Capital Punishment Research Paper

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“If You Can’t Do The Time, Don’t Do The Crime”
THE BIGGEST ISSUES OF LAW IN THE UNITED STATES HISTORY HAS BEEN CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. Many believe it is right and many believe that it is wrong. It is always a topic of dispute that stirs up everyone’s emotions. Due to people having mixed feelings about capital punishment, some states allow it, and most states don’t allow it. But capital punishment didn’t start off in the United States it actually started in ancient Greece.
Where did capital punishment ever begin? ” Execution of an offender sentenced to death after conviction by a court of law of a criminal offense. Capital punishment for murder, treason, arson, and rape was widely employed in ancient Greece, and the Romans also used it for a wide range of offenses. It also has been sanctioned at one time or another by most of the world's major religions. In 1794 the U.S. state of Pennsylvania became the first jurisdiction to restrict the death penalty to first-degree murder, and in 1846 Michigan abolished capital punishment for all murders and other common crimes. In 1863 Venezuela became the first country to abolish capital punishment for all crimes. Portugal was the first European country to abolish the death penalty (1867). By the mid-1960s some 25 countries had abolished the death penalty for murder. During the last third of the 20th century, the number of abolitionist countries increased more than threefold. Despite the movement toward abolition, many countries have retained capital punishment, and some have extended its scope. In the U.S., the federal government and roughly three-fourths of the states retain the death penalty, and death sentences are regularly carried out in China, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and Iran. Supporters of the death penalty claim that life imprisonment is not an effective deterrent to criminal behavior. Opponents maintain that the death penalty has never been an effective deterrent, which errors sometimes lead to the execution of innocent persons, and that capital punishment is imposed inequitably, mostly on the poor and on racial minorities.” (Encyclopedia, 2009) What is the or should be the punishment for murder? Maybe the punishment all over the country should be to take the life of the murderers for the act of violence that they have committed upon someone else. Although killing someone isn’t right at all in general, many people strongly agree that the only punishment for murder is having your life taken. That’s the only acceptable way for the government or any to take a life. Only in punishment for taking someone else’s. If you take the life of someone that is the worst possible thing you could do in the world, you only get one life. Therefore if they take somebody’s life, theirs should be taken as well. I myself am a huge believer in capital punishment for that particular reason, and so are many others in the world. The United States isn’t the only country that allows and doesn’t allow capital punishment. Is capital punishment is an issue all over the world? ” Capital punishment has been abolished in many countries including the majority of Europe, Australasia and South America. North America, the Caribbean, Japan and India are among the countries which can still award the death penalty, usually for murder and treason and sometimes for large-scale drugs offences. Methods of execution include the electric chair, lethal injection and hanging.” (Black, 2007) In the United States many states believe in capital punishment, and probably the most popular state that pushes the issue is Texas. Is Texas really the state with the biggest push on capital punishment? Maybe the other states should follow Texas. The state of Texas has been said to, “Have an express lane” in the capital punishment department. Since capital punishment has started Texas has always believed in it. In the state of Texas’s defense they are in the
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