...For thousands of years, the death penalty has served as part of the criminal justice system. The U.S uses the death penalty for prosecuting certain crimes. The debate over the death penalty has progressed for many centuries. However, in the past years, the debate has increased in the United States. In the recent past, opponents have held that the death sentence is ineffective, racist, barbaric, as well as against the American values. Conversely, the majority of people view the death punishment as a vital tool in fighting violent pre-meditated murder. Both sides have appealing arguments. Regardless, the support of the society for capital punishment is wanting. The death penalty is cruel and immoral. The society punishes murderers by killing...
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...answer for punishment. Capital punishment is another word for death penalty is given to those convicted to those found guilty of crimes they committed. The death penalty has been around since the beginning of civilization. In ancient times the Romans use of the death penalty was stoning,...
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...The death penalty has been used as a punishment of execution throughout long periods of time. Through those periods, the penalty has now become a necessary part of the society and government system, as an imperative way to prevent dangerous crimes. Yet subsequently, society has become to question this deterrent, regarding humanistic ideas and its certainty. Much inquiry and debate arise from the thought of executing a person due to crime. This controversy created a worldwide dispute regarding the laws of this penalty. Nations like China, Iran, North Korea, Yemen, and the US are still using this deterrent. Whereas nations like France, Germany, Mexico, Canada, United Kingdom, and New Zealand have completely abolished the death penalty. However, there are still many other nations with this legislation and thus; this essay will prove to show why this capital punishment should be abolished and no longer used....
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...this is the only acceptable punishment. Capital punishment does not only lower the murder rate, but it's value as retribution alone is a good reason for handing out death sentences. Support for the death penalty in the U.S. has risen to an average of 80% according to an article written by Richard Worsnop, entitled "Death penalty debate centres on Retribution", this figure is slightly lower in Canada where support for the death penalty is at 72% of the population over 18 years of age, as stated in article by Kirk Makir, in the March 26, 1987 edition of the Globe and Mail, titled "B.C. MPs split on Death Penalty". The death penalty deters murder by putting the fear of death into would be killers. A person is less likely to do something, if he or she thinks that harm will come to him. Another way the death penalty deters murder, is the fact that if the killer is dead, he will not be able to kill again. Most supporters of the death penalty feel that offenders should be punished for their crimes, and that it does not matter whether it will deter the crime rate. Supporters of the death penalty are in favour of making examples out of offenders, and that the threat of death will be enough to deter the crime rate, but the crime rate is irrelevant. According to Isaac Ehrlich's study, published on April 16, 1976, eight murders...
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...The Death Penalty: Cruel and Unjust As Ronald Ryan fell to the ground on February 3, 1967, a flock of pigeons flew away in a scare (York). Everyone nearby knew this man’s life had been taken from him and never to be used again. This moment was the last of Australia’s executions. 50 years later, however, the United States of America still commits Capital Punishment, and regularly, too. The topic is debated whether or not the Capital Punishment should be legal. The government is already involved in the lives of those who commit crimes, but the idea of it taking away someone’s life creates an uneasy thought. Some people believe that execution is wrong, inhumane and should be abolished while others believe that it projects positive impacts and will benefit the world, in such ways as lowering crime rates and ridding the world of the worst criminals....
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...Would death penalty in Canada reduce the number of violent crimes? The restoration of the death penalty for serious crimes has always been debatable. The causes, effects, and solutions to the problems of violent crimes are a complex issue that can be made even more complicated by the way the crime was evaluated. During this essay I will state statistics and arguements explaining if the dealth penalty would reduce the number of violent crimes in Canada. A survey conducted by Angus Reid found that 63% of the 1,002 Canadians surveyed want the death penalty to be reinstated, but did the death penalty reduce violent crimes when it was already active? No, infact when it was abolished in 1976 the Canadian murder rate declined the following year from 2.8 per 100,000 people to 2.7. During the next few years the rates fluctuated but it was generally downwards. In my opinion I believe that the death penalty isn’t such a bad idea, because my whole life I grew up with the saying, “What goes around, comes around.” It seems a bit cliché to talk about karma but for violent crimes I believe it’s the only reasonable way to resolve something. If someone takes a life, why should they have the right to have one? It seems only fair to have done to you what you have done to someone else. Although executions are sometimes appropriate, they are often cruel. I don’t believe in the torture of someone, or something. Because of this, I might change my opinion on the death penalty. Though it might...
