Death Penalty

Death Penalty

Introduction

Capital Punishment or the Death Penalty is referred as an action ordered by the government to kill or execute any person because of the guilty accepted by him or her for committing a serious crime. There is not a single doubt that executions are referred as a final punishment for committing a crime, as there is no retraction from death (Pojman, 2004). In fact, the reasonable option for capital punishment is life in prison without parole, yet many countries still follow the action of death penalty. The main reason is the debate on the issue that whether capital punishment is ethical and justifiable which is a hugely disputed matter.

History

The imposition of capital punishment reaches far back into history. During the colonial period in America the use of capital punishment was not uncommon. The constitutionality of capital punishment centers on what the drafters meant when they included the Eighth Amendment in the Bill of Rights. Though the amendment includes a clause banning cruel and unusual punishments, the issue of capital punishment was never debated. Supporters of capital punishment have contended that the drafter never contemplated a prohibition on the death penalty, as their concerns were directed at the means of torturing and killing persons.

During the nineteenth century, many states made a large number of crimes automatically punishable by death. Juries were often reluctant to impose such a drastic penalty and acquitted defendants to avoid this outcome. Legislatures then reduced the number of capital crimes or limited capital punishment to murderers who had killed willfully, deliberately, and with premeditation. Some states continued to make rape a capital offense.

The U.S. Supreme Court had few occasions to address death penalty issues. It upheld the use of firing squads in 1878 and electrocution in In Re Kemmler. The Kemmler decision came as electrocution was touted as a new and more humane technology for executing inmates. Proponents argued that electrocution was more humane than hanging, which was characterized as being barbarous and a remnant of the dark ages. The New York legislature became the first state to authorize the use of the electric chair.

Discussion

Capital punishment, widely referred to as the death penalty, is the supreme act of punishment that over the years has been imposed for major criminal offenses, such as murder, sexual assault, and treason. The most common method of execution in the United States today is lethal injection, but electrocution, the gas chamber, hanging, and the firing squad have also been used since the 1970s. From 1930 to 2008, the United States carried out a total of 4,900 executions (including 36 by federal authorities). Although a vast majority of the cases involved murder, less than 1 percent of homicides in America result in the death penalty.

Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the inflicting of death upon a person by judicial process as a punishment for an offence. Usually a person receives the death penalty for committing a capital crime or capital offence.

The death penalty is decided by the judiciary ...