Capital Punishment is Not an Effective Deterrent While Capital Punishment has been one of the most feared things of our time, it is still being questioned if it is unconstitutional. The Death Penalty is being enforced in more than 100 countries in the world and are usually in used in politically-related cases. Although it has been the case in many countries throughout the world it has been said that the Death Penalty is "cruel and unusual punishment" which is a direct violation to the Bill of Rights. Capital Punishment is a certain copy of the earliest days of slavery, when you had no rights or any different opinion, and like then, executions have no place in our civilized society. The Death Penalty, throughout it's years of existence, has always been against the views of the people, either because of it's brutality or because of it's lack of effectiveness. The Death Penalty has been opposed by the people since the beginning of it's era, which was around 1976, when the United States Supreme Court declared that the death penalty was not against the Constitution. But if read directly the Eight Amendment of the U.S. Constitution "prohibits cruel and unusual punishments" and not only that but abolitionists also think that Capital Punishment ensures Americans equality for all . The abolitionists also did a poll which ensured that there was "no support for the view that the death penalty provides a more effective deterrent to police homicides than alternative sanctions. Not for a single year was evidence found that police are safer in jurisdictions that provide for capital punishment" The highest homicide rates were also in Death Penalty states with executions: 9.7 homicides per 100,000 people as compared to 5.1 in states without the Death Penalty . It has also been shown that the Death Penalty is racially biased and unfair. There has been substantial evidence to show that courts have been impulsive, racially biased, and unfair in the way in which they have sentenced some persons to prison but others to death. In 1944 Gunnar Myrdal reported in his book American Dilemma that "the South makes the widest application of the Death Penalty, and Negro criminals come in for much more than their share of the executions" Between the years of 1930 and 1940 the African Americans only made up about 12 percent of the United States' population, but between those times they also made up about 51 percent of the people that were executed. Juries are more likely to impose the death penalty on blacks than on whites accused of the same offense (Administra- tion Office of the Courts). Of the 145 cases studied by the Administration Office of the Courts it was shown that whites would have received the death penalty at a higher rate since they met the criteria for capital punishment more often. Yet, the case studies revealed that this was not the situation. Is the value of a white life worth more than a person of color? When Capital Punishment is put into a case and the person has been killed there is no way to get back from that if they are later found to have been innocent. If a person is sentenced to life without parole and is later found to be innocent, that person can still be released, but if the person was put to death there is no way of giving life back to someone who's been executed. For example, a man about 5 years ago was set free after he was in jail for 12 years and after he was 72 hours from being executed. In his case, the prosecutors used perjured testimony and suppressed evidence which imprisoned him. The witness that set him free was a sixteen year old who while imprisoned for a separate murder conviction, confessed to killing the officer whom Randall Adams was in jail for killing ("The Case"1). For us to kill those people who have acted outside the boundaries of acceptable human behavior puts us in the same position as they are in-we become killers. It is also a view that people must take because the people on death row did not get there on their own, their families and communities share the responsibility of making those people who consider committing the brutal acts they committed, so why should they be the individuals to take the punishment ("Talking"2). Executions give society the unmistakable message that human life no longer deserves respect, they are also irrevocable and can be inflicted upon the innocent. Why did the U.S. Supreme Court change their minds about the Death Penalty? In 1972, the Supreme Court declared that under then existing laws "the imposition and carrying out of the death penalty...constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the eighth and Fourteenth Amendments" This was found to be "constitutionally unacceptable" But then in 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty is not unconstitutional. "The court ruled that these new statutes contained "objective standards to guide, regularize, and make rationally reviewable the process for imposing the sentence of death" Although some of the law imposing the administration and regulation of capital punishment might be in violation of the constitution. This idea was best quoted by Hugo Adams Budeau: "Opposition to the Death Penalty does not arise from misplace sympathy for convicted murderers. On the contrary, murder demonstrates a lack of respect for human life. For this very reason, murder is abhorrent, and any policy of state authorized killings is immoral." So is our Supreme Court trying to "get rid" of human lives, is this why the government proved the death penalty to not be unconstitutional. Scholars against the death sentence assure that all doctrines of religion, ethics, and morality are clear that "human beings must not harm one another, nor should they do to others what they would not have other do to them" ("Taling" 2). The Death Penalty would be put into a court case based on the appeal and the jurisdiction of the judge? The only manner in which the Death Penalty may be justified is when those convicted have acted outside the boundaries of acceptable human beha-vior. But not even