Death Penalty In Gregg Vs Georgia example essay topic

THE ULTIMATE PRICE: A Look into Capital Punishment in America Many Americans claim that capital punishment is a cruel and unusual punishment and goes against a persons constitutional rights. On the other hand, many Americans support it and claim it is against ther constitutional right not to carry out the death penalty. How are we to know what is right? In all honesty, facts, papers, journals, etc. can not decide how I am truly going to feel about a subject that is very much a macro-argument.

None the less, here Americans sit, letting "their" opinion being primarily based off of claims and sub claims made by one side or the other. I guess that is what we will do here. I believe that if we are to look at papers, we might as well look at the whole knowledge of the subject. 1636 - The first death penalty statutes are recorded in the New World. 1847 - Michigan becomes the first English-speaking territory in the world to abolish the death penalty, excluding cases of treason. 1930's - From 1930 to 1939, 1,667 people are executed, more than in any other decade.

1960's - Public opinion turns against the death penalty. While 40 states authorize capital punishment, by 1967 executions virtually cease. June 29, 1972 - In Furman vs. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court rules 5-4 that the arbitrary application of the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment, and therefore unconstitutional. July 2, 1976 - The Supreme Court votes 7-2 to reinstate the death penalty in Gregg vs. Georgia.

January 17, 1977 - Gary Gilmore becomes the first person executed in 10 years. June 29, 1977 - The Supreme Court votes 7-2 in Coker vs. Georgia that use of the death penalty in rape cases is disproportionate to the crime, and therefore unconstitutional. 1982 - DNA testing is first used as evidence in court to exonerate a condemned prisoner. June 11, 2001 - Oklahoma City Federal Building bomber Timothy McVeigh is the first federal prisoner executed in 38 years. June 20, 2002 - The Supreme Court rules 6-3 in Atkins vs. Virginia that executing the mentally retarded is unconstitutional. October 21, 2002 - In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court refuses to reexamine whether executing killers who were under 18 when they committed their crimes is constitutional.

The US, along with Somalia, is one of the last remaining countries in the world where it is legal to execute juveniles. January 11, 2003 - Republican Governor George Ryan grants blanket clemency to all 167 people on death row in Illinois, commuting their sentences to life without parole. 2003 - Worldwide, 115 countries have abolished the death penalty. The US lags behind only China and Iran in the number of executions carried out. As shown in this brief time line of the death penalty, capital punishment has been around since the "New World's" beginning. The same claim has been made for all the years since; the death penalty solves nothing, it only turns the United States into the "murderer" and the murderer into the victim; it seems that the United States is playing God.

My question is why "playing God" is not warranted toward the original "player" first. The murderer is being executed in a way that, I feel, is God's way of condemning them for the cardinal sin they have committed. Why has America kept this much controversial ideal? Many countries have gone without this practice for decades, but America stays with it, for the most part. Stuart Banner believes it has been retained due to a stronger role in American policy making than other countries in Asia, Europe, and Africa.

This claim is another fact... but let us get off the fact part. Let me explain to you MY point of view, why I feel the way I do. I can sit here all day and feed you facts and / or complete B.S. and you really will not know whether to take my word or not. That being said, the death penalty is and will forever be needed in this great country of ours. We will always be a nation of right and wrong. What is keeping us from doing wrong than our own integrity and honor?

Nothing. Many people do not have that strong of conscious to be able to know what is right or wrong. This punishment is for those few who can not decide for themselves and are thus a danger to society. My actual view is that followed very closely with the principle of "an eye for an eye".

Growing up in a small town, strict laws were enforced by everyone around me. A simple joke to an extreme outrage would be accompanied by a simple punishment to an extreme punishment. I believe you should pay for mistakes large or small and the punishment should go hand in hand with that mistake. Then there, as in any type of ideal, are "subdivisions" of actions.

How are you supposed to give a drunk driver the death penalty and a serial killer the same. One was unintentional manslaughter and one was a degree of murder, thus we have a court system that will make those decisions for us. Yes, some were wrongly convicted, but overall the system WORKS. The death penalty is not racist, it is not punishing the poor, it does not condemn the innocent to die and it is not a cruel and unusual punishment. Living in America is a privilege, not a right, and that idea has been forgotten over decades of war, petty arguing, and money.

The death penalty keeps us closest to that idea and will forever serve its purpose by disposing of those who abuse that privilege. Being a 19 year old young man, I wish I could understand more about life to see if I am missing something that the other view understands. I still am basing what I feel off what I know and all I know is my warrants of righteousness and wrong.