Capital Punishment

A detailed Summary of Capital Punishment

Throughout the history of the human race, people have been put to death as retribution for various forms of wrongdoing. Prior to the first criminal laws, these killings were acts of private retribution with no specific code for which crime would justify the infliction of death. The earliest set of recorded laws for capital punishment dates back to 1700BC in the city of Babylon. These laws were called the Hamurabe Code, which proclaimed the death penalty to be used for most crimes, including minor offenses like the fraudulent sale of beer (Flanders 5). Many other societies throughout ancient times implemented the same punishment for various crimes, and methods of execution have included such practices as crucifixion, stoning, drowning, and beheading. Egyptians, Athenians, and Romans were put to death for most offenses. One of the most prominent examples was when Jesus Christ was crucified under the laws of the Roman Empire.

Widespread use of capital punishment changed very little throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance period. During the reign of King Henry VIII in the first half of the sixteenth century in England, there where over 350 capital crimes resulting in over 70,000 executions (Forer 1

Proponents and opponents of capital punishment both agree that our current correctional institutions fail in many ways. The current system only houses our criminals with little or no rehabilitation effects, which may be why so many of the inmates are repeat offenders. The statistic from above stating that one out of ten prisoners sentenced to death had committed a prior homicide leaves little doubt concerning the failure of the current systems rehabilitation. Until the United States can completely change its correctional system, capital punishment should remain in effect as a means of deterrence, protection and retribution.

Although the deterrence and protection from criminal acts are the primary importance, most would agree that retribution is also an essential part of justice. Most of the families of these victims feel the same anguish and need for closure as the victims of Bin Laden's attack on the United States on September 11th or the victims of Nazi's regime. The murderers that have been sentenced to death are just that- murderers. Some death row inmates are serial killers; others raped or maimed before killing their victims and others (like Tim McVeigh) killed hundreds of people for only their own personal reasons. These murderers are executed only after juries and several courts have found them guilty by the preponderance of evidence and many stages of the court appeals process. When justice is served by these murderers execution, their death is delivered much more humanely than that of their victims. The families of the victims are not alone in their support of capital punishment. Surveys show that over seventy percent of the US population sup

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Category: Miscellaneous