rent cultures throughout the course of time. In France, after the guillotine was introduced there in 1792, beheading became very popular. Another common form of execution was drawing and quarterin

The biggest reason for having capital punishment is for the government to set an example and prevent crimes from happening. But many people question if capital punishment really does deter crime. I a particular state is going to have executions, they should it's purpose. The state of New York has not had the death penalty for the past two decades. Criminals were not scared to commit murders because they were certain their own life was not going to be taken. The state of New York took initiative and enforced the death penalty. The death penalty put the fear back in criminals. In just one year the death penalty helped the percentage in violence drop dramatically. This also helped restore the confidence in the justice of the state of New York. The violent crimes have dropped 23%, assaults are down 22%, and murders have been dropped nearly one-third. Not only did the death penalty deter crime, but it also made the citizens of New York feel a lot safer.

In 1977, a women named Guin-evere Garcia murdered her daughter. After committing such a horrible crime she only received a ten-year sentence for the killing. She was released and four months later, she killed her estranged husband during a robbery attempt. This time the court did enforce the death penalty. Garcia refused to appeal her sentence. Various death penalty opponents turned to Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar. After he heard the case, hours before the execution, Edgar commuted Garcia's sentence to life without parole. He had never done such an act in his whole five years in office.

The Supreme Court can execute the mentally retarded. One particular case that justifies this is the case of Johnny Frank Garrett. He raped and murdered an elderly man in the state of Texas. He was diagnosed as being as being psychotic and brain damaged.

Some of the motives for their being discrimination in the legal system are because a defendants worth might be appraised before the court session begins. This sort of behavior might occur through the judge and the jury prejudging the defendant. Some murder victims can also be seen as more valuable than others. And the killers of these victims received a harsher sentence because of this particular reason. This is because many whites believe to be superior than blacks, leading to harsher penalties for minorities. Many judges in fact do base a victim's worth. If the person who was killed belonged to and organized group, or was well known and recognized in his or her community, then the penalties would be a lot harsher for the particular killer.

"The death penalty is an absolute punishment. If it is to be imposed at all, it should be imposed to people whose sense of responsibility and judgment is such that they fully appreciated the seriousness of what they were doing"(Ross 145).

affiliated with blacks and Latinos. Black constitute about 12% of the population and about 41% of the population of death row. This sort of evidence convinced the U.S Supreme Court to state in 1972 that capital punishment was unconstitutional because it racially discriminated against minorities.

One particular case that is a perfect example of the how the mentally ill are sometimes not except from capital punishment is the case of Varnell Weeks. Weeks was diagnosed as being a paranoid schizophrenic. He believed that he was God and that his execution was all part of the plan. He also believed that his execution would lead to the destruction of mankind. He pictured himself as being a giant tortoise that reigned over the universe. The judge went on to say that Weeks was totally insane. However, because Weeks was able to answer a few limited questions, the judge proved him legally competent and the electrocution took place.

The United States justice system has also had a difficult time deciding on hoe exactly to prosecute against the mentally disadvantaged and people without mental competence. The biggest question is if they shou

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2739
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)