Capital Punishment: Moral or Immoral?

apital Punishment, also known as the death penalty is a very controversial issue in today's society. Capital Punishment is the legal infliction of death as a penalty for violating criminal law. Methods of Capital Punishment have ranged from crucifixion, stoning, to impaling, to modern time Capitol Punishment that generally consists of lethal gas or injection, electrocution, hanging, or at times shooting over the years. About 90 nations all over the world have abolished the death penalty and about the same number have retained it. In today's society there are many people on both sides of the issue of Capitol Punishment that have much to say about whether it should be retained or abolished.

The idea of Capital Punishment has been around for centuries "it is as old as government itself." (Microsoft pg. 1) In ancient times most government punished many wrongdoings by death and not up until the mid 18th century did people begin to think for themselves and criticize these practices of the government.

English: Total number of executions carried out in...

US gas chamber usage

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

Cesare Beccaria was the first person to start a movement to abolish the death penalty that would be recognized as many and draw a lot of attention. Beccaria published Tratto dei delitti e delle pene, which in English is translated to Essay on Crimes and Punishments. Many reformers and philosophers that came after Beccaria considered his work the leading document in the campaign to abolish Capital Punishment.

In today's society there are many arguments for and against Capitol Punishment. These arguments involve whether it really is deterrence against crime, whether or not it is constitutional and whether it is right to risk taking the life of an innocent. People have argued these points for many years now. There has been much research down for and against it, and still much of the research has...