This essay was originally meant to promote the death penalty.

"The abolition of the death penalty in Canada in 1976 has not led to increased homicide rates. Statistics Canada reports that the number of homicides in Canada in 2001 (554) was 23% lower than the number of homicides in 1975 (721), the year before the death penalty was abolished. In addition, homicide rates in Canada are generally three times lower than homicide rates in the U.S., which uses the death penalty. For example, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, the homicide rate in the U.S. in 1999 was 5.7 per 100,000 population and the rate in Canada was only 1.8. Canada currently sentences those convicted of murder to life sentences with parole eligibility. (Issues Direct.com, 8/4/02)." This news insert, taken from www.deathpenaltyinfo.org, may give some explanation as to why, in 2002, Maryland, a state which uses the death penalty, had the second highest homicide rate in the United States with 9.4

US gas chamber usage

Article 2 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of ...

An ad from the Ecologist Green Party in Mexico pro...

murders per 100,000 people. The death penalty obviously has no deterring effect on criminals. Many arguments have been made in the past against capital punishment. Many have noted the inaccuracy of capital convictions. People have also used the Eighth Amendment as a weapon against this "cruel and unusual punishment." The only solid argument that has ever been posed on the side of capital punishment is its deterring effect on crime. When the theory that capital punishment deters crime is thrown out the window, one must realize that the need for capital punishment no longer exists. Since there is no need for the death penalty, Maryland should protect its citizens by abolishing the death penalty.

The inaccuracy and unfairness of capital case convictions has been the death penalty's biggest adversary. In 1996, the UN Commission on Human Rights issued the reports of a special investigation, documenting the...