The Death Penalty Should Be Abolished

“To take a life when a life has been lost is revenge, not justice.” -Desmond Tutu. The death penalty is the punishment of execution, administered to someone legally convicted of a capital crime. The first death penalty was carried out in early Eighteenth Century B.C. which had the penalty around for 25 different crimes. Historic methods of the death penalty included: crucifixion, drowning, beating to death, etc. But in the Tenth Century A.D., hanging suspects was the usual way of execution in Britain. But in the next century, hanging or execution of any crime was not allowed except for times of war. But in Sixteenth Century, there were estimated to be as many as 72,000 people executed. In that time period, common methods were: boiling, hanging, and beheading. When European settlers came to America they brought the Capital Punishment along with them. Britain brought forward the use of the penalty in America more than any other country. The governor of Virginia, Sir Thomas Dale, enacted the Divine Moral and Martial laws which had the penalty for minor offenses such as stealing fruit, killing animals, and trading with indians. The 1960’s was when the penalty first started to be challenged. It was suggested that it was a cruel and unusual punishment and unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment. There are thirty five current states with the penalty active and 1,348 executions since 1976. There have been 1,176 lethal injection, 158 electrocutions, 11 gas chambers, 3 hanging, and 3 fire squad deaths. In the year of 2013 there were 39 deaths alone. The death penalty eliminates the chance for any man or woman accused of a crime to sit and suffer a lifetime in prison.

It costs more to execute a suspect with the penalty that ...

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...etails as the claims to be against the penalty. The world we live in now can be a very dark place. It’s almost as if everyday a terrible crime is committed, such as murder. With that occurring so often, the penalty is brought up constantly. All in all, the penalty is not a fair enough punishment and should be abolished everywhere.

Works Cited

"Death Penalty Cost." Amnesty International USA. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2014.

"The Death Penalty in Black and White: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Decides." Death Penalty Information Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2014.

"Death Penalty Statistics." Statistic Brain RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2014.

"Part I: History of the Death Penalty." Death Penalty Information Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2014.

"Reasons to Be Against the Death Penalty." Reasons to Be Against the Death Penalty. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2014.