People have different opinions about the death penalty. I believe we need it because there are a lot of bad people in the world. According to criminal.findlaw.com, “The death penalty dates back during the time of the Code of King Hammaurabi of Babylon. There were twenty-four crimes in which you could be executed for. Back then they probably were simple crimes like disobeying the king. Executions were carried out by such means as beheading, boiling in oil, burying alive, burning, crucifixion, disembowelment, drowning, flaying alive, hanging, impalement, stoning, strangling, being thrown to wild animals, and quartering”
Just like these bombings we have had in Boston, Whoever did it will probably get the death penalty. On the website deathpenaltyprocon.org they say that, “1,188 people were executed in the US from 1977 through 2009, primarily by means of lethal injection. Most death penalty cases involve the execution of murderers although capital punishment can also be applied for treason, espionage, and other crimes. There are other crimes like murder, rape and other things that...
On the morning of April 19, 1995 a former soldier, named Timothy McVeigh, drove a truck outside of the Alfred P. Murrah government building in downtown Oklahoma City. Inside the truck was a homemade explosive device. McVeigh got out of the truck and walked to his getaway car. At precisely 9:02 a.m. the truck bomb exploded. Killing 168 people, including 19 children. Over 600 people were injured and close to 300 surrounding buildings took damage. This attack at Oklahoma City was the worst terrorist attack on American soil, until 9/11. Six years after the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building McVeigh was executed at “United States Penitentiary” in Terre Haute, Indiana. At 7:14 a.m. on July 11, 2001 McVeigh was put to death by lethal injection. This terrorist was put to death and got the justice that was deserved. Now the American justice system is flawed especially when it comes to the death penalty, but
An inmate by the name of Gary Graham drew several protestors to a Huntsville unit in the year 2000; they were there in opposition to Graham’s execution. This day finally came after nineteen years on death row and four appeals. With him being a repeat offender he was not new to this side of the justice system, but after being put in prison he became a political activist who worked to abolish the death penalty. People who stood against his execution argued that his case still had reasonable doubt, he was rehabilitating himself, and his punishment would cause major harm to his family. Aside from that you have the advocates arguing that you have to set example for others, so you must carry out the punishment that was given, and while the execution may harm the offender’s family it will give the victims’ families closure for his crimes.
Introduction: Job David Guerrero lived in downtown San Diego when he was suspected of attacking five homeless men with serious upper-body injuries. Two of which were found dead with their bodies set on fire. Guerrero was linked to the murders form eyewitness testimony and video camera footage. Guerrero should deserve the death penalty under the act of which he commits a murder. This policy of action is morally justified through Lex Talionis, Kantian ethics, Gelernter and the social contract. Although arguments such as Jeffrey Reiman’s might oppose the death penalty and support lesser punishment, my position is a stronger alternative.
Rainey Bethea was a hardly a man, but a monster. He was a rapist, thief, and murderer. Bethea broke into the home of an innocent old woman. He proceeded to brutally strangle her, rape her fragile body until she took her last breaths. After the gruesome act he advanced into the home and seized the possessions that were most dear to her. He left the home without batting an eye. Shortly, after being arrested with the crime Bethea admitted to the allegations. He was summoned to the gallows in Owensboro, Kentucky. The hanging of Bethea was a well-known case of 1936. He was the last person to be publicly executed in the United States. Although not conducted publicly, today thirty-one states have the death penalty. The methods range from firing
As every day passes, prisoners wait patiently in their dreadful chamber, awaiting their execution day, which tends to result to physical and psychological torture. Consequently, this remains as the so-called righteousness of the death penalty, which is supposed to get rid of murderers, radicalism, and criminals that perform sodomy. Though, there are times when capital punishment goes horribly wrong, initiating the death of innocent prisoners, and instigating the prisoner to go through atrocious anguish. Moreover, the death penalty leads to additional damage to the victim’s family, since the death penalty entails the family to relieve the agony and grief of the death of their loved one for many years. Furthermore, capital punishment remains as the fundamental block to eradicate criminals, however, there are numerous drawbacks to the death penalty that lead to additional damage than solving the problem; therefore, Americans shouldn’t support capital punishment, unless their prepared to perform the undesirable job of killing the prisoners.
In this paper I will ask three people four different questions about their views on the death penalty. The first question I asked was “Why do you feel the death penalty is wrong?” Question number two, “Does the death penalty help protect the public and discourage crime?” Question number three, “Do you consider the death penalty cruel and unusual?” The final question, “Is the death penalty economically justifiable and cost effective?”
