Capital Punishment Throughout History

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Recommended: Discussion about the death penalty

Even before the twelve century when Christians were fed to lions in the amphitheaters of Europe, capital punishment has been a debate; the moral, social and history of capital punishment have been an ongoing discussion; and it will remain so until time ceases to exist.

A few years ago an Iranian girl was disfigured with acid thrown on her by a would-be suitor. Her assailant was caught and on the day of the trial the judge asked her what punishment should be given to him; she told him, throw acid on him the way he did to her. The judge granted her request; is this cruel and unusual punishment? Yes, but sometimes justice requires stepping over the norm. A drug dealer who kills another drug dealer and is sentenced to life in prison is given fair punishment; but what punishment should a grown man who rapes an eight year old girl and kills her in the process receive? Most of the other countries that have abolished capital punishment used it as punishment for any crime; in America, only criminals who commit murder are sentence to death.

Firstly, capital punishment is argued as an immoral act by those who oppose it. In America, one of the few industrial countries that still practices capital punishment, some of its crimes are so awful they would cause one to think that they are not committed by fellow human beings. About two years ago a pedophilia asked the judge to sentence him to death because if he is set free he will go back to hurting children. According to Baird and Rosenbaum, “We punish criminals principally in order to pay them back, and we execute the worst of them out of moral necessity. We surely don’t expect to rehabilitate them. It would be foolish to think that by punishing them we might thereby deter others”...

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...ebster.utahbar.org/barjournal/2012/09/the_death_penalty_debating_the.html. Access 24 April, 2014

“Death in Prison Sentence for Children.” Available at hitp://www.eji.org/childrenprison/deathinprisonweb. Accessed 24 April, 2014

Galik, Laura. “America’s Ten Deadliest Cities in 2012” Available at http://www.policymic.com/articles/22686/america-s-10-deadliest-cities-2012. Accessed 23 April, 2014

Pierce, Glenn., Radelet, Michael. “The Impact Legally Inappropriate Factors on Death Sentencing for California Homicides” http://www.deathpenalty.org/downloads/Radelet%20SCU%20lawreview_46sclr001.pdfw eb. Accessed 23 April, 2014

Politi, Daniel. New York Celebrates Record low Homicides in 2012 While Chicago Grapples with Spike” Available at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/29/chicago- homicide-rate-new-york_n_2378073.html Accessed 27 April, 2014

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