(Institute Name)
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 different crimes under the Code of King Hammaurabi of Babylon. These laws were practiced until Tenth Century A.D when William the Conqueror limited the applicability of the law of execution to only times of war. However, Henry the VIII resurrected capital punishment laws in the Sixteenth Century and had over 72000 people executed for offenses such as marrying a Jew, not confessing to a crime and treason. When the Europeans travelled to the new world (America), they bought their laws of capital punishment with them. The first recorded execution in the USA was of Captain George Kendall in Jameston, Virginia 1608. By 1665, death sentences were carried out for offences such as denying “true” God; under Duke’s Laws in New York Colony. .
The first attempts to abolish capital punishment in the United States occurred when Thomas Jefferson introduced a bill to amend Virginia’s death penalty laws. Although the abolitionist movements in the nineteenth century gained momentum, it was the mid-twentieth century that witnessed a drastic change in the perception towards death penalty. Six states in USA banned death penalty laws from 1907 to 1917 and the number of executions declined from 1289 in 1950’s to only 191 in 1976. The rationale for this change in perception was a progressive interpretation of the Eighth Amendment by the abolitionists. The United States Supreme Court cited that it has progressed to a point where the “standard of decency” does not encompass death penalty. . Over the years, there has been a sharp decline in the support for death penalty. A survey concluded that over 46% Americans supported life imprisonment over death penalty in May 2004, as compared to 44% in May 2003. There has been a steady transition from death penalty to alternative forms of punishments over the past century. This is further highlighted with the following chart:
Moral and Ethical Debate
The moral and ethical debates surrounding this controversial topic are as old as the law itself. Professor Dr. James Fieser, at the University of Tennessee at Martin, identifies three of the most important justifications for the use of capital punishment. These concepts are summarized and explained as under:
- Rights of Forfeiture: John Locke (1632-1704) justified the use of capital punishment that when people committed a serious felony, they forfeit their rights to life, and can be executed. Locke argued that everyone has fundamental God given rights to life and liberty. These rights are retained throughout our lives, until we violate the rights of others, in which case we forfeit our rights to life. This empowers society to kill us. Critics view Locke’s argument as too harsh. The concept of natural rights also seems ambiguous and, as Beccaria later argued, no one would be willing to give up their lives to be a part of the society. Modern scholars use the same argument to justify that the concept of forfeiture should apply to giving up certain liberties, such as freedom, as a penalty to a crime committed, but life itself is non-negotiable as a penance for crimes.
- Retribution: Closely associated with the Mosaic Law of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”, capital punishment is justified as a revenge technique for a crime involving murder. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) was one of the greatest supporters of this moral justification. He argued that murders should be treated the same way they declare the rest of the humanity to be treated, i.e. kill-for-a-kill. However, this argument would also mean that a rapist should be, in turn, be raped and a burglar should be mugged, in turn, by the society! But that doesn’t happen, does it? Scholars also argue that the support for retribution argument has more to do with tradition, rather than logic and common sense.
- Deterrence: The most widely used argument in support of capital punishment is that it deters others to commit an act of crime. Beccaria argued that with time, we will naturally grow accustomed to this form of punishment. Hence we would get used to the idea of the death penalty.
Social Aspects
The social aspects and impacts of capital punishment involve a Cost vs. Benefit Anaylsis.
Death Penalty is a costly process. On an average, the costs of death penalty cases exceed that of life imprisonment cases by $2.2 million per case in North Carolina to $24 million per case in Florida. A study of the cost of death penalty in Colorado revealed that capital proceedings require six times more days in court and take longer to resolve than life imprisonment cases. . Most of the increased cost is during the trial phase. Capital defendants are entitled to two lawyers at taxpayer expense, instead of just one in non-capital cases. Adding to the costs are the defense costs of investigators and any number of expert witnesses, mitigation expert(s) to help develop the defense against the death penalty should the trial move to the penalty phase, social worker(s) to interview family members and any psychiatrist(s) to assess the defendant, and so on. The prosecution will probably have experts of its own. Juries are often sequestered in certain capital cases, resulting in additional costs for what may be a lengthy trial and penalty phase.
The costs do not end with the trial. A capital defendant, like all other defendants, will file an appeal through the state and federal courts. The government uses taxpayer money to pay multiple defense attorneys, in numerous post-conviction proceedings, to scan the record for mistakes made by the trial court and previous attorneys.
But is the high cost reflective of the result? A study concluded that every execution both deters and promotes murders, but the rate of deterrence exceeded the rate of promotion. The basic problem in drawing definitive conclusion is that it is impossible to accurately count the number of individuals who were not murdered because a “would-be” murderer did a mental cost benefit analysis and decided not to murder because he might have to pay with his own life. .
Works Cited
Death Penalty Information Center. (2005). Introduction to the Death Penalty. DIPC.
DPIC. (n.d.). Financial Facts About Death Penalty.
Fieser, D. J. (2011, January 15). Moral Issues that Divide Us. Retrieved from The University of Tennessee at Martin: https://www.utm.edu/staff/jfieser/class/160/7-cap-pun.htm
Trop Vs. Dulles, 356 U.S. 86 (The Supreme Court May 2, 1957).
Wilkins, T. H. (2006, September 14). The Legal, Political, and Social Implications of the Death Penalty. (C. S. Law, Interviewer)
