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Death penalty impact on society
Disstertation on punishments
Capital punishment in the justice system
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Capital Punishment as Necessary
She was not asleep, as her roommates had thought when they approached
the bed of Joni Lenz that afternoon. Instead they found her drenched
in a pool of blood that was still oozing from her body. She was
immediately rushed to the hospital as she lay in a coma. Although she
survived she was permanently brain damaged. Joni was one of the few
victims to survive an attack by Ted Bundy, a serial rapist and
murderer who had victimised women as young as twelve. Investigations
revealed that he assaulted thirty-six women, but nobody will ever know
the exact number that fell victim to Bundy. It is a number he carried
to his grave.
Capital punishment is defined as the imposition of death upon a person
convicted in a court of law. It is a legal infliction and it has been
used to punish a wide variety of offences but nowadays, restricted to
murder or treason. Today, methods such as stoning and beheading are
considered barbaric. At present, criminals are electrocuted, executed
by firing squad and lethal injection or sent to gas chambers, so death
would be virtually painless. It is instantaneous.
A capital criminal should be dealt with in a manner that would make it
impossible for him to repeat his offence. Execution is the only
definite means of preventing a murderer from being on the loose and
committing further murders. If a criminal is imprisoned, not only are
prison staff exposed to violent murderers, people in the entire
community may be at risk too, if these criminals do escape. Such was
the case of Ted Bundy. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 1976
after he was charged for the murder and rap...
... middle of paper ...
...enough for the criminal
to warrant death penalty. This reinforces the earlier point of
imposing a punishment that is fit for the crime. Not every prisoner
deserves the death penalty. A person who is charged for manslaughter
should not be treated as one who kills just for the sake of killing.
He should be given a second chance, as the killing was not
premeditated. There would be a high possibility that this person would
be able to be rehabilitated and returned to society a reformed person.
Although modern society considers death as punishment inhumane, there
are circumstances where all other methods such as rehabilitation are
futile. In these cases, capital punishment is the embodiment for
justice. After having considered this issue from different aspects,
capital punishment is, at times, a necessary course of action.
...92‘s Riggins v. Nevada, and 1990‘s Washington v. Harper. In Harper, the court determined that prison inmates could be forcibly medicated if they were a danger to themselves or others, and if the medication was medically appropriate. Riggins, in turn, decided that a defendant already on trial could be forcibly medicated to ensure his competency and allow for the proceedings to continue smoothly, in essence bulldozing one’s 14th amendment rights to “accomplish essential state policy” (Riggins, 1992, as cited in Breneman, 2004, p. 971). Riggins also proclaimed that forcible medication must be the least invasive means of treatment, and provide minimal side effects. Sell was clearly the child of these two rulings, fusing the competing interests of governmental prosecution with the liberty and safety of the defendant.
Case studies: The two case studies I have picked to focus my research on are; Derek Bentley who was the last man executed in Britain along with Ruth Ellis who was the last woman executed in Britain. Both of these executions were carried out by a man called Albert Pierrepoint. These two case studies both carry an interesting story with them which I am going to share with you using the sources I have gathered.
sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. The case against him was largely
Bulger spent his first serious time in prison when he had to spend time in Atlanta Penitentiary. He was sentenced for armed robbery and hijacking. Kevin Weeks, a mobster who was associated with Bulger said that Whitey was involved with Sidney Gottlieb and Project MK-ULTRA. Project MK-ULTRA was a government research experiment that researched the “behavioral engineering of humans.” Bulger and eighteen others had volunteered in order to get shorter sentences. The volunteer work they were doing was taking LSD and other drugs to help find a cure for schizophrenia for eighteen months. After that, in 1959, Bulger was sent to Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. It was at Alcatraz where he became good friends with Clarence Carnes. He was sent to Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary three years later and the next year he was sent to Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary. He was finally released in 1965 after being in prison for a total of nine years.
John O'Rourke, inmate number four was sentenced to five years for grand larceny. He received his first rawhide beating two short weeks after his arrival.
In 1968, it was determined that Pope was sentenced under a defective federal statute and he then was resentenced to life in prison. He was put in federal prison in Leavenworth, KS and was then granted federal parole and was moved to Nebraska.
as a felony crime. But recently there have been court cases taken up in two
Upon execution of his criminal acts, Bundy often visited the secondary scene of crime where he performed sexual acts with the decomposing bodies of the victims until destruction by wild animals or decomposition made further interaction with the bodies impossible. In addition to these criminal acts, Bundy decapitated heads of some of his victims and kept their heads in his residence for a period of time as mementos (Rule, 2009). The cases involving Bundy and his victims are cases of murder, rape, necrophile and kidnapping. These are capital offences that were well planned and executed by the perpetuator who made subsequent follow-ups of his criminal acts by visiting the secondary scene of crime.
Murder, a common occurrence in American society, is thought of as a horrible, reprehensible atrocity. Why then, is it thought of differently when the state government arranges and executes a human being, the very definition of premeditated murder? Capital punishment has been reviewed and studied for many years, exposing several inequities and weaknesses, showing the need for the death penalty to be abolished.
On January 11th 1982, Clifford Olson pleaded guilty to 11 counts of murder. For this he was sentenced to 11 concurrent life terms in prison.
On March 29, 1971, a thirty-seven-year-old male was convicted of killing seven people and suspected in killing another thirty-five. His methods of killing included gunshots, stabbing with forks, knives, or swords, dissecting, and battering with clubs. He showed no remorse for what he had done, but instead created a media circus in which he had a starring role (Blundell 124-30).
The debate over capital punishment has been going on for years, and continues to be an extremely indecisive and complicated issue. The death penalty is a very touchy issue within society. There are many pro's and con's on this issue. On one hand, there are people who claim that capital punishment is a form of vengeance on a killer. One the other hand, there are people who believe that locking someone behind bars for life is vengeance enough. But is it "humane" that an individual who takes the life of another should receive heating, clothing, indoor plumbing and 3 square meals a day? While a homeless person who has harmed no one receives nothing?
The death penalty has been around for centuries. It dates back to when Hammurabi had his laws codified; it was “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”. Capital punishment in America started when spies were caught, put on trial and hung. In the past and still today people argue that, the death penalty is cruel, unusual punishment and should be illegal. Yet many people argue that it is in fact justifiable and it is not cruel and unusual. Capital punishment is not cruel and unusual; the death penalty is fair and there is evidence that the death penalty deters crime.
This case illustrated that there were real consequences to white collar crime. In addition to paying the fifty million dollar fine, he relinquished another fifty million dollars of his illegal trading profits. (He still had millions remaining, however, from his illegal gains.) His actual prison sentence was three years, yet he served only twenty-two months in the federal prison at Lompoc, California, which was known to have a “country-club” atmosphere.
It is the the duty of the government to provide security for all individuals. Therefore, it is only a necessity, but also an obligation to get rid of those who impose threat or harm to any individual. Capital punishment is not always the most appropriate solution, but given the circumstances, it may be the most effective way to deal with criminals who threaten society.