Capital punishment
The death penalty has been around for thousands of years. Punishment by death which was common among all ancient civilizations was made a public spectacle. Crowds would gather to observe executions by boiling in oil, flaying alive, stoning, or impaling. In the 1700s, England had over two hundred offenses that could have been punishable by death. However, since the 1800s most death sentences have been a result of a conviction of murder. The United States Supreme Court, in 1972, decided the imposition and carrying out of the death penalty was cruel and unusual punishment and concluded that capital punishment violated the eighth and fourteenth amendments of the Constitution. This decision did leave open the possibility, however, that execution may be constitutional for certain crimes, such as murder or rape. Many states have passed laws that limit the death penalty to those who commit murder and other specific crimes. Unlike the methods of ancient societies, today's methods of execution are relatively quick and painless. The most common forms of execution today are the electric chair, lethal injection, and the gas chamber. Although in some cases capital punishment does deter crime, it should be illegal because the consequences of
Punishment by death is not the only way to protect society from a murderer; alternative forms do exist. If people convicted of capital crimes serve mandatory life imprisonment, society will be protected from them and in turn will not be soiled with brutality, cruelty, or execution. The biggest fear of all opponents of capital punishment, and even those who support the death penalty, is the possibility of the state making a mistake and executing the wrong person. A study published by Hugo Adam Bedau and Michael L. Radelet found that three hundred and fifty people were wrongfully convicted of a capital offense and sentenced to death between the years of 1900 and 1987. There is never a guarantee that the courts have convicted the true person in any case, and when it involves a capital offense which could result in death, it is even more pertinent that the correct person is sentenced. When a person is accused wrongfully and sentenced to death, society commits a crime just as heinous as the crime that person was wrongfully convicted of, because an innocent person has been killed. "In this century, a certain number of American men and women who were condemned to die have been saved from execution through some last-minute intervention. At least twenty-three persons who were later discovered to be innocent were less fortunate. They did not escape the chair or the gas chamber and died for crimes they had not committed". With even the slightest bit of a chance of killing the innocent, capital punishment is too great a risk to legalize. A common lesson to children is that two wrongs do not make a right. By legalizing capital punishment, society is sending the wrong message. William Randolph Hearst stated, "Cruelty and viciousness are not abolished by cruelty and viciousness, not even by legalized cruelty and viciousness.". By legalizing capital punishment society is saying "do as I say, and not as I do." Society is being hypocritical; killing a killer is not going to right any wrong. The death penalty does deter crime, but presents the question: Is it moral? Many people know of the scripture from the Old Testament, "...Life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot". However that was "Moses' Law" or "the law" of the Old Testament. Understanding
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1550
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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