Pataki's Supporting Statements Of The Death Penalty example essay topic

The Morality of the Death Penalty One of the most controversial practices throughout the centres has been the death penalty. In this paper I am going to discuss and examine the morality of the death penalty as well as show some history of this practice. Capital punishment has been around since ancient times. The dirt recorded laws that included the death penalty were set up by Hammurabi, the king of Babylonia, in 1792 B.C. The crimes that warranted the death penalty under his set of laws were: robbery, adultery, and murder. Depending on the crime, one could be beheaded, stoned, or even drowned. Unlike the opportunity to reform, Ancient Babylonian criminals were expected to suffer.

In Ancient Rome, a common form of execution was crucifixtion. Jesus Christ, who was sentenced to death by the Romans, is the best known person to be executed by crucifixtion. Once a symbol of the lowest form of death, the cross is now the principal holy symbol of Christianity. During the Middle Ages after the collapse of the Roman Empire, the Christian church administered the death penalty. In 1233, Pope Gregory IV established the inquisition to suppress heresy.

Most people were found guilty and executed. In 1478, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain established the Spanish Inquisition. They killed Jews and Muslims living in Spain. This inquisition was more severe than the previous one. The death penalty was not reserved just for criminals, political executions took place as well. Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, and Mary Queen of Scots were English Queens that were beheaded.

In most political executions, a swordsmen was used. Execution by swordsmen was considered the noble way to die. Lowly criminals were hung or drawn and Quartered. The heads of common criminals were put on stakes above the Thanes River in England. In early France, burning at the stake and beheading by Guillotine were the most common forms of execution. Joan of Arc, a French national heroine, was burned at the stake on May 30, 1431.

Most French criminals died by Guillotine. During the French Revolution, thousands of French were beheaded, including King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Death in the United States was usually by hanging. The person slowly suffocates when hanged if his knock doesn't break first. The Puritans hanged many people because they were not tolerant of their beliefs. In 1682, in Salem Massachussetts, 25 people were executed for witchcraft.

Movements to abolish the death penalty began in the 1700's with Montesquieu and Voltaire. They used the same arguments to abolish the death penalty then, as are used today. Two of the mot important occurences were the invention of the electric chair in 1890, and the invention of the gas chamber in 1921. These two methods offer a less cruel way of execution.

Both methods are still in use today. Althought the methods have changed, the current status and attitudes of the death penalty has not changed much from ancient times. The rate of execution today is much lower than it was 50 years ago. In 1992, over 2000 people were sitting on death row. The chance of you being put to death depends totally on where you live. If you commit pre meditated murder in New York, the longest sentence you will recieve is 25 years to life imprisonment.

Florida and Texas have executed the most people since 1976. Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, 13 of 36 states with death penalty laws have executed criminals. Most criminals sentenced to death row, stay there for many years before they are executed. If they plan to appeal, they must wait on an appeal process that takes 7 to 11 years no matter where you live. Opponents to the death penalty say that the appeals process takes too long and that innocent people can spend years getting their sentence overturned. Opponents of the death penalty also say that criminals recieve different penalties for the same crime.

Wealth, race, gender, and location affect who gets the death penalty. Females who commit murder rarely get capital punishment. Some opponents of the death penalty interveiwed several police chiefs and got their opinions of capital punishment. Of the police chefs polled, most veiled other methods of controlling crime as more effective including gun control, community policing, neighborhood crime programs, and more effective efforts against drug and youth crime.

The police chiefs rank capital punishment as less cost-effective than other methods and a vast majority do not believe that the threat of the death penalty deters people from committing murder. Barely half of the police chiefs that were polled support the death penalty. It costs three times as much (more than 2 million per inmate) to carry out the death penalty, than keep and inmate for 40 years in prison. Opponents of the death penalty support the passage in the Bible "Thou shall not kill". Thy believe that it is morally wrong to sentence someone to death. Supporters of the death penalty say that society needs to get rid of savage killers and that if a person isnt put to death, he may kill again.

Supporters of the death penalty also say that they agree with the saying from the bible "Life for life, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth". . Criminals should pay for what they have done by being given equal punishments for their crimes. Former New York State Governor, George Pataki was quoted as saying "The death penalty is a necessary tool to fight and deter crime, by causing murderers to fear arrest and conviction, and by preventing convicted murders to kill again. In recent years, violent crime in New York has dropped dramatically, due in part to the re institution of the death penalty".

Pataki also said that " For too long criminals were not subject to swift and certain punishment and, as a result, violent criminals acts were not de tered. Preventing a crime from being committed ultimately is more important than punishing criminals after they have shattered innocent lives". Pataki's supporting statements of the death penalty summarize the beliefs of supporters of the death penalty. What does the future hold for the death penalty? Well, the conservative justices of the Supreme Court show no sign of overturning the death penalty, althought opponents to capital punishment have turned to state legislatures for change, their has been little results. As long as the opinion of many Americans is that capital punishment is the answer to violent crimes, the United States is likely to have a death penalty.