalty by the state has been practiced around the world for centuries; the first occasion in what is now the USA was in 1607. Since that time, capital punishment has been a tool of this country’s system of criminal justice. The purpose of this paper is to firstly respond to the question of how two specific court cases impacted capital punishment in this country and in particular in California, and secondly, to review the evidence for and against the effectiveness (or otherwise) of the death penalty being a crime deterrent in the U.S.
Question 1: ...

Kant was of the opinion that rehabilitation of criminals is not particularly beneficial to both the offender and the offended person. This may be slightly wrong given that people can change or reform under the right guidance and assistance. Sometimes people do certain things due to prolonged ignorance. This ignorance may be due to illiteracy or just growing up in a hostile environment. Such may be the case for hooligans who come from poverty-stricken slums where crime occurs oftenly.

In such instances, rehabilitation may be a better option for the common good of that person and society. However, in other instances, ...

The morality of capital punishment is a contested issue that frequently polarises people’s views. Nevertheless, in 2012 with the world moving towards global civilisation and human rights, it is arguable that it can never be acceptable to sentence an individual to death.
A chief argument against capital punishment is based around the value of life. Most people think human life to be of value and many abolitionists believe it to be so treasured that even the most ruthless murderers should not have their lives taken. Strict abolitionists argue that all people have a human right to life and that ...

The morality of capital punishment is a contested issue that frequently polarises people’s views. Nevertheless, in 2012 with the world moving towards global civilisation and human rights, it is arguable that it can never be acceptable to sentence an individual to death.
A chief argument against capital punishment is based around the value of life. Most people think human life to be of value and many abolitionists believe it to be so treasured that even the most ruthless murderers should not have their lives taken (BBC, 2012). Strict abolitionists argue that all people have a human right to life ...

The death penalty in the United States has long been a controversial issue – the idea of putting someone to death for their crimes is thought, by some, to be an antiquated idea that went out with the stocks. However, there is still significant public support for the measure as a deterrent. When considering the prison costs and the flaws inherent in the justice system, it becomes somewhat clearer that the death penalty is not a cost-effective or ethical measure. Given the non-unanimous level of support for the death penalty, as well as the possibility of executing innocent citizens who have been wrongfully ...

The punishment of capital offences in many countries has been a point of controversy with some proposing for the abolition of the punishment by death. Currently, only 58 countries in the world practice capital punishment with 96 having abolished it and the remainder having not used it for the last ten year or preserving it for times of war (Kronenwetter 202). In fact, the matter is an issue of controversy with opinion differing even within same political ideologies and culture with controversy revolving around whether to abolish sustain the capital punishment. In this paper, we are looking at the justification ...

INTRODUCTION

The death penalty in the United States has long been a controversial issue – the idea of putting someone to death for their crimes is thought, by some, to be an antiquated idea that went out with the stocks. However, there is still significant public support for the measure as a deterrent. When considering the prison costs and the flaws inherent in the justice system, it becomes somewhat clearer that the death penalty is not a cost-effective or ethical measure. Given the non-unanimous level of support for the death penalty, as well as the possibility of executing innocent citizens who have been wrongfully ...

I. Introduction

It has been a long standing debate for over thousands of decades whether or not imposition of capital punishment is an effective means to deter commission of crimes. Advocates of capital punishment or death penalty makes reference to the biblical passage from Exodus 21:23-25, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a tooth for a tooth,” which means that for every wrong done, there must be a compensating measure of justice. While on the other hand, the group who believes that capital punishment is severe, degrading, inhuman, brutal and cruel sentence, and it is only God who is the ...

Death penalty was originated in Babylon and has existed since 18th century AD. “The death penalty was also part of the Fourteenth Century B.C.’s Hittite Code; in the Seventh Century B.C.’s Draconian Code of Athens, which made death the only punishment for all crimes; and in the Fifth Century B.C.’s Roman Law of the Twelve Tablets.”(Death Penalty 2011) Many civilizations have followed this example. Until the 5th century the most common methods used were hanging, crucifixion, drowning, burning alive and beating to death.

