DEATH PENALTY

The Death Penalty

Abstract

Capital punishment may be defined as the lawful infliction of death as punishment. In 1972, with the majority of 5 to 4 the US government made one of the most historic decisions of its time. It declared the death penalty law unconstitutional across US. The supporters of death penalty view it as a means of deterring crime. Media's depiction of the crime and punishment has played a vital role in shaping public's opinion. Public opinion plays an important role in the administration of death penalty. Capital punishment, by and large, is considered cruel and against the human rights to life and justice. It is argued that the system has become capricious due to unreliable witnesses, coerced confessions and racially motivated prosecutions. A single execution costs the taxpayers so much that it does not make economic sense. The cost that the state has to bear in terms of time and money can be saved by abandoning capital punishment. The state can focus its attention on other crimes. The family of the accused faces a variety of emotional dilemmas. In this regard, the family member's personality, their relationship with the victim and the situation all play a role in the way these families cope with the situation. Their feelings are a mixture of anger and withdrawal from others.

Table of Contents

Introduction1

Law2

Public Opinion on Death penalty policy3

Legal Disparities4

Cost of Capital Punishment4

Families of the accused5

Conclusion6

References8

The Death Penalty

Introduction

Capital punishment may be defined as the lawful infliction of death as punishment. Despite continued debate over merits and effectiveness of capital punishment as a means to deter serious crime, it is still adopted in the United States. The lawful means of capital punishment are hanging, gas chamber, electrocution, firing squad and lethal injection. As of 2003, 38 states employed capital punishment as a sentence; 12 states—Alaska, Iowa, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, Minnesota, West Virginia, Michigan, North Dakota, Wisconsin and Vermont—and the District of Columbia did not.

Texas has had the highest number of executions to date. In the era of Governor Rick Perry, 235 death row inmates were executed in a small period of 11 years (The Economist, 2011).

Figure 1: Number of Executions between 1995 and 2006

Worldwide statistics show that two-third countries in the world have abandoned the death penalty. They either have labeled it unconstitutional or they don't practice it. The number of countries involved in judicial killing has fell from 41 to 23 between 1995 and 2010.

The following sections give the arguments by people who support death penalty and those who oppose it.

Law

In 1972, with the majority of 5 to 4 the US government made one of the most historic decisions of its time. It declared the death penalty law unconstitutional across US. Five states however, introduced bills to resurrect the death penalty. They collected evidence of incidences where released murderers committed yet another crime of murder. In 1972, due to the strong support for the death penalty in California, the matter was propelled to ...