Capital Punishment: The System that Buries Its Worst Mistakes

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Capital Punishment: The System that Buries its Worst Mistakes
The use of capital punishment is a contentious social issue in the United States. Currently, it is a legal sentence in thirty-two states and illegal in eighteen (States With and Without the Death Penalty). Capital punishment, also referred to as the death penalty is “the punishment of execution, administered to someone legally convicted of a capital crime” (Oxford Dictionaries). A sentencing for the death penalty can be mete out due to a capital offense of treason, murder, arson, or rape. The most commonly used methods for capital punishment include lethal injection, handing, and electrocution. The act of capital punishment is unethical and immoral. Capital punishment is an ineffective method for penalizing criminals, and needs to be abolished from the United States’ criminal justice system.
Capital punishment has been around in the United States since the early 1600s; it was a penalty for breaking common law. It was enforced in the American colonies prior to the Declaration of Independence being written. The first recorded death sentence was in 1608, given to Captain George Kendall, who was executed by firing squad (Capital Punishment in the United States). In earlier times, the method of execution was immensely gruesome. Death by burning, stoning and crushing are just a few examples of how brutal the death sentences could be. Majority of Americans throughout history have always supported the death penalty, but as time has gone on, the number of Americans in favor of the death penalty has dropped.
No justice system can produce results that are one hundred percent conclusive. Mistakes can and will be made (Message from the Prosecuting Attorney). Despite ...

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Capital punishment is a hotly debated topic in the United States, it has and will continue to be a controversial social issue. Arguments from each viewpoint are valid, but the view with the most reasons and well thought out arguments is that of those against capital punishment. It is faulty in its ways of executing innocent people. Unethical and immoral, when it is not used fairly. It causes some to take discriminatory actions towards African Americans and the mentally ill. Capital punishment is costly, it is practically destroying the United States economy. Lastly, it is a violation of our humanitarian rights. We should not resort to such harsh methods of punishment when there are other perfectly good ways to punish those who have done wrong. With the abolition of capital punishment, we can end a cycle of violence.

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