then would it have to be necessary to do so, sequential punishments may include life in jail without parole which is not only 6 to 10 time less expensive but also give the accused a chance to make meaningful changes in his/her life, to make contributions to society, to relate to family or to even have a chance to be proven not guilty. Because there is no way to give life back to an innocent bi-standard. States also spend resources that could be spent doing other things that will benefit them more than a death penalty. States such as Florida have spent an average of $3.2 million per person since 1972. California spends almost $100 million per year n capital cases and New York can start looking at something withing that range once the death penalty, which was signed into law by Governor Pataki in 1994, takes place. The state has yet to announce how and when executions will be carried out, but the sure thing is that when it does go into effect the cost will come from takes, which were also supposed to be decreasing as passed by the state legislature. The state of New Jersey has also had the Death Penalty for over 13 years and it's costing tax payer money, but why have the penalty if not one person has yet to be executed. If this was the case would they have thought of the expense? Capital Punishment is uncivilized in theory and inequitable and unfair in practice; so why should we stoop to this level of murder? The Death Penalty is ultimately cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment and violates the right to life. Since 1977 the methods used to "exterminate criminals" since 1977, out of the 220 inmates 106 were electrocuted, 103 by lethal injection, 9 by gas chamber, 1 by firing squad, and 1 by hanging. Abolitionists believe that this society cannot mirror the brutality of the crime committed by the convicted person because it is judicial murder. Capital Punishment is a brutal act that does not enhance respect for human life; it cheapens and degrades it . Abolitionists also believe that "the state is a teacher and when it kills, it teaches vengeance and hatred. If the "barbaric practice of execution has been abolished in most major industrial countries, even in south Africa, so can the United States ("Death"2). "An execution is a dramatic, public spectacle of official, violent homicide that teaches the permissibility of killing people to solve social problems--the worst possible example to set for society" Will society put money into schools, rehabilitation, community services, and jobs, or will it bankrupt itself with more prisons and more victims? The death penalty is no solution to violence. Works Cited "The Case Against Capital Punishment".Prodigy-World Wide Web-Software. Computer Software, Sept.1995.(http://www.bdt.com/home/mwood/ deathpen.html). "The Death Penalty".Prodigy-World Wide Web-Software.Computer Software, Sept.1995.(http://www.peacenet.org/prisons/pubs/out-of-time/sept95/ dp.html). "New Jersey's Racist Death Penalty".Prodigy-World Wide Web-Software. Computer Software,Feb.7,1996.(http://www.cs.oberlin.edu...t-Death- Penalty.html). "New York State Death Penalty".Prodigy-Worlwide Web-Software. Computer Software,Sept.7.1995.(http://www.peacenet.org/prisons/ archive/articles/distro-list.html). Stevens, Leonard A.Death in the Balance. Lexington:Heath and Company, 1989. "Talking Points on the Death Penalty."Prodigy-World Wide Web-Software. Computer Software, Sept.1995.(http://www.weber.u.washington.edu/ ~lursa/wcadp/talkpt.html).
Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man depicts a realistic society where white people act as if black people are less than human. Ellison uses papers and letters to show the narrator’s poor position in this society.
Hamlet is extremely proud of Old King and respects him.“He was a great human being. He was perfect in everything. I’ll never see the likes of him again” (I.ii.185-188). Hamlet loves his father and gives the greatest praise at the funeral. Grief driven by love tempts Hamlet to think his father’s goodness, and more, the loss of such a favorable figure. Hamlet believes that the ghost that is said to look like the dead king is indeed his father.”He waxes desperate with imagination”(I.ii.92). The Prince, who is deep in sadness and does not think sufficiently, is convinced that the spirit is the Old Hamlet, he is the only person that can physically communicate with the ghost. Hamlet for the second time talks to the apparition in his mother’s chamber, where Gertrude does not see any. What Horatio and other witnesses encounter at the gate at night proves the possibility of the existence of the ghost, Hamlet later in the play is considered to be truly mad on the account of his unusual ability to see and talk to the spirit, which is obviously conjured up by his mind. Rising actions in both the book and the play are implied at the beginning of the stories: Amir’s memory of 1975 and Old Hamlet’s death. The journey of redemption or revenge takes actions of concealing their true emotions and implementing devised
Hamlet grants himself the opportunity to momentarily direct himself, yet it remains unknown as to whether he directs a representation of truth or a falsity. He exemplifies madness so well, as the sight of "a damned ghost" (77) insanely induces his imagination and comfortably transforms his identity to one of lunacy. This role he acquires is one he portrays so explicitly well as an actor that he easily utilizes it as the foundation for his players. He instructs the players:
When Shakespeare put this ghost in his story it opened up a large debate. Although, at the time when Hamlet was written, almost everyone believed in ghosts so there was no confusion about the ghost. But as time moved one more people stoped believing in ghosts and other mystical creatures. This opened up the debate for if the ghost is real or not. I personally do not believe in ghosts, but I strongly believe the ghost in Hamlet was intended to be a real ghost.
or public danger. No one can be put on trial again for the same crime.
