Capital Punishment

Title	Capital Punishment
# of Words	1110
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	4.44

Capital Punishment

Capital Punishment

     There is one question that has always brought about controversy. Should
capital punishment be used as a way of disciplining criminals?  Over the past
twenty years, there has been an enormous increase in violent crimes. It seems
logical that a person is less likely to commit a given act if by doing so he
will suffer swift and certain punishment of a horrible kind.  As most Americans
agree, death is the only appropriate punishment for such crimes.
     In ancient times' executions were not uncommon.  Even the Bible teaches
capital punishment.  It states, “Who so sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his
blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man” (Bible). In ancient times a
set of laws were written which specified many crimes punishable by capital
punishment.  These laws were the Code of Hammurabi.  Some of the punishable
crimes mentioned included adultery, robbery witchcraft, and murder. During the
Middle Ages, the Church assumed the responsibility of administering punishments.
During the late 1700's the death penalty steadily grew in acceptance.  Over
200 crimes were punishable by death at the beginning of the 1800's.  There were
just as many methods used to execute wrong-doers as there were crimes.  Some of
the techniques used included beheading, stoning, drowning, hanging, crucifying,
and burying people alive. Also used were many nontraditional forms of
execution.  One type of execution utilized elephants to crush the criminal's
head on a stone block.
     As times changed, so did the death penalty.  Laws aimed at abolishing
the death penalty began to evolve at the turn of the century.  Even with the
changes made, the effectiveness of capital punishment stayed right on track.
The crimes punishable by death became more specific, while some were eradicated
completely.  For example, there are different types of capital murder that have
been specifically defined, but vary from one jurisdiction to another.  These
include murder carried out during the commission of another felony, murder of a
peace officer, corrections employee, or firefighter engaged in the performance
of official duties, murder by an inmate serving a life sentence, and murder for
hire (Contract Murder).  Other crimes worthy of death include espionage by a
member of the Armed Forces (communication of information to a foreign
government), tampering where death results by a witness, and death resulting
from aircraft hijacking.  While hangings and firing squads remained in use,
many forms of execution were done away with. Methods such as electrocution,
lethal gas, and lethal injection soon replaced the annulled ones.  As with
almost everything, there were exceptions made.  Some states the prohibited the
execution of anyone mentally retarded. In 1901, Colorado made it a law that
capital punishment would not be used if the accused was convicted only on
circumstantial evidence.
     The American public has long been favorably disposed toward capital
punishment for convicted murderers, and that support continues to grow.  In a
1981 Gallup Poll, two-thirds of Americans voiced general approval of the death
penalty.  That support rose to 72 percent in 1985, to 76 percent in 1991, and
to 80 percent in 1994 (Moore, 1994:5).  Although these poll results need to be
interpreted with extreme caution, it is clear that there are few issues on
which more Americans agree: in at least some circumstances, death is seen as a
justifiable punishment for the worst sorts of criminal homicides.
     On the other hand, much of the public and political support for capital
punishment rests on its presumed value as a general deterrent:...

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