Capitol Punishment This paper discusses John Kavenough book and how the death penalty should be illegal

Essay by missiebishopUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, August 2009

download word file, 8 pages 5.0

Is Capitol Punishment Justified?The Death Penalty is one of the oldest forms of punishment known to humans. From the days of Medieval Europe, up until our modern time, people have used death as deterrence against heinous crimes. Since the beginning of the nineteenth century, most executions in the United States have resulted from murder convictions. However, the sentence of death has been imposed for other serious crimes such as armed robbery, kidnapping, rape, and treason.

People disagree about whether capital punishment is moral or if it is effective in discouraging crime. Many people oppose the death penalty because it is considered as a cruel punishment. Critics also believe that there is a risk of executing the wrong person. Supporters of the death penalty believe that in some instances, people who take another human life deserve to forfeit their own lives. Many supporters also argue that the threat of death discourages crime.

Some of the most common modern methods of executing those on death row are lethal injection, electrocution, and the gas chamber. Some of the older ways of executing those on death row were quiet gruesome. From the beginning of time, the bible tells that people were stoned to death. From there they began to use the firing squad and then they began to use hanging as a method.(3)Many people have many different opinions on the Capital Punishment. The question is not whether or not it is legal but how moral is it? Do we have the right as humans to play God and take the life of another?Many law makers believe that the death penalty is a just punishment. In the old testament it say's "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth". The family of victims sees the death penalty as a just punishment also.