Capital Punishment in Today’s Society

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Recommended: Hammurabi Code

It is said that the right to life is the most basic right that all humans share. Taking away this right due to a gruesome or harsh crime is called capital punishment. Capital punishment is defined as the legally authorized killing of someone as punishment for a crime. (Koosed) Capital punishment is a controversial issue and is a basic choice that a person has to make for him or herself. As with most controversial issues, the death penalty has a long history. Capital punishment came about around during 18th Century B.C. in Babylon. King Hammurabi made a code known as “The Code of Hammurabi” which set out certain crimes that were, at least in the eyes of the king, punishable by death. (“The History of Capital Punishment”) This was the first known and documented time that death was the punishment for a crime. From this point many civilizations adapted this type of punishment into their judicial system.
In 15th Century B.C. Rome the punishment was used in outlandish ways. It is said that just for stealing crops or writing slanderous words towards a leader was suitable for death. (“The History of Capital Punishment”) The death sentences at this time were not like the “humane” means we kill today. An article titled “The History of Capital Punishment” in Current Events, a Weekly Reader Publication states, “Common death sentences included crucifixion, drowning at sea, and being buried alive. For the murder of a parent, or parricide, the condemned was placed in a sack along with a dog, a rooster, a poisonous snake, and an ape and then submerged in water until dead.” These death sentences were not based on the most humane way to punish someone, but a death fitting the nature of the crime committed.
Capital Punishment was used in such har...

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...nd values someone can make their own chose on whether they think that death should be punishable with death.

Works Cited

Garland, D. Sociological Perspectives on Punishment. Crime and Justice , 14, 115-165.
Górecki, J. (1983). Capital punishment: Criminal law and social evolution. New York: Columbia University Press.
Koosed, M. B. (1996). Capital punishment. New York: Garland Pub.
Mental Illness on Death Row. (2006, January 1). Death Penalty Focus. Retrieved April 26, 2014, from http://www.deathpenalty.org/article.php?id=53
Pinaire, B. (2012). Law and Order: The Politics of Crime and Punishment in America. CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries.
Publication
The History of Capital Punishment in America. (2012, September 13). ENP Newswire
The History of Capital Punishment. (2006, January 13). Current Events, a Weekly Reader

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