Currently, 35 states still impose the death penalty while 16 states, including the District of Columbia, have abolished it. Opponents of capital punishment point out that the states that allow the death penalty experienced 42 percent more murders than the states who have abolished the deat...
All throughout the play Hamlet mourns the loss of his father, especially since his father is appearing to him as a ghostly figure telling him to avenge his death, and throughout the play it sets the stage and shows us how he is plotting to get back at the assassinator. Such an instance where the ghost appears to Hamlet is when Hamlet and his mother are in her bedchamber where the ghost will make his last appearance. Hamlet tells his mother to look where the ghost appears but she cannot see it because he is the only one who that has the ability to see him.
Race plays a large factor in showing how you are viewed in society. Although there is no longer slavery and separate water fountains, we can still see areas of our daily life clearly affected by race. One of these areas is the criminal justice system and that is because the color of your skin can easily yet unfairly determine if you receive the death penalty. The controversial evidence showing that race is a large contributing factor in death penalty cases shows that there needs to be a change in the system and action taken against these biases. The issue is wide spread throughout the United States and can be proven with statistics. There is a higher probability that a black on white crime will result in a death penalty verdict than black on black or white on black. Race will ultimately define the final ruling of the sentence which is evident in the racial disparities of the death penalty. The amount of blacks on death row can easily be seen considering the majority of the prison population is black or blacks that committed the same crime as a white person but got a harsher sentence. The biases and prejudices that are in our society relating to race come to light when a jury is selected to determine a death sentence. So what is the relationship between race and the death penalty? This paper is set out to prove findings of different race related sentences and why blacks are sentenced to death more for a black on white crime. Looking at the racial divide we once had in early American history and statistics from sources and data regarding the number of blacks on death row/executed, we can expose the issues with this racial dilemma.
Racial minorities only make up 35% of those that had been sentenced to the death penalty however, ...
For instance, the 1972 Furman V. Georgia case abolished the death penalty for four years on the grounds that capital punishment was extensive with racial inequalities (Latzer 21). Over twenty five years later, those inequalities are higher than ever. The statistics says that African Americans are twelve percent of the U.S. population, but are 43 percent of the prisoners on death row. Although blacks make up 50 percent of all murder victims, 83 percent of the victims in death penalty cases are white. Since 1976 only ten executions involved a white defendant who had killed a bl...
In the times that Shakespeare lived ghosts were a readily accepted idea, but one had to be wary of them because it was difficult to decipher a good ghost from a bad one. Horatio, Hamlet’s best friend, first brings that question into our mind when the Ghost is asking Hamlet to follow it. Horatio warned:
Many Shakespeare plays contain ghosts, perhaps most notably and most disturbingly in Macbeth and Hamlet. The ghost in Hamlet is the apparition of prince Hamlet's father, the dead King Hamlet. However, up until the time when the ghost first appears to Hamlet, interrupting his speech and thoughts, it appears Hamlet is unaware that his father was murdered. As the ghost intones, "I am thy father's spirit, / Doomed for a certain term to walk the night, / And for the day confined to fast in fires, / Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature / Are burnt and purged away" (Shakespeare I.v.9-13). While more people in Shakespeare's audience were inclined to believe in the supernatural and fantastic, it is likely the appearance of the slain King still has quite an impact on modern audiences. This is because the ghost of King Hamlet tells his son he was murdered and his murder must be avenged for him to rest in peace.
It must be remembered that criminals are real people too, which have. life and with it, the feeling of pain, fear and the loss of their loved ones and all the other emotions that the rest of us feel. There is no such thing as a humane way of putting someone to death. Every type of execution causes the prisoner physical suffering, some. methods perhaps cause less than others, but be in no doubt that being.
In traditional and modern, ghost reflects death and fear, and it never change. In Hamlet, the ghost is a symbol of Hamlet’s father who is killed by Claudius. Its propose is to demand Hamlet to avenge its death. Although the ghost only appears three times in front of Hamlet, it is a specify role to develop the whole story and plot. Through Hamlet, the ghost is the motive to make Hamlet kill Claudius, and the ghost plays a critical role to influence Hamlet.
Everyone knows the universal signal for “choking”, but does everyone know what to do when they see it?