Capital punishment
Capital punishment and the media Slant on the topics
The media's attitude to executions varies widely depending on the age and sex of the criminal, the type of crime and method of execution.
Middle aged men being executed by lethal injection in Texas for "ordinary" murders hardly rate a paragraph in the US press nowadays and do not get a mention in the U. K. media at all.
However a woman convicted of double murder and being injected on the same thing gets tremendous world wide media attention at all levels. Karla Faye Tucker this so call Christian. Who used a pick axe to kill people before being put to sleep she apologize for her sins and to her family. Equally a man being hanged in Washington or Delaware or shot by a Utah firing squad makes international news. (Wesley Allan Dodd, 1989 arrest in Washington State for the murder of 3 young boys ended his 15 year career of violent sex crimes. John Taylor murder of 6 women while sleeping. And yet women being hanged in Jordan (3 in 1997 and 2 in 1998), the 126 people publicly beheaded in Saudi Arabia during 2000 and men and women executed by the hundred in China for a wide variety of offences make very little news.
Why is this? Do we not care if the execution takes place in a Middle Eastern or Far Eastern Country? Are their criminals somehow perceived as lesser people with fewer rights? The media obviously does not judge many of these stories to be newsworthy although they are aware of them through the news wires from those countries (which is how I know about them). In Singapore when executions were reported, they typically only made a small article and aroused very little public interest. Most Singaporeans however firmly support the government hard line on crime and punishment.
During the late 70's and early 80's when executions were rare in America, every execution, by whatever means, attracted a great deal of media interest and yet now they are frequent (averaging over 1 per week) the authorities seem to have difficulty in finding sufficient official and media witnesses. They also used to attract pro and anti capital punishment protesters in large numbers but these seem to have dwindled down to just a few in most cases.
I tend to think that if executions were televised they would soon reach the same level of disinterest amongst the general public unless it fitted into a &qu...
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...d other serious crimes that we presently have.
2) Re-introduce capital punishment for just the "worst" murderers which would at least be some retribution for the terrible crimes they have committed and would permanently incapacitate them. It would also save a small amount of money each year which could, perhaps, be spent on the more genuinely needy. This option is unlikely to reduce crime levels.
3) Re-introduce the death penalty in the really strict format outlined above and see a corresponding drop in serious crime whilst accepting that there will be a lot of human misery caused to the innocent families of criminals and that there will be the occasional, if inevitable, mistakes.
Sources:
Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Source Day Month Year:
pages.
KATHY WALT. “Tucker dies after apologizing. Despite legal blitz, woman executed for pickax slayings”Houston Chronicle 2/3/1998 2
Cathianne Werner. Dodd get the death Penalty, Delaware State News 7/8/89 1page
Matt Kelley. Taylor Dies in chamber, Washington Post, 10/9/2000 2pages
Cynthia Morris. Capital Punishment in the United States: A Documentary History
CPUS cited source and page
The American public has consistently favored the use of the death penalty. Although anti-capital-punishment groups in the 19th century won some victories in slowing down the drive for death-penalty laws, most of their successes were short-lived. By the early 20th century, executions were common and widespread, reaching record numbers by the 1930s and 1940s, when more than 100 people were executed each year. But as public and official confidence in the effectiveness and fairness of capital punishment began to wane in the 1960s, the number of yearly executions dropped to the single digits. By the early 1970s, there was an unofficial end to executions in the country.
In order to mediate everyone’s views I believe the current situation should be slightly altered. The first thing that should change is the punishment facing murderers and rapists. Currently, 1st and second degree murder charges are have a minimum sentence for life in prison if charged. But for sexual assault, it ranges from 6 months to a max 25 years in imprisonment. Sexual assault, especially aggravated sexual assault deserves to be punished with harsher sentences. There should be fines as well as to compensate the victim and pay for reparation charges. Victims will usually face severe trauma and will need to have counseling done in order to once again feel comfortable and safe. As people believe that the death penalty is most needed for crimes such as murder and rape, there should be harsher environments in where they go to jail. Now, I not advocating abuse or cruel and unusual punishment but a system where these types of criminals will be further punished in order to appease the public, deter future criminals and help society improve could be used effectively. This system would be heavily focused towards paying back society in terms of jobs and labour that could be performed by inmates in exchange for improved
Televisions are present in 98-99% of American households, (comma splice) basically they are present in every American house. American viewers watch televisions frequently and for a long duration of time, regarding what is seen on television as the most "credible, complete, intelligent, and unbiased source of news" (Leighton par. 10). Therefore, because of this fact, proponents of televising executions believe that in doing so, the public creates a deterrent, allowing the whole process of the United States criminal justice system to play out in front of the American public via the most popular medium for doing so, the television ("Debate Lives On" par. 3). A deterrent is a notion that the pain of punishment, (in this case, the pain of execution), will prevent human beings from committing crimes. Therefore, if the American public could bear witness to the execution of a convicted man or woman, the image would be so shocking to that viewers mind that the ability or desire of that person to commit a "death penalty" crime would decrease. In essence, proponents of te...
