The Morality Of Capital Punishment Essay - 1301 Words

Playing God While researching about criminal justice, I came across a few online articles with very shocking statistics about our current legal systems on the issue of capital punishment. The following statistics vividly captured my attention, â€Å"from January 1, 1997, to December 31, 2000, 683 executions took place in 31 states†. Another statistic was that â€Å"1,188 people were executed in the US from 1977 through 2009†. From this figures, it came to my mind that 1,188 men, women, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and children were denied the chance to life by our legal systems without the opportunity of rehabilitation or change; to make matters worse, some innocent but evidence strongly supporting the conviction, call it being at the wrong place at the wrong time. In this essay I’d like to point out the negativity of capital punishment, otherwise known as the death penalty, and why our legal systems need to abolish it. In order to achieve this, in this paper I have detailed about the morality of capital punishment and why its ‘pros’ are outweighed the cons: some of the cons being execution of juvenile offender and the mentally ill, and death penalty conviction based on racism and class. But first of all, I’ll give a brief history about capital punishment and about its origins. Capital punishment began as early as the eighteenth century B.C in Babylon under the rule of King Hammurabi. The Hittites also practised it as from the fourteenth century B.C, so did the Romans and theShow MoreRelatedThe Morality of Capital Punishment Essay2467 Words   |  10 Pagesin this essay is the moral standing of capital punishment. Taking the teachings of the largest Christian denomination (Catholic) as a starting point, some say that the presentation of capital punishment in the Catechism of 1992 (#2266) differs surely in restrictiveness from the teaching of the Catechism of 1566. And that t he revised Catechism of 1997 is even more restrictive. Leets examine these ane other aspects of the morality of capital punishment. The Catechism (1997) #2267 says, inRead MoreDivergent Views Of Capital Punishment958 Words   |  4 PagesDivergent Views: Capital punishment as a Human Rights Issue According to the basic principles of global human rights; capital punishment or death penalty is a crime towards humanity and the most crucial and important human right, which is the right to life. As a result, any form of justification attached to it is not valid arguing on the basis of the human rights organization policies. In order to successfully argue out the topic of discussion, this section uses two antagonistic perceptions of theRead MoreTaking a Look at Capital Punishment764 Words   |  3 PagesDeath penalty is also known as capital punishment. Capital Punishment is a penalty of execution, administered to someone legally convicted of a capital crime. The death penalty was established in America in 1608. The British influenced America to use the death sentence. The first recorded practice of the death penalty in America was to Caption George Kendall in Virginia, he was found guilty of being a spy for Spain. However, the death penalty came long before Captain George Kendal l. The first establishedRead MoreCapital Punishment : A Form Of Legal Punishment Essay1672 Words   |  7 PagesCapital punishment implies that the criminal is sentenced to death as a punishment for their crimes. Prima facie, it appears to be the most just punishment and solution to crimes that demand such severity of punishment in proportion to the offense. However, the reason why it is a moot point and a debatable issue is because ethicists see both sides of the story and there are numerous ethical issues involved with institutionalizing capital punishment. To understand the debate on capital punishmentRead MoreThe Death Penalty Is Justified1143 Words   |  5 PagesObjective paper on the death penalty Capital punishment is legally authorized killing as punishment for a crime. The death penalty questions the morality of killing a person as justification for their crime. It also brings to question whether the death penalty actually serves as a deterrent for crime, and that some of the people executed are found innocent afterwards. The debates over the constitutionality of the death penalty and whether capital punishment should be used for retribution are alsoRead MoreEssay about The Debate Over Capital Punishment1141 Words   |  5 Pages The debate over capital punishment has been raging on for countless number of years. Capital punishment has been used for thousands of years due to the physiological fear it inflicts on the people who witness and learn about the death penalty. The use of this punishment has helped to reduce crime and alter the minds of future criminals to deter them against committing heinous crimes such as murder, treason, espionage, terrorism and in some cases aggravated kidnapping. Advocates say it deters crimeRead MoreThe Death Penalty Is A Valued Part Of Our Judicial System860 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"Why I believe the death penalty is a valued part of our judicial system† Although the death penalty is opposed by many people, I believe capital punishment is a necessary and valued part of the judicial system for numerous reasons such as the ultimate warning message, the costs involved, and the morality of the punishment. The first reason that the death penalty is a valued part of our justice system is the notion that it serves as the ultimate warning message towards people considering crimesRead MoreThe Essence Of Life1368 Words   |  6 PagesShadi Jabbour Mr. Harless English.111.4238 10 April 2015 The Essence of Life Dated back to the earliest civilizations, Capital punishment, which recently is more referred to as the death penalty, has been used by authority to seek out judgement and maintain order against criminals in a society. In recent centuries, societies have tended toward more humane acts of capital punishment, compared to that of before where often a man would be tortured or disgraced before executions were at end. Society hasRead MoreCapital Punishment : An Unnecessary Practice1630 Words   |  7 PagesCapital Punishment: an Unnecessary Practice I. Introduction The debate of whether the capital punishment is morally and politically appropriate has historical origins. The practice of capital punishment in America started when British settlers discovered the new world and created the first American colonies. Despite of the practice of the death penalty being ancient, capitals crimes have changed over time. Throughout the eras, the abolitionist movement against the capital punishment has been presentRead MoreThe Debate Over Capital Punishment936 Words   |  4 Pages The debate over capital punishment is in regards to whether the death penalty contradicts the Eighth Amendment. If the death penalty does contradict the Eight Amendment, then the State should not have the power to sentence criminals to death for capital crimes. However, if capital punishment is not against the Eighth Amendment, then the State has the right to sentence criminals to death. In this essay I will first summarize Justice Brennan’s argument on why the death penalty is beyond the power