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...International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 and its protocol in 1989 where the State parties believed that abolition of death penalty should be in the scale of enhancement of human dignity and progressive development of human rights and recalling Article 3 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted on 10th December, 1948 as well as Article 21 of our Constitution.1 It can be judicially said “I don’t punish you for killing the man but so that the other cannot be killed.” That is, the chief aim of capital punishment is to make deterrent to others for same crime . Now this concept is having a new direction. The Supreme Court and High Courts in India interpret the cases before giving the death sentence as rarest of rare cases. The Court moves its eye also for other aspects of society. The landmark cases where death sentences were awarded in India are Ranga Billa case2, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi Assassination case, Laxman Nayak case 3 and the lastly, it was awarded to Dhananjoy Chatterjee on 14th August, 2004 in connection with Hetal Parikh case of West Bengal after the Supreme Court affirmed the death sentence awarded by lower courts and President also refused to grant him pardon. In the year 2003, Government laid a bill in the Parliament which proposed to add a provision of the punishment, like death sentence in the Drugs and Cosmetics Act as also it was |LL.B. Entrance Examination, Universal Law Publishing Co., New Delhi (2007), ...
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...Death penalty in America Death penalty debate has been a daily talk for quite some time now. This has been a very controversial that has engaged many organizations and countries in the debate. Some oppose this form of punishment based on moral and judicial grounds. These grounds include wrongful conviction base on DNA tests. Other grounds include wrongful conviction based on race. Those supporting death penalty argue that death penalty creates a feeling of safety since it instills fear in potential criminals. They also hold that those convicted despite their race actually did the crime they are convicted for. Some countries like Canada and New Zealand do not believe in the administration of death penalty as a means of punishment. Therefore, until today there is no agreed provision used by the judiciary to reach at a decision of such cases. United States, China and Japan among other countries believe that death penalty is a favorable sentence. United States has authorized death penalty in most federal governments, including the military. Some of the methods used in death penalty include the electric chair. Most of these procedures used in death penalty have been considered to be violating constitutional rights. Though fewer legislatures have been made to change these procedures, death penalty should be abolished. This is the position that is appropriate and offer should be supported. It is a racist tool of criminal punishment. Evidences explaining the reasons against this...
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...executions. For instance, in the late 18th century, when all murder in the United States was punishable by death, Pennsylvania pioneered in dividing murder into two categories. The state enacted laws that authorized punishment of first-degree murder by death, while second-degree murder was punishable by imprisonment only. Elsewhere, penal codes uniformly required death for certain serious crimes. In these jurisdictions, discretionary powers to commute death sentences gradually expanded. (A commutation substitutes a lesser penalty for a more severe one—for example, replacing execution with a life sentence.) Today in many nations, including Turkey and Japan, the death penalty remains legal but the number of executions has declined over time. Although many jurisdictions limited imposition of the death penalty, no government had formally abolished capital punishment until Michigan did so in 1846. Within 20 years Venezuela (1863) and Portugal (1867) had formally eliminated the practice as well. By the beginning of the 20th century the death sentence had been abolished in a handful of nations, such as Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Norway, and The Netherlands. Although not formally eliminated, it had fallen into disuse in many others, including Brazil, Cape Verde, Iceland, Monaco, and Panama. The defeat of the Axis powers provided a foundation for the elimination of the death penalty in Western Europe. Some of the nations involved in the war saw abolition of capital punishment as a...
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...executions. For instance, in the late 18th century, when all murder in the United States was punishable by death, Pennsylvania pioneered in dividing murder into two categories. The state enacted laws that authorized punishment of first-degree murder by death, while second-degree murder was punishable by imprisonment only. Elsewhere, penal codes uniformly required death for certain serious crimes. In these jurisdictions, discretionary powers to commute death sentences gradually expanded. (A commutation substitutes a lesser penalty for a more severe one—for example, replacing execution with a life sentence.) Today in many nations, including Turkey and Japan, the death penalty remains legal but the number of executions has declined over time. Although many jurisdictions limited imposition of the death penalty, no government had formally abolished capital punishment until Michigan did so in 1846. Within 20 years Venezuela (1863) and Portugal (1867) had formally eliminated the practice as well. By the beginning of the 20th century the death sentence had been abolished in a handful of nations, such as Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Norway, and The Netherlands. Although not formally eliminated, it had fallen into disuse in many others, including Brazil, Cape Verde, Iceland, Monaco, and Panama. The defeat of the Axis powers provided a foundation for the elimination of the death penalty in Western Europe. Some of the nations involved in the war saw abolition of capital punishment as a...