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.
and tension in our country. The controversy in our society is whether the death penalty/capital punishment serves as a justified form of punishment. Justice can be served by inflicting the death sentence for murder.
...e author doesn’t convince readers by simply saying “executions should be public spectacles” that this would deter crime. The author even presents credible evidence from those who oppose; Bryjak even agrees they make his position look bad. The author doesn’t refute that people are going to commit crimes regardless if they watch someone get executed or not. Research shows individuals are threatened everyday with the consequences they can face for disobeying the law, yet there still appears to be an increase in crime and violence. Many that commit crimes are aware of the possibility of receiving the death penalty if sentenced, however many individuals still continue to commit acts of murder. The article is entitled “Why we all should watch executions” and I don’t think Bryjak persuaded readers on why they should watch but more so on why there should be executions.
We need to lower the causes for crime and prevent it in the first place. We also need to decrease the punishment.
In the essay “Executions should be televised,” by Zachary Shemtob and David Lat, which originally appeared in the New York Times, is an argumentative essay that advocates for the proposition of making criminal executions open to the public in the United States. The authors Zachary Shemtob and David Lat—criminal justice teacher and former federal prosecutor, respectively—have formulated their essay using supporting points and evidence to substantiate their thesis that “Executions in the United States ought to be made public” (Shemtob & Lat pg. 62).
stringent use of the death penalty would help significantly. Society as a whole needs to hold these people accountable for their actions and make an example out of their crimes. Capital punishment remains the strongest moral act that can show society that consequences do exist for these heinous crimes.
The death penalty debate in the U.S. is dominated by the fraudulent voice of the anti-death penalty movement. The culture of lies and deceit so dominates that movement that many of the falsehoods are now wrongly accepted as fact, by both advocates and opponents of capital punishment. The following report presents the true facts of the death penalty in America. If you are even casually aware of this public debate, you will note that every category contradicts the well-worn frauds presented by the anti-death penalty movement. The anti-death penalty movement specializes in the abolition of truth.
Have you ever wondered why people are so interested to learn about the suffrage of others? Over twenty-five years, the population of prisoners has nearly sextulped. Reaching about 1.7 million since 1996, which is almost equal to the population to Houston, Texas, the fourth largest city in the nation (Elliott Currie). All we focus on is how they did it? and why? In other words, many people interpret crime as entertainment, and don’t think about the negative effects taking place in the world or even more that individual. In some cases the innocent are being accused of unlikely punishment but how do they determine? Considerably, the death penalty has been the topic of discussion these past years. This so called “penalty” is becoming the prime consequence in most cases. I think that the use of the death penalty as punishment is wrong because of the psychological effects it has on prisoners, time spent on death row in cases of innocents, and the costly outcome.
One such solution is the establishment of moral superiority of our criminal justice professionals over our ordinary citizens. It also discussed the decriminalization of victimless crimes, so that our prisons have more room for violent offenders. Another possibility discussed in this section was the equal distribution of wealth to allow youths access to better schooling and more, realistic, opportunities for the lower class to move up in society. In addition to providing possible solutions it also addressed the reasons that these solutions would not be feasible, mostly that these recommendations would create too much competition against the
4) Give judges greater discretion over sentencing. Abolish manditory sentences but have a general framwork for sentencing and let juges decide on a case by case basis.
In addition, society will no longer view the offender as a member of society but a pariah that deserves to be brutally punished. After all, public executions was not an unfamiliar concept exposed to society. For instance, lynching of accused witches and African Americans was repeatedly practiced to the point where the event had a carnival atmosphere. Also, it was assumed that witnessing death would discipline society to obey the laws, but rather a lack of compassion and empathy occurred instead. “The necessity to execute murderers to maintain societal order” (Bandura, 1). To further justify executions culture has no choice but to treat an individual as a subhuman that deserves no sympathy from the public. In addition, culture embraces the idea that executions is the key to avenge a murder committed by a criminal incapable of following the principles of society. The murder of an innocent victim makes the public feel the need to take vengeance by executing the criminal. Indeed, being exposed to violence and the legalization of executions will ease the guilt and moral expectations that society is supposed to feel but does not. Executions has evolved into a debauched ceremony where the public can view and does not to endure any concern for a dehumanized criminal. Nevertheless, dehumanization of society has and will continue to prosper as culture is desensitized from
Statistics show that in areas where the death penalty is enforced there are fewer serious crimes being committed. According to Fein (2008), “As of two thousand and ten there are over seventeen thousand under sentence to be put to death...