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An Argument For The Death Penalty

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The death penalty is an issue that’s much on the controversial side and there are those who believe it to be just and right; alongside there are also those who believe it to be cruel and unusual punishment. The first time that the thought of introducing a death penalty in the United States was during the year 1608 against a man named George Kendall who was accused of being a spy for Spain making him the first person to be executed on American soil (Death Penalty Info Center). Later on it went as far as giving people the death penalty for theft of grapes, making trades between Indians, and killing chickens; these reasons were soon revised and repealed by Bradford in Pennsylvania during 1794 and it changed the course of action towards the death penalty to be enforced only if charged with first degree murder.

Statistics for the death penalty can be found on the death penalty information center website, this data can be viewed by choosing a particular state and what the stats is for that certain state. The kind of stats that are included on this part of the website is the number of executions before 1976, the population of death row, women on death row, the date the death penalty reenacted, and a number of people freed from death row; the other website that is of good use is oyez which lists all the current death penalty supreme court cases and their outcomes. In the case of Furman vs. Georgia the big question that was raised by carrying out the death penalty was it an act of cruel and unusual punishment with clear violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth amendment; the opinion of the court was that the death penalty in this case and the ones attached to it were in clear violation of the constitution. There were only two justices tha...

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"Cases by Issue - Death Penalty." The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2013.

"Death Penalty : Facts." Death Penalty : Facts. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2013.

"FURMAN v. GEORGIA." Furman v. Georgia. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2013.

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"State by State Database." Death Penalty Information Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2013.

"Terry Lenamon on the Death Penalty : Lawyer & Attorney Terry Lenamon on Capital Punishment Defense, Death Penalty Trials & Appeals | Law Firm." Terry Lenamon's List of Federal Death Penalty Aggravating Factors and Mitigating Circumstances : Terry Lenamon on the Death Penalty. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2013.
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