Only Capital Crime Punishable By Death example essay topic

The History of Capital Punishment Crime has been a plague on society from ancient times to present. In response to this plague, society has formed structured rules to deal with the perpetrators of crime. Crime can be defined as act that society's government deems as illegal. Different societies have formed various methods and standards for evaluating crime and assigning corresponding punishment. What constitutes a crime has changed throughout the course of history. In ancient times, such extreme actions as the deliberate killing of another human being for the sake of family honor or religious rite was considered socially acceptable and therefore not legally wrong.

Now, the majority of the modern world (with perhaps the exclusion of some Middle Eastern sects) view the deliberate killing of another human being as non-socially acceptable, and therefore legally wrong. The overall exceptions to this rule are the taking of human life in the act of war and in punishment for extreme crime (s) against humanity. Punishment for crime has ranged from mild, in the form of fines, or incarceration, to severe, in the form of physical torture or death. In ancient times, punishment for serious crimes such as treason, theft, or murder was frequently severe and inhumane. Offenders were often tortured for hours to be either left to die a slow and painful death orbe executed publicly. The use of the death penalty has declined thought out the industrial Western world since the 19th century.

The concept of confinement for punishment dates back to ancient times. Imprisonment is generally a milder form of punishment which removes an individual from society and confines him / her in an institution with other offenders. Examples of historical places of confinement are London's Tower and Paris's Bastille. The Tower and Bastille were used to confine political prisoners, not criminals in the ordinary sense. The common jail has existed since approximately 1166, when King Henry II of England ordered places of confinement for criminals built. Jails mainly served the purpose for prisoners awaiting trial, while also holding unfortunate petty offenders such as beggars, vagrants, and debtors.

The purpose for places of confinement remained the same until the development of the American prison system. The purpose of the American prison system posed a totally new concept to the justice world. This new concept was designed to reform the prisoner, not just punish him / her for committed crime. American concepts pertaining to offenders, punishment, and reform was developed after much careful thought and consideration concerning the example of English law and its history. Death was formerly the penalty for all felonies in English law. In practice, the death penalty was rarely applied as widely as the law provided.

A variety of procedures were adopted to mitigate the harshness of the law; therefore, many offenders who committed capital crimes were pardoned. The conditions for pardon were the offender agreed to be transported to what were then the American colonies and the benefit of the title of clergy. The benefit of clergy applied to offenders who were ordained priests (or clerks in Holy Orders) and who were thereby subject to trial by the church courts rather than by the secular courts. Hence, if an offender could show that he was ordained he was allowed to go free, and was subject to the possibility of punishment by the ecclesiastical courts. In the 17th century, the only proof of ordination was literacy, and it became customary to allow anyone convicted of a felony to escape the death sentence by giving proof of literacy by reading a verse from Psalm 51. The obvious problem with this test is that most offenders escaped punishment by simply learning the words by heart.

Capital punishment has been used in the United States since Colonial times. During this time frame, it was accepted because of the prevalence of violence in society. This punishment was used mostly to discourage people from committing violent as well as other crimes. For instance, in the early west horse theft was considered such a serious crime that conviction resulted in death by hanging.

This crime was punishable by death due to the tremendous importance of and dependence on the horse in that society. Capital punishment in this instance was an attempt to bring order to a frontier area filled with violence and lawlessness. In 18th century England, concern about increasing crime led to many statues either extending the number of offenses punishable with death or doing away with benefit of clergy for existing felonies. Towards the end of the 18th century, English law contained approximately 200 capital offenses. The application of the death penalty was extremely erratic, often depending on the whim or mood of the presiding judge instead of clear guidelines. In practice, many offenders who were convicted of capital crimes escapes the gallows as result of reprieves and / or royal pardons.

Still others who were charged with capital crimes were acquitted against the evidence because the jury was unwilling to seethe death penalty applied in a minor case. Executions in 18th century England were public events which were attended by huge crowds. Following an execution, it was common for scenes of violence and disorder to break out in the crowd. Public opinion eventually disapproved of executions as spectacles. Later, in 1868, execution were carried out away from the general public in the privacy of prisons. The erratic application of the death penalty in the 18th and 19th centuries led to demands for reform.

The inconsistencies and severity of the law and its administration undermined its intended deterrent effect. Demands for change came from both humanitarian reformers and reformers concerned with the effectiveness of the legal system. As a result, most of the capital statues were repealed and by 1961 only four offenses retained the death penalty: murder, treason, arson in a royal dockyard, and piracy with violence. Later, the only capital crime punishable by death was narrowed down to murder. From the 1930's to the 1960's reformers focused their energy on abolishing the death penalty for murder. After one attempt almost succeed in 1947, the English government appointed a special commission to consider the option of eliminating the death penalty.

