The Death Penalty and the Innocent

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In the United States, many crimes are considered to be punishable by a life sentence or a sentence of a few years. However, many crimes have earned people capital punishment, also known as the death penalty. The first known death penalty was acknowledge by a legal document known as the Code of Hummarubi. In this document, written in the 1700s, it is mentioned that twenty-five crimes were punished by death. The crimes included being unfaithful to one's partner and even helping slaves escape (Guernsey, 2009). By 1846, the state of Michigan became one of the first US states to abolish the death penalty for all committed crimes. Michigan now replaces the death penalty with life imprisonment (Bohm, 2007). However, then the inventor Thomas Edison conducted his experiment on the use of electrocution on animals. In 1890, New York State became the first state to practice execution by electrocution on an electric chair on William Kemmler. This method then became a preferred method of execution (Guernsey, 2009). By 1924, the first lethal gas in American history was carried out in Carson City, Nev. It was known as a less severe execution compared to hanging, firing squad, or electrocution (The history channel, 2009). Many states, including Washington State, Connecticut, and recently Maryland have suspended the idea of the death penalty. Even though many perpetrators have committed a criminal offence and have affected many families, and the families might want the worst for that person, no one deserves to have to be put on death row because it is inhumane, and it is not teaching the future generations of what Americans value. The death penalty should not be practices on any criminal because it is inhumane, it is expensive, and many criminals m... ... middle of paper ... ...n.com. Retrieved from http://www.nippon.com/en/currents/d00025 NC coalition for alternatives to the death penalty information. (2014). Retrieved from http://nccadp.org/issues/cost/ Simon, M. (2011, September 22). Death penalty statistics: more than 3,200 inmates await execution. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/22/justice/georgia- execution-fact-box Saint Leo University. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.saintleo.edu/about/florida-catholic- university.aspx The History Channel. (2009, December 16). First US execution by gas chamber carried out in Nevada. Retrieved from http://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.timeline.php?timelineID=000025 The Armband Protest Against the Death Penalty. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://armbandprotest.net/ The high cost of the death penalty. (n.d). Retrieved from http://www.deathpenalty.org/article.php?id=42

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