The Death Penalty And Punishment

The justice system is filled with opposition. Those who support the use of Supermax, the death penalty and the execution of those who are mentally retarded and juveniles, and those who oppose the above mentioned. The following essay will discuss all mentioned topics.

What place does the death penalty have in the criminal justice system? Should it be used to deter other criminals, should it be used to punish those who commit crimes, or does it have any place at all? In understanding the issue of the death penalty from a moral perspective, it is important to look back at philosophers of the past to better understand the ethical ramifications of the concept of capital punishment. We will be examining two notable philosophers—Aristotle and Immanuel Kant. Through their ideas on justice and theories of punishment for crime, we will be able to better understand how they viewed an issue such as the death penalty. Moreover, in modern day discussions of the issue, sides will argue consequentialist factors such as; the pain that capital punishment might inflict, evidence (or lack of evidence) of deterrence, and the cost of an extensive appellate process. Here, however, we will simply be examining the issues surrounding virtue and duty with regards to capital punishment, as Aristotle and Kant were virtue and duty based philosophers, respectively. Through this unique lens we may better understand the issue and ethical complications surrounding the issue as we observe how Aristotle and Kant make their arguments.

Brief history of the death penalty in the U.S. since 1930, when death penalty started to began to be collected on a regular basis. Death row and the execution chamber were located in the Huntsville unit from 1928 to 1965. The last electrocution was carried out on 30 July 1964. Texas electrocuted a total of 361 inmates from 1924 to 1964. Death penalty is a legal process done by state for committing a crime. Death penalty both in the U.S. and around the world is discriminatory and disproportionately I think death penalty is right because I think death penalty is right because if you do something very bad you should be here. I think doing the time in prison is enough punishment for any crime. In 1976, capital punishment was reinstated in the U.S. following a four court ruled it unconstitutional in 1972. Remarkably unforgiving punishment, its more blacks getting executed than any other race. The death penalty is a remarkably unforgiving punishment, its more whites getting executed than any other race. Convicted in 1979 of all four murders’ with special circumstance on each count of felony murder as well as multiple murders in case of the Brookhaven events. The jury also convicted him of robbery in both cases, and found that he personally used a firearm in the commission of crimes. The jury recommended the death penalty, and the judge accepted the recommendation and sentenced him to death penalty. From the beginning of his sentence Williams maintained his innocence regarding the

Capital punishment has been a part of the U.S criminal justice system for centuries. The death penalty has been the most controversial aspect. The death penalty is legal in 33 states but the rest of the 19 states abolished it. There are over half of Americans that support the death penalty while the rest of them believe that it is unacceptable. People who support the death penalty believe that capital punishment lowers future crime rates, but people who are against it believe that it is a cruel and think innocent people could be mistakenly put to death for something they did not do. Capital punishment should be allowed because it saves lives, decrease the homicide rate, and saves more money for the government.

The death penalty has been one of those things in the justice system that has slowly changed as the years have gone by. The death penalty has its pros and cons. There are guilty people who deserve the death penalty and then there are innocent people who get convicted of crimes that they didn’t do. This paper will let you open your eyes to the criminal justice system, specifically to the death penalty.

If a jury returns a decision of death, a trial judge is called upon to determine whether to decrease the sentence to life without the probability of parole. Trial judges infrequently decrease a death judgement to life without parole. If the jury returns a life verdict, the judge has no power to enforce death.

After reading about the death penalty in our criminal justice book , it was interesting to find out that the death penalty was brought over to America by the English settlers. I do understand that the death penalty is a controversial topic that will never end. In the next few paragraphs, I will discuss the death penalty and my opinion on this topic.

Prior to taking this class, I would say that I knew how I felt about the death penalty. Growing up in the 70 's and 80 's, it was always an "eye for an eye", if someone killed another and was proven guilty then he or she would get the death penalty. In high school, I learned that if a person was convicted of the death penalty then they were allowed 13 appeals. Not sure where the 13 appeals came from because I cannot prove that today. The research I have found, is that there is no limit of appeals for the death penalty due to finality of the punishment.

