Death Penalty example essay topic

Murder is a very serious crime that affects everyone whether it is emotionally, mentally, or physically. Nowadays terrible crimes such as murders are happening everyday. Many people believe that the people that commit these horrific crimes should be sentenced to death. Capital punishment, the death penalty, is the maximum sentence is used as a form of punishment to the people that commit murders. The death penalty is a very controversial issue that many people are for, yet many are also against. Capital punishment is an action courts take to punish criminals that murder.

In the United States capital punishment is legal in thirty-nine of the fifty states. Starting in 1973, prison populations began to dramatically increase. There were 204,211 inmates in 1973, and by 1977 the number of prisoners had grown to 285,456, which later grew to 315,974 in 1980. By 1976, it was clear that the death penalty was needed. America's twenty-one year experiment with capital punishment has resulted in a total amount of 392 executions, seventy eight of which were taken place in 1996.

Of those thirty-four were federal cases, out of which thirty two were male and only two were female. In the United States, the death penalty is currently authorized in five different ways, one being hanging, which has been the traditional method of execution throughout the world. Another one of the five is electrocution, which was introduced by New York State in 1890, also the gas chamber which was introduced by Nevada in 1923, and also the firing squad which is only used in Utah and Idaho, and finally lethal injection which was introduced in 1977 by Oklahoma and is the currently the most common form of execution. Out of thirty nine states where the death penalty is legal, twelve have had no executions.

Texas is the state with the most executions with a total of 127. Florida and Virginia follow with a huge difference, only thirty nine executions each. There are currently more than 3,000 people on death row, many of whom do not have lawyers. Texas has the most people on death row with an amount of 448, while California has 444 people. Wyoming, New Hampshire and New York are currently the only ones with no criminals on death row. Capital punishment is forbidden by law in almost every country outside of the United States.

There are fifty national organizations that are involved in the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty in America alone. It has been reported that the public opinion is in favor of capital punishment. However, a much more careful survey revealed that most Americans prefer for the criminals to receive a life sentence without possibility of parole. Capital punishment is a very controversial issue that affects many religions. Many Catholics believe that everyone's life is sacred and killing them simply adds to the fire. They say that two wrongs do not make a right, and that God and the Bible states, "Thou shall not kill".

Professor Ernest van den Haag said, "All religions that I am aware of feel that human life is sacred and that its sacredness must be enforced by depriving life anyone who deprives another person of life". Many Christians have said that all life is holy because it was given to us by God and it is not up to anyone whether or not a person should die. According to Pope Pius XII, "When it is a question of the execution of a man condemned to death the State does not dispose of the individual's right to live". On the other hand believe that by not executing a victim's murderer, one is putting a higher value on the murderer's life than on the victim.

John Stuart Mill said in his 1868 address to parliament that, "When there has been brought home to anyone, by conclusive evidence, the greatest crime known to the law; and when the attendant circumstances suggest no palliation of guilt... nothing to make it probable that the crime was an exception to his general character rather than a consequence of it, then... it appears to me that to deprive the criminal of the life of which he has proved himself to be unworthy... is the most appropriate". Capital punishment is a very serious action because, "It is the finality of the death penalty which instills fear into the heart of every murderer, and it is this fear of punishment which protects society". (The Death Penalty: Opposing Viewpoints) Many groups such as The American Baptist Churches USA, American Jewish Congress, California Catholic Council, Christian reformed Church, Episcopal Church, Lutheran Church in America, Mennonite General Conference, National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, Northern Ecumenical Council, Presbyterian Church, Reformed Church of America, Southern California Ecumenical Council, Unitarian / Universalist Assoc., United Church of Christ, and the United Methodist Church are against the death penalty. However the people that have believed in the death penalty in the past are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Kant, Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau, Montesquieu, and Mill. However, Washington and Jefferson, two former presidents, both supported slavery as well.

Many court cases have dealt with capital punishment more than once. An example would have to be the Timothy McVeigh case. After his home-made bomb exploded in the Murray building in Oklahoma City, ending 168 innocent lives, including those of nineteen children, McVeigh was prosecuted in courtroom C-204 in the United States Courthouse in Denver, Colorado. It was a two-year effort to execute the twenty-nine year man whose defendants are trying to make look like "the boy next door".

The defendant's lawyers stressed that the fact that, "he was brought up in a typical American family in upstate New York, and he won the Bronze Star for his combat service during the Persian Gulf War". Timothy was a man loved not only by family, but by his friends and neighbors as well. It was very obvious throughout the trial that McVeigh is smart and alert and in no way mentally impaired. As the case went on Timothy seemed emotionally unaffected, unlike the jurors, lawyers and, at one point, the Honorable Richard P. Match. "The crime was pure savagery, premeditated, and unprovoked".

Although the defense did not allow McVeigh to testify, they are making it quite clear that he loved his country, but came to believe that the federal government had betrayed the American people. Timothy's bomb was almost identical to one of the plots found in his favorite book about a bomb attack on FBI headquarters in Washington by antigovernment patriots. McVeigh's bomb on the other hand was much worse, due to that in the book no children were killed. On April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh killed 168 innocent people out of hatred for the U.S. government.

There were many reasons why the Oklahoma City bomber deserved the death penalty, however, jurors were asked not to let their feelings be a determining factor on deciding the verdict. Jurors were also asked by the Judge not to seek revenge and ask themselves the following questions: Why does America put people to death? Is the death penalty meant to benefit society or to provide comfort to the victims? There is an important distinction had to be made between revenge and retribution.

The jury finally came to a decision and Timothy McVeigh was put to death by lethal injection in 2001. The real question dealing with death penalty is whether or not it is the answer to the crimes people commit. Should the government be allowed to decide whether or not a person should be allowed to live? On the other hand society demands a sense of closure and believes that justice should be served. The death penalty is needed for peace to be kept. If all criminals were allowed to get away with taking someone's life, the world would be full of fear and chaos.

The government must be trusted to protect the innocent citizens of the United States so that we can all have a better future far from crime.

Bibliography

Becker, David. The Death Penalty: Opposing Viewpoints. 1991.
pp. 41-70. Bruck, David. The Death Penalty. May. 1985.