This method of punishment reached the British Isles in 10th century. William ...

The author of the article “The Death Penalty is a Step Back” addresses an issue of concern in the present law systems. The taking away of someone’s life because of a crime that has been committed is not something to be taken lightly. This issue raises questions with regard to its implication to the victim and the offender.
The author’s words, “an evil deed is not redeemed by an evil deed of retaliation,” provide us with a plausible reason to consider how taking this action will help any of the concerned parties. Talking of this we find that it ...

In this editorial the opinion writer argues that the death ppenalty as reconstituted in various states in 1976 is currently indefensible as it is sending several innocent people to death while several more who have been on Death Row for several yeras have been exonerated on DNA evidence.

The opinion focuses on the recent execution of the black inmate Troy Davis in Georgia who had a stay of execution refused although there was still no conclusive evidence to prove that he was guilty beyond any reasonable doubt. It rgues that in its current state, the death penalty is grossly immoral ...

The institution of capital punishment is one wherein convicted criminals are put to death as penance for their crime. Some believe that it is an effective deterrent against committing crimes of a severe nature, such as murder – they think that, if the threat of ending their life can stop the crime from happening in the first place, it should remain an institution. However, the flawed nature of the current criminal justice system makes it so that many innocent people are put to death on a regular basis. With this in mind, capital punishment is a horrible injustice upon part of our society ...

Capital punishment is the punishment by death authorized by the government, and it can be used to punish capital crimes such as treason. In 2015, Nebraska banned capital punishment and replaced it with a life imprisonment sentence like 18 other states, but capital punishment still remains legal in 31 states of the United States of America (Bosman, 2015). The controversy regarding the morality and constitutionality of capital punishment is probably going to persist for a long time, especially because capital punishment is both constitutional and unconstitutional in the United States of America.
It is possible to argue that capital ...

Juvenile Murderers: A Second Chance or Death

Introduction
The question over treatment of juvenile murderers creates a major debate in the social and political circles. There are proponents of public supporting punishment in the form of a life in prison without parole called LWOP, many believe that capital punishment is needed, and others support the implementation of life in prison with work and restitution called LWOP + W/R (Moon, Wright, Cullen, & Pealer, 2000, p. 663). One common aspect is the belief of the public is the need for bringing people to justice by either jail time or capital punishment. Another important aspect of the juvenile punishment system ...

The man cannot be separated from many things. He cannot live without food, air and water. However, it’s not the complete list of items that are necessary for human existence. Humanity is also obsessed with the violence. Throughout the whole history, people invented a lot of different methods of punishment, murder and torture.
So, the human history is full of cruelty and violence. Consequently, it’s possible to talk an infinitely long time about how some representatives of humanity have punished, tortured, and killed others more unfortunate representatives of mankind. However, we’d remember only the most noteworthy ...

Death penalty has been a part of the legal system for centuries, and regarded as deterrent to major crimes. It had greater relevance when policing system wasn’t as well developed. Also, in those the penitentiaries weren’t as well developed so has to confine such convicts for rest of their lives. In recent times though, capital punishment has come to be regarded by many as inhumane with little or no deterring value. Major ethical issues are never easily resolved, therefore continues. It is a topic of hot debate whether the state itself should be a sponsor of killings under the pretext ...

The basic most concept of morality taught to people revolves around the dictum that human life is sacred, and it has great value. This is the very reason death comes as a shock to people, chiefly because life is a gift and it is cherished by every soul. Throughout the history of mankind, people have killed and have been killed over various disputes. The death penalty has been a major form of punishment given to people in order to penalize them rightly for their crime. The executions were carried out in various forms where torture, beheading at the gallows, ...