The report on this question became known as the Royal Commission on Capital Punishment of 1953, and it still remains as one of the most significant and comprehensive accounts concerning the topic of capital punishment. This report, along with several controversial executions, resulted in the restricting the death penalty to certain types of murder (or other wise known as "capital murders"). All other murders were to be punished by a mandatory life sentence. The great amount of reform still did not solve dissatisfaction, since the public saw some executions as unjustified, while other murderers escaped the death penalty simply because of the method used to commit the crime. These objections led to further moves for change and ended in the 1965 Murder Act, which abolished mandatory life sentences in all cases. Judges were given the power to recommend that the offender sentenced to life imprisonment should not be released before he / she has served a stated minimum period.

Even after two failed attempts to restore the death penalty, the legal position remained the same in England, Wales, and Scotland until the mid-1980's. In the United States, the existence of the death penalty is mainly a matter of state law. Capital punishment was never as widely provided as it was in 18th century England, but it was permitted by many states for murder and in some states for offenses such as rape and kidnapping. In the decade preceding World War II, execution were common, averaging between 150 and 200 persons per year.

During the post-war years of the 1950's the numbers declined to approximately 50 executions each year. In the 1960's, doubts increased as to whether execution fell under "cruel and unusual" punishment and was therefore unconstitutional. These doubts led to the suspension of executions for 10 years, until the issue was settled by the Supreme Court in the 1972 case of Forman vs. Georgia. The ruling announced that the death penalty itself did not violate Constitutional rights but that the manner of its administration in many states did. The decision in Forman vs. Georgia left the precise Constitutional requirements for a valid death penalty statue uncertain, except that the system for application must not the discriminatory against any race or other minority.

Afterwards, different states enacted legislation making the death penalty mandatory on the assumption in all cases of convictions for the crime in question, on the assumption that if there was no discretion in the application of the penalty, there could be no question of discriminate in its application. Other states enacted statues that provided for the death penalty to be imposed only after a special hearing at which matters of mitigation and aggravation were to be considered. The Supreme Court considered these new statues in a series of decisions in 1976. The decision of the Supreme Court ruled that the laws making the death penalty automatic were unconstitutional but that those providing a framework for the exercise of discretion in a structured manner were in fact constitutional. Therefore, this decision supported the death penalty statues of some states, and led other states to enact new legislation allowing for the application of the death penalty in a manner indicated by the Supreme Court.

As of now, approximately two-thirds of the states have provisions in its laws for the death penalty for murder, while some states provide the death penalty for crimes other than murder (yet there is still doubt concerning the constitutionality of these cases). The first execution under these new legislation's was carried out in 1977. Many offenders who were sentenced to death after 1976 appealed the validity of his / her conviction, resulting in a great number of convicted offenders waiting for years on "death row" to know the end ruling on the required punishment. For example, in 1,700 convicted criminals were waiting on "death row" in 1986. There are many arguments for and against the death penalty.

Those in favor of the death penalty claim (1) that is has a unique deterrent for potentially violent offenders for whom the threat of imprisonment is not a sufficient restraint, (2) death is the only penalty that adequately reflects the gravity of murder, (3) prolonged detention over decades is a much harsher penalty than death, (3) execution is the only sure means of preventing a murderer from being released and / or escaping and committing more murders, and (4) keeping murders in prolonged detention is uneconomical. Those who oppose the death penalty claim that (1) there is no evidence of being a more potent deterrent than the threat of a sentence of life imprisonment, (2) the death penalty tends to be imposed in a discriminatory manner, (3) it creates the risk of an innocent person relieving punishment, and (4) the death penalty lowers the government to the same level as the criminal. All prudent people have concern for the sanctity of human life. No one enjoys having to be responsible for sentencing a person to death no matter what crime they have committed.

However, as President George W. Bush recently said, "There are evil people in the world and we must respond appropriately". Basically, what he is means is that there must be just and direct punishment for evil and heinous crimes. Therefore, capital punishment is and can be a deterrent for crimes of serious nature against individuals and society. This is an attempt to punish some and deter others.

For certain, those sentenced to death will no longer be a threat to society.

Bibliography

McCuen, Gary E. "Reviving the Death Penalty" Copyright: 1985 Gary E.
McCuenPublications Wekesser, Carrol - editor "The Death Penalty" Copyright: 1991 Green haven Press, Inc.
Abelson & Friquegnon - editor "Ethics for Modern Life" Copyright: 1995 St.
Martin " stress, IncZimring, Franklin E. - The World Book Encyclopedia - "Capital Punishment" p. 193 Copyright: 1993 World Book, Inc.