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...Death Penalty In today’s times crime is ever increasing and as it does so should the penalties. A lot of people tend to be against the death penalty until they have a loved one taken from them. I look at the death penalty as what fits the crimes that have been committed and when you have adults that have killed another human being or have done such a hennas crime that would warrant this kind of punishment then I am all for it. I look at it as if you take a life then you have given up your life. So because of this I have taken the Moral Pluralism point of view. The death penalty is a term used to describe the act of putting a person to death, after judgment by a legal system. Either as an act of retribution, or to ensure they cannot commit future crimes. The early use of the death penalty was often for penal purposes, and as a result the methods used to put people to death were horrific. Drawing and subdividing people, for example, or flaying them alive or burning them, were not uncommon in Medieval Europe or in much of the world. There has consistently been a movement towards abolishing the death penalty, as well, although different cultures have arrived there in different times. China, for example, banned the death penalty in the mid-8th century, only to restore it after 12 years. In 96% of the states where there have been reviews of race and the death penalty, there was a pattern of either race of victim or race-of-defendant discrimination...
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...and empirical aspects of human justice. Ultimately, the key issue regarding the death penalty is as follows: is the death penalty as appropriate form of punishment for the United States of America’s judicial system to impose? This key issue incorporates the empirical and moral claims of those both for and against capital punishment in America. The main empirical issues center on whether or not the death penalty is imposed with bias, whether it serves as deterrence for future crimes, and whether it is an economically beneficial option for the country. Moral concerns include the idea of justice being “an eye for an eye,” whether or not capital punishment is “playing God,” and if the death penalty is a cruel and unusual form of punishment. The position we recommend to our legislators is opposition to capital punishment because evidence demonstrates that it is biased, unjust, fails to deter crime, is not cost effective, and cruel and unusual government action. The death penalty in America dates back to the colonial period. Its use was fragmented at best throughout the colonies and eventually the states, with each state having its own laws concerning the use of capital punishment. As long as it has existed in the United States, there has been controversy and divided views regarding the death penalty. One of the earliest views from the nation was from Dr. Benjamin Rush, who argued that the death penalty did not deter crime, but actually caused crime rates to rise. This is a view that...
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...The debate concerning the death penalty has been ongoing for decades. The central question is whether capital punishment should be retained or abolished worldwide. While the death penalty continues to be used today, most countries have eliminated it in their criminal justice systems. One substantial country that continues to use the death penalty is America. Capital punishment is significant because it permits individuals to be killed lawfully. The death penalty carries enormous power around the legal system in addition to the persons that are accused of serious crimes. The purpose of this paper is to find out the diverse arguments surrounding capital punishment that has led some countries against it and others for it? This will be done by...
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...this irrevocable form of punishment are, as well as the counter arguments that follow. In full support of the former, in his article titled “On Deterrence and the Death Penalty”[ Van Den Haag, Ernest (1969) On Deterrence and the Death Penalty. The Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology and Police Science, 60(2) ], Ernest Van Den Haag outlines his thoughts which support the use of the death penalty and how it might deter heinous crimes against society. The first section of this paper will give a summery of Van Den Haag’s thoughts, which he outlined in the article, including the main points and arguments made which support his view. Following this summary, an in depth analysis of how the article relates to my personal beliefs and understanding of the topic will take place. Summary In section one of the article, the author brings up the point that the purposes of the death penalty must always be understood as being one of two things: doing justice or deterring others. Van den Haag points out that any other aim of a justice system, such as rehabilitation, would not be met by this form of punishment. It is his belief that opponents contesting the use of the death penalty must show that that neither purpose is met in order to illustrate that it should be abolished[ Van Den Haag, Ernest (1969) On Deterrence and the Death Penalty. The Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology and Police Science, 60(2),pp.141]. He then outlines the purpose of his paper which is to challenge the claim that capital...
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...this case, the state has the responsibility and the legal authority to punish the criminal or groups of criminals based on the given law. The punishment of the criminals may vary from simple fines and imprisonment to sever torture and the deprivation of life. Capital punishment or the death penalty has existed as part of the human justice system since ancient times. In these earlier periods people were sentenced to death as a punishment for crimes considered as first degree offenses by the state. These crimes were most of the time political as well as religious and the method of execution, in addition to different brutal ways, was mainly beheading. With additional types of crimes resulting in capital punishment and more sophisticated methods of execution, the death penalty has continued to be practiced in the 21st century. However, capital punishment, especially after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, has became an issue of greater debate among states, human right organizations and other nongovernmental organizations. Since 1948, the number of countries employing death penalty is decreasing and currently nearly half of the states in our world have abandoned the death penalty for all kinds of crimes. This paper will focus on presenting the diverging views regarding capital punishment mainly from a human right perspective. The study then tries to present facts, figures, and tries to look in brief the move towards its universal abolition. As far as the methods...
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