But, if a terrorist is caught by the country’s authorities and sentenced to death, would he not be seen as a martyr by people who support his actions? Why make someone a martyr after they attack your country rather than subject them to a lifetime of humiliation and isolation? But in murder cases, some people are convicted on only circumstantial evidence and it is possible to be wrongly convicted (Why). In a few cases, people were convicted of times they did not commit, and they were put to death before authorities figured out that they really did not commit the crime. The best-case scenario of being wrongly convicted and put on death row is that the conviction gets overturned before you are executed, but often once a case is assumed to be solved, it is closed and not looked at again unless new evidence falls into their laps. Even if someone is found to have been wrongly accused, by that point they have most likely spent years in prison and everyone knows they were in prison and they will probably never have a normal life because of
The death penalty was around for many years, though we do not really hear much about it today. The death penalty was used as a way of punishment for committing the most serious crimes. This punishment was executed in various ways, all of them leading to the death of the person being executed. However, there are reasons why this punishment is no longer being used today.
Since colonial times, approximately 13,000 people have been put to death using the death penalty? How do we know if any of those people were actually guilty? The Bills Of Rights outlines our rights as Americans in the United States. According to the 8th Amendment, there should be no excessive bail or fines nor there any kind of cruel and unusual punishment inflicted. Well that being said does that not go against what the death penalty is and what our 8th amendment stands for? How do you stand? In this paper I will list the reasons on why we should get rid of the death penalty which could really change how you feel on the how you stand.
When analyzing the pro and cons of the death penalty and if it should be kept or abolished in the United States, one has to analyze the different methods of execution. There are five main ways the death penalty procedure is performed which include lethal injection, electrocution, lethal gas, hanging, and firing squad. Lethal injection is the most common way of execution and “as of July 1, 2006, 81 percent of executions performed since 1976 have been been lethal injection, including 375 of the last 378 executions” (Methods of Capital Punishment). Lethal injection is the combination of three drugs. Five grams of Sodium pentothal, puts the prisoner unconscious. The second drug, which is called pancuronium bromide and 50 cc is given, relaxes the criminal’s muscles and paralyzes the diaphragm and lungs. The final drug, 50 cc of potassium chloride, causes cardiac arrest. The drugs are administrated through IV in each of the criminal’s arms. The second way of execution is electrocution, in which “the sentence shall be executed by causing to pass though the body of the convict a current of electricity of sufficient intensity to cause death, and the application and continuance of such current through the body of such convict shall continue until such convict is dead”(Methods of Capital Punishment). The criminal or offender is placed in the electric chair and a wet sponge is placed between the electrode and the offender’s scalp. 2,300 volts are given for 8 seconds, which is followed by 1,000 volts for 22 seconds, and then another 2,300 volts are given again. Electrocution execution used to be the main method, but there were too many botched executions that lethal injection had to be best and most effective method. As for today,...
It's dark and cold, the fortress-like building has cinderblock walls, and death lurks around the perimeter. A man will die tonight. Under the blue sky, small black birds gather outside the fence that surrounds the building to flaunt their freedom. There is a gothic feel to the scene, as though you have stepped into a horror movie.
In the United States, since the 1970s there have been more than 1270 executions according to the death penalty information center (Fact Sheet), What’s alarming about that number, is the number of people who were condemned to be executed based on race, income and social status alone, targeting those that could not afford good legal counsel, and were appointed attorneys that were “inexperienced and had below appropriate professional standards” (Hessick 1069), which sealed the fate of those literally fighting for their lives, on the day of sentencing.
The death penalty or capital punishment is a controversial topic that many people like to ignore, or put on the back burner. The death penalty is a sentence, while capital punishment is the actual execution. It is wrong and immoral. In extreme crime cases where the death penalty would be considered, life without parole is the better consequence. Innocent people could, and have been put to death wrongfully. Racial bias, along with multiple other problems that this consequence holds shows why this sentence is an issue. Despite many flaws this sentence holds, states still actively use it. As of now, there are thirty-one states with the death penalty. The conversation is split between two groups. The people who want to abolish that sentence, and
“…Over 600 people were falsely convicted and 35 faced death for crimes that they did not commit…”(Johnson). The death penalty is an ineffective and expensive way of dealing justice to the American people. It is easier and cheaper to send someone to prison for life than to have them face the death penalty and be executed. Capital punishment is an unnecessary punishment because criminals are already managed at prisons.
The death penalty has been present, in one way or another, for virtually as long as human civilization has existed. The reasons why are apparent; it is intrinsically logical to human beings that a person who takes the life of another should also be killed. This philosophy is exemplified in the famous Biblical passage, "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." However, in light of recent research into ethics, criminology and the justice system, the time has come for us to re-examine our ageless paradigm of revenge.