Even though all humans have a right to life, there are certain circumstances whereby this right can be overruled for instance taking the life of person. Death penalty has been adopted by many states and is commonly used for heinous crimes, especially murder. It is also used on crimes against the state such as treason, crimes against humanity, espionage and violent crimes while other states use it as part of military justice. A debate over death penalty has been going on for years now and continues to be extremely indecisive and a complicated issue. It is discussed as a religious, ethical and ...

Introduction

Death penalty debate has been around for quite long. Arguments for and against have provided platforms for justifying decisions taken. Adherents for death penalty have had their various reasons for supporting their positions. Efforts to determine public opinion on death penalty has been based on opinion polls. There has been little or scanty research methodologies on death penalty which has limited substantial research on capital punishment. After the Furman vs Georgia case in 1972 in which justice Marshall ruled against death penalty citing violation of U.S constitution’s 8th amendment (Cruel & Punishment clause). Based on justice Marshall’s judgment, ...

Throughout the history of criminal law and policymaking in the United States as well as in other countries, the death penalty has always been the issue of paramount importance kept on the front burner by media, policymakers and public. The controversy in terms of capital punishment relates not only to religion and morality, but is also associated with considerable social and economic costs. In other words, “the contemporary debate over capital punishment involves a number of important arguments based on either moral principles or social welfare considerations” (Dezhbakhsh & Shepherd, 2003, p. 1).
Numerous researchers and influential leaders of public ...

A 19-year-old high school girl was shot twice and buried while still alive in 1998 and Clayton Lockett was convicted of her murder (“Clayton Lockett” 1). After conviction, he was given the death penalty to be imposed by lethal injection and fifteen years later, his execution was botched when drug dosage was not adequate for death, finding veins for giving the drugs required multiple attempts, and the medications leaked into his muscle tissue (Connor). Witnesses to his death described it as agonizing and the response of the public again stirred the debate concerning using government sanctions to kill in ...

Just the sound of the words murder or killing someone tells us that something is wrong. The thoughts and feelings we get after learning that someone has been killed, proves to us that killing is very wrong. Therefore, how can we be comfortable with passing a law that supports the death penalty? The death penalty is a legal procedure whereby the state executes a person as a punishment for the crimes/offenses he/she has committed (Kaufman 546). Therefore, when the capital punishment law is not abolished, it means that we will see many murders of people who this sentence has ...

Throughout the history of policymaking, capital punishment has always been one of the most controversial and disputable issues. I am against this measure of punishment and I personally believe that death penalty is unnatural and wrong from the perspective of religious, moral, ethical, economic, and social aspects.
In the first place, the existence of death penalty does not prevent or deter individuals from committing crimes. In fact, the statistic data proves that “for decades, murder has been more common in states with capital punishment than in those where it is not used. Data from 1973 to 1984 showed ...

The discussion about the death penalty in the United states existed since colonial times. The peak of death penalty opposition was reached in 1966 when an anti-death penalty movement was born. Its strongest argument was that many prisoners sentenced to death were found innocent. Many executed people were proved to be innocent as well.
Besides the arguments of the opponents of the death penalty, many loved ones and families of murder victims also support the replacing of death penalty with life sentence without parole arguing that the process is a traumatization for all parties which lasts for years, the ...

There are differences on the correctional systems in different countries. For instance, some countries openly advocate for death sentence while others do not. For instance countries like Mozambique, Cape Verde, Namibia, Angola and south Africa have abolished death sentence for all crimes. Others which enable death sentence are In the US crime, for which the death sentence can be imposed include; murder related to smuggling of foreigners, murder as a result of a drug shoot-out, killing a congress member, murder associated with the transportation of explosives, among others.

Death sentence in the US serves two main purposes; “retribution” and “deterrence” ( ...

Historical Roots

The adoption of the Constitution and enactment of the Bill of Rights was also the same period when death penalty became an accepted form of punishment in the United States. During such period, the correctional officers use the method of hanging the convicted criminal to carry out death sentences. This traditional method continued to be used until the mid 19th century. In the year 1890, The New York Legislature formed a commission and ordered them to discover the “most humane and practical method known to modern science of carrying into effect the sentence of death in capital cases.” (Justia Supreme ...