Capital punishment is the death penalty. It is used today and was used in ancient times to punish a variety of offenses. Today, one of the most debated issues in the Criminal Justice System is the issue of capital punishment or the death penalty. Capital punishment was legal until 1972, when the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in Furman v. Georgia stating that it violated the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments citing cruel and unusual punishment. In 1976, the Supreme Court reversed itself with Gregg v. Georgia and reinstated the death penalty but not all states have the death penalty. Since 1973, 140 people have been released from death

that 350 people who were convicted of crimes for which they could have been put

John Grisham, an American politician, lawyer, and author once stated, “Death row is a nightmare to serial killers and ax murderers. For an innocent man, it 's a life of mental torture that the human spirit is not equipped to survive.” The death penalty, or capital punishment, refers to the punishment of a criminal convicted of a capital offense through execution (“Definition of Death Penalty”). With many criminals convicted of a capital offenses awaiting execution on death row, the death penalty has been a seriously debated topic since its reinstitution in the mid 1970s (“Reinstating”). Many in law enforcement have the view that there are positives to the death penalty, as execution serves as a form of retribution and is a direct deterrent to heinous crime. To many police officers capital punishment is a tool that assists and informs criminal justice and more specifically, law enforcement. Others believe that sentencing someone to death is not only inhumane, but is costly and there is always a chance that a person may be innocent and put to death (Drummond). In order to preserve human rights, save money, and save innocent lives, capital punishment should be abolished.

Understanding the history behind capital punishment helps illustrate why the issue is so divisive. The death penalty is nothing new to our society and has been in effect for ages. According to PBS, in the 18th Century BC, the Code of King Hammurabi of Babylon codified the death penalty for twenty five different crimes, although murder was not one of them. The first death sentence historically recorded, occurred in 16th Century BC Egypt where the criminal, a member of nobility, was accused of magic and ordered to take his own life. The first recorded execution in the English American colonies was in 1608 when officials executed George Kendall of Virginia for supposedly plotting to betray the British to the Spanish. Some colonies were very strict in their use of the death penalty, while others were less so. In 1612,

Capital punishment, commonly known as the death penalty, is one of the most controversial subjects that divides the nation. When, why, and how did this barbaric practice begin? Understanding the history of capital punishment, the methods used, and the con’s of this immoral act will prove this form of punishment should be forever abolished!

The ultimate punishment of the death penalty has long been advocated in the light of its ability to deter future capital crimes and its ability to bring closure and retribution to those who were directly affected by it. Many advocates for the death penalty have always used deterrence and retribution as their salient topics but deterrence and retribution are starting to lose their efficacy. The population of death row has dropped every year for 13 consecutive years, from 2000-2013, and only 16% of the people on death row have been executed since 1973 (Snell, 2013). Eighteen states have abolished the death penalty and the remaining 32 states have reduced their practices of the death penalty, given this 13 consecutive year drop rate of death row inmates (Death Penalty Info, 2015).

The death penalty is also known as capital punishment, a legal process whereby a person is put to death by the state as a punishment for a crime. The judicial ruling that someone be punished in this manner is a death sentence, while the actual enforcement is an execution. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offenses. 41 capital offenses punishable by death were listed by The United States federal government. The capital offenses include espionage, treason, murder while transporting explosives, attempted murder of a witness in a Continuing Criminal Enterprise, large scale drug trafficking, and death resulting from aircraft hijacking. However, they mostly consist of various forms of murder such as murder committed during a drug-related drive-by shooting, murder during a kidnapping, murder for hire, and genocide. The time in prison is meant to take the criminal’s freedom to go anywhere he or she may want to go, or whatever he or she chooses to do in the world. Which will cost the criminal to think about the crime and not want to come back. But when the person is put to death, they are taught absolutely nothing because they are no longer alive to learn from it.