Capital Punishment

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Capital Punishment

Imagine your heart suddenly beginning to race as you hear a judge give you a death sentence and then you’re quickly carried away in chains as your family sobs as they realize that they will no longer be able to see you. As you sit in your cell you begin to look back at your life and try to see where you went wrong to end up in jail waiting to carry out a death sentence, and at the same time know that you are an innocent waiting to be heard. This same scenario repeats itself many times here in the United States. Capital Punishment is an issue that has raised a lot of controversy between the church and the government in the search for solutions.

The death penalty goes as far back as the seventeenth century. In England during the 1600s there were many crimes that were considered capital offenses such as, Treason, Murder, Manslaughter, rape, robbery, burglary, arson, and counterfeiting. It wasn’t until recently that the death penalty was only used for crimes that were really extreme such as murder. “Slaves were accordingly subjected to the death penalty for conspiring to rebel, rape a white woman, or burn a house” (Banner 9). England was known to be very harsh to criminals and slaves, the northern colonies were much more lenient on criminals. According to the Encyclopedia of Capital Punishment in the U.S, capital punishment was brought to the U.S by the American colonists from Europe (1). Many laws in different colonies were harsher than others because many colonies had religious origins.

The eighth amendment states “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted” According to Smith and Dow, the wo...

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...be on death row and everyone would be serving life sentences. If the church gave into the government then there would most likely be a lot of executions, if not more than the usual amount.

Imagine not having an efficient penalty for committing capital offenses, the world would probably be in chaos. If people thought for a second that they could get away with a crime, most people would take advantage. In the near future maybe one day the United States will be able to administer a penalty that doesn’t take the life of another, but brings upon justice in a positive way. In order for things to change the people of the United States have to be willing to change and allow themselves to hear one another out. Through the grace of God things this issue will get better and the United States will be able to stand together on the issue of the death penalty.

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