Should the government abolish capital punishment? This is a question that has plagued the United States since its birth, as it is a complex social issue not easily resolved. The law, society, and many religious institutions consider life to be precious. Also, because capital punishment is irreversible, an innocent life could potentially be at stake in the pursuit of justice. Groups that are opposed to the death penalty – such as Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the majority of Christian religious institutions (Baptists, Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodist, Presbyterians, and the United Church of Christ)– feel that it is an unnecessary violation of human rights. (“History of the Death Penalty”) On the other hand, supporters for the death penalty – such as the Republican Party and the Fundamentalist, Pentecostal, and Mormon churches – argue that it is a just punishment for heinous crimes and an effective deterrent for potential criminals. (“History”) These groups have raised additional questions: Does the government have the right to execute its own citizens as punishment? Should the Death Penalty be replaced with life imprisonment without parole? And why is the United States the only industrialized, Democratic nation that still uses capital punishment? To begin, we can look for answers in the history of capital punishment in the U.S.
Scholars estimate that since colonial times, at least 15,000 people have been executed in the United States. (“Paternoster 14”) Since 1930, however, there has been a gradual decline in the number of executions performed per year (14). Between 1967 and 1977, there was a temporary abolishment of capital punishment; but since it was...
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... the Death Penalty: The Views of the Experts.” Death Penalty Information Center 1995. 16 Feb 2004.
Rupp, Ashley. “Death Penalty Prosecutorial Charging Decisions and County Budgetary Restrictions: Is the Death Penalty Arbitrarily Based on County Funding?” Fordham Law Review May 2003. Vol. 71, no. 6, pp. 2735-80.
Scullin, Jeff. “Death Penalty: Is the Price of Justice Too High?” National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty 14 Dec 2003. 16 Feb 2004.
van den Haag, Ernest. “On Deterrence and the Death Penalty.” Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science. 1969. Vol. 60, pp. 141-147.
Randa, Laura E. “Society’s Final Solution: A History and Discussion of the Death Penalty.” (1997). Rpt.in History of the Death Penalty. Ed. Michael H. Reggio. University Press of America, Inc., 1997. 1-6 Print.
Koch, Larry Wayne, John F Galliher, and Colin Wark, The Death of the American Death Penalty : States Still Leading the Way. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2012, Ebscohost Ebook.
Throughout America’s history, capital punishment, or the death penalty, has been used to punish criminals for murder and other capital crimes. In the early 20th century, numerous people would gather for public executions. The media described these events gruesome and barbaric (“Infobase Learning”). People began to wonder if the capital punishment was really constitutional.
...seeing their friends, father, or brother dying that way made them to become cruel among themselves, with everyone consent just with his own survival. This were group of people from the same community, and some of them were fellowshipping together. But they changed the point that they acted as if they did not know each other.
Kathleen Jeffrie Johnson novel Target accounts the life of a sixteen year old boy name Grady West . Grady was your average high school sixteen year old who hung out with a group of friends, very outgoing, and likable. But, everything changed on a tragic uneventful November night. While walking home Grady was attack, beaten, and raped. From that very moment Grady’s life changed. He would no longer became the Grady he once was to his friends, family, and even to himself. Grady tried to escape his friends, old school, and what happened that night. But, every so often the memories reoccur. A year later, he now attended Thomas Jefferson High where no one would know who he was and what had happened to him. His journey at his new school is tested. He meets an African American student name Jess, who becomes his friend instantly and tries to help him breakout his shell. He is haunted by the events of his rape daily. Along the way he meets and befriends other classmates like Pearl and Fred. As time progress Grady finds the way to mention his rape to his new friends as well as the friends he had before. Through it all they help him get better.
...ed United States. U.S. Government Accounting Office. Capital Punishment. Washington: GPO, 1994 Cheatwood, Derral and Keith Harries. The Geography of Execution: The Capital Punishment Quagmire in America. Rowman, 1996 NAACP Legal Defense Fund . Death Row. New York: Hein, 1996 "Ex-Death Row Inmate Cleared of Charges." USA Today 11 Mar. 1999: 2A "Fatal Flaws: Innocence and the Death Penalty." Amnesty International. 10 Oct. 1999 23 Oct. 1999 Gest, Ted. "House Without a Blue Print." US News and World Report 8 Jul. 1996: 41 Stevens, Michelle. "Unfairness in Life and Death." Chicago Sun-Times 7 Feb. 1999: 23A American Bar Association. The Task Ahead: Reconciling Justice with Politics. 1997 United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Uniform Crime Report. Washington: GPO, 1994 Wickham, DeWayne. "Call for a Death Penalty Moratorium." USA Today 8 Feb. 1999: 17A ILKMURPHY
“The Death Penalty in America: A Cultural and Historical Analysis.” Supreme Court Debates (2004): pp. 259-288.
Adams, Cindy. “The Death Penalty as Just Punishment.” Does Capital Punishment Deter or is it a Biased Process? 3 Sept. 2008. 30 May 2010 < http://penal-system.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_death_penalty_as_just_punishment>.
While one person lays with their wrists circumscribed to the worn leather of the gurney, another person holds two skin-piercing needles. The individual holding the needles is an inexperienced technician who obtains permission from the United States federal government to murder people. One needle is held as a precaution in case the pain is too visible to the viewers. Another dagger filled with a lethal dosage of chemicals is inserted into the vein that causes the person to stop breathing. When the cry of the heart rate monitor becomes monotone, the corrupt procedure is complete. Lying in the chair is a corpse when moments ago it was an individual who made one fatal mistake that will never get the chance to redeem (Ecenbarger). Although some people believe that the death
“A Death in Texas” by Steve Earle is the true-life story of a friendship that occurred over ten
Pasquerella, Lynn. “The Death Penalty in the United States.” The Study Circle Resource Center of Topsfield Foundation. July 1991. Topsfield Foundation. 03 Feb 2011. Web.
Americans have argued over the death penalty since the early days of our country. In the United States only 38 states have capital punishment statutes. As of year ended in 1999, in Texas, the state had executed 496 prisoners since 1930. The laws in the United States have change drastically in regards to capital punishment. An example of this would be the years from 1968 to 1977 due to the nearly 10 year moratorium. During those years, the Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment violated the Eight Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. However, this ended in 1976, when the Supreme Court reversed the ruling. They stated that the punishment of sentencing one to death does not perpetually infringe the Constitution. Richard Nixon said, “Contrary to the views of some social theorists, I am convinced that the death penalty can be an effective deterrent against specific crimes.”1 Whether the case be morally, monetarily, or just pure disagreement, citizens have argued the benefits of capital punishment. While we may all want murders off the street, the problem we come to face is that is capital punishment being used for vengeance or as a deterrent.
“The Death Penalty: Pro and Con.” Wgbh.org. WGBH Educational Foundation, 2013. Web. 12 Feb. 2013.
When someone is legally convicted of a capital crime, it is possible for their punishment to be execution. The Death Penalty has been a controversial topic for many years. Some believe the act of punishing a criminal by execution is completely inhumane, while others believe it is a necessary practice needed to keep our society safe. In this annotated bibliography, there are six articles that each argue on whether or not the death penalty should be illegalized. Some authors argue that the death penalty should be illegal because it does not act as a deterrent, and it negatively effects the victim’s families. Other scholar’s state that the death penalty should stay legalized because there is an overcrowding in prisons and it saves innocent’s lives. Whether or not the death penalty should be
Schonebaum, Stephen E. "A Swifter Death Penalty Would Be An Effective Deterrent." Does Capital Punishment Deter Crime? San Diego: David L. Bender; Greenhaven Press Inc. 1998. 18.