Capital Punishment: A Barbaric Practice

Some human actions are so heinous that one would have to make an extremely compelling case in order to justify them. Murdering somebody is an example of this, yet many societies that are supposed to be the epitome of progress, have adopted this method of castigation. The main argument that proponents of capital punishment allege is that this penalty deters evildoers from committing similar despicable acts. Nevertheless, this has constantly been proven to be wrong, and no scientific evidence has been found linking these two variables. The death penalty is not ethically permissible, as it implies providing people with ...

Jane Doe

Alaska, the state in which I reside currently does not allow for the death penalty. Two years prior to Alaska gaining statehood, the death penalty had already been abolished in 1957 (Death Penalty Information Center, 2016). Only seven individuals were executed in Alaska while under the miner’s court, which was in place prior to 1899; between the years of 1900-1957 an additional eight individuals were condemned to legal executions (Death Penalty Information Center, 2016). With a grand total of only 15 people killed as a result of murders committed, the state of Alaska clearly has not been a ...

Introduction

No form of punishment engenders more controversy than the death penalty. Although capital punishment has been used since ancient times, its modern utilization is repeatedly called into question. The United States stands alone among Western world counterparts in its continued use of the death penalty. Among the international community, the general trend largely reflects a discontinuance of capital punishment. For instance, member states of the European Union have all abolished the death penalty (Shin, 2007, p. 505). Given the overwhelming number of nations that have since abolished the death penalty, it is somewhat surprising that the United States continues ...

The Honorable [Governor's Name]

[State’s Name]
[Address]

Dear Governor ____________,

I am writing this letter to request you to take appropriate measures for abolishing capital punishment on the state as well as federal level. I am against capital punishment and would like you to consider the fact that the United States of America is actually standing alone among the world’s democratic countries in its persistent employment of the capital punishment. I must mention here that next to Pakistan, China, Saudi Arabia, and Iran, the American government executed the largest number of death penalties in 2007. Being uniquely positioned as the Governor, you must ...

The question of the death penalty was relevant in varying degrees throughout the whole history of world governments. However, one should not overestimate its importance in today's global environment, which is characteristic of many politicians, legislators and academics.
Aristotle once said: "Only then can we know the essence of things, when you know their origins and development." Therefore, let’s start with a historical perspective.
Historically, the death penalty is "evolved" from the ancient custom of blood feud that is existed in pre-state societies and is expressed in the formula "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." ...

Death penalty or capital punishment is the practice of executing someone as a punishment against a crime after a legal trial has determined the person guilty of that crime (BBC Ethics Guide, 2013). In the 17th and 18th century, England as well as America considered treason, rape, murder, manslaughter, counterfeiting, burglary, and arson as capital crimes (Banner, 2003). The methods of execution in death penalty includes beheading, hanging, electrocution, lethal injection, and shooting by firing squad or at close range to the heart or the head. Public executions are quite common, especially in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Somalia, and North Korea. Executions in ...

Part 1

The death penalty in the United States is, clearly, a very divisive issue. Although the proponents and opponents of the practice are commonly split down party lines, the ethics and morals of capital punishment are very gray areas for many people; very few individuals have clear, black and white views on capital punishment in the United States. This is good in some ways, and bad in others; it means that there is common ground to find between people who disagree on the efficacy of the death penalty. However, it also means that there are many different nuances that can ...

The theme of the death penalty has always occupied a special place in the public consciousness. It is believed that the death penalty is not only a tool of criminal policy, but is also a socio-cultural phenomenon. Some researchers believe that the attitude towards the capital punishment serves as an indicator of the prevailing morals and mentalities; it is a measure of how it is imbued with the ideas of justice, humanity and civilization. To this day, due to the deep global processes of integration and globalization, the legal status of the capital punishment cannot remain static.

Background Information and the History of the Controversy

Fundamental rights are recognized in the ...