Banning Capital Punishment

Capital punishment is the lawful execution of a person through judicial review. In the world there are 95 countries that have abolished capital punishment, while there are 58 countries that still practice it actively. More closer to home in the United States it is still practiced but it varies state to state. The states that still practice it use one of two methods which would be either the electric chair or the more commonly used lethal injection. These methods have been debated over time and have with it many ethical implications in society. Personally, I feel as though capital punishment should be banned because it infringes upon a person’s basic right to life. Regardless of the act that they have committed, I think that this right still should hold true and he or she should be able to choose a different method of punishment such as prolonged jail time in conjunction with community service and psychotherapy.
One good thing about the practice of capital punishment is that it has evolved to a more humane nature for the person being executed. Capital punishment has been practiced for hundreds of years. In the end of the 18th century Great Britain banned drawing and quartering, which was a gruesome act where “The victims were first hung by the neck but taken from the scaffold while still alive”( Hung, drawn and quartered 10). Also around the same time France had invented the guillotine. Hangings were also made more humane by replacing short drop hangings (which basically caused the “criminals” to suffocate to death) with a long drop hanging where the criminal was dropped from a longer distance which caused the neck to break and in turn severed the spine, this change in technique would lessen the suffering of the victim. In the Uni...

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...hould be Banned 82). The mother claimed that she did not want Severs to die for the sake of avoiding pain on the part of his mother, for she knew what it is like to lose a child. This kind of compassion is what our society needs. It shows that we are human deep inside and that we must all obey the natural right to life, no matter who we are or what we have done.

Works Cited

"Hanged, drawn and quartered." Hung, drawn and quartered. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. Pg. 5-15. .
"The History of Capital Punishment." ETHICS. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. .
“The Death Penalty Should be Banned.” The Death Penalty Should be Banned.Pg.80-83 N.p, n.d. Web.11.Nov.2013. http://www.eslstation.net/Lab_Information/Our_Lives/Viewpoints/Death_Penalty1.htm