An Overview of Capital Punishment

An Overview of Capital Punishment

Introduction

Capital punishment is punishment by death for committing a crime. Since

the early 1800's most executions have resulted from convictions for murder. The

death penalty has also been imposed for such serious crimes as armed robbery,

kidnapping, rape, and treason. There is much disagreement about

whether or not capital punishment is effective in discouraging crime.

In the early 1990's, 36 states of the United States had laws that permitted

the death penalty. These laws were greatly influenced by a 1972 decision of the

Supreme Court of the United States which had banned the death penalty as it was

then imposed, describing the carrying out of the death penalty as cruel and

unusual punishment. But the court left open the possibility that the death

penalty might be imposed for certain crimes and if it was applied according to

clear standards.

After this decision was made, new capital punishment laws were made to

satisfy the Supreme Court's requirements. These laws limit the death penalty to

murder and to other specified crimes that result in a person's death. These

crimes include armed robbery, hijacking, and kidnapping.

Many countries, including most European and Latin-American nations, have

abolished the death penalty since 1900 - including Canada, which did so in 1976.

In the early 1990's, the United States was the only Western industrialized

nation where executions still took place.

History

Capital punishment was common among all ancient civilizations. It was used

for a variety of offenses that today aren't crimes at all, like stealing the

keys to someone's wi...

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only two states which use this method are Utah and Idaho.

Conclusion

While writing this essay, I found a lot of different arguments both for and

against capital punishment. After weighing both sides of the issue, I came to

the conclusion that capital punishment isn't a good idea. There are too many

risks involved - such as executing an innocent person. Many people feel that if

someone murders another person, then he too deserves to be killed. But

murdering another person won't bring the other one back, and two wrongs don't

make a right. I think it would be worse to spend the rest of your life in a

cell than to go through hell for a few minutes but then be over with it forever.

Therefore, I think that a good alternative to receiving the death penalty would

be a life sentence in prison with no chance of parole.