The Debate on Capital Punishment

The Debate On Capital Punishment

What act by the United States government kills almost a hundred people every year? The United States Department of Justice legally executes criminals who commit certain crimes. The crimes for which a person can be executed for are named Capital offenses, thus the name Capital Punishment. The debate over capital punishment originates in the seventeenth century and still continues today. Many different arguments shine throughout the debate; both sides will be reviewed in this paper.

Capital punishment has been in America since the early seventeenth century. The first recorded execution in America was that of Captain George Kendall in the Jamestown colony of Virginia in 1608. Crimes advocating capital punishment varied among settlements during the Colonial period. In the Massachusetts Bay Colony, crimes such as witchcraft, rape, perjury, adultery, and murder warranted capital punishment. In the Quaker society, crimes such as treason and murder warranted capital punishment. In 1787, Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, held a meeting at the home of Benjamin Franklin calling for an end to public executions. In the fall of 1787, Rush developed the Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons. The society was instrumental in the development of the prison system in the United States. In 1790 the Walnut Street Jail in Philadelphia was converted into the nation's first modern prison. The emergence of the new prison system in the United States provided an alternate means of punishment for crimes. Rush was the first prominent American to publicly urge the abolition of capital punishment. Over the next two decades, prisons in the United States were constructed, and the number of crimes warranting capital punishment decreased considerably. Capital punishment in the United States has undergone many modifications since the early nineteenth century. Its use gradually has become more limited and constrained. However, the death penalty has endured as a basic fact of debate in the United States. The debate over capital punishment throughout American history has been characterized by the struggle of a relative handful of groups and individuals to change the nation's broad and consistent support for the sanction. The level of opposition has varied greatly. More often than not, its strength and success have been affected by other historical events. Today thirty-seven states and the federal government authorize capital punishment for the commission of certain crimes. In most states, only murder is a capital offense. In order for a specific murder to warrant the death penalty, the Supreme Court requires that two conditions must be met. The crime must be a first-degree murder and one or more aggravating circumstances must be present. First-degree murder involves the deliberate and premeditated taking of a life. Aggravating circumstances refer to those aspects of a crime that increase its severity but are apart from the essential elements of the offense itself.

The majority of the population in the United States argues pro capital punishment. The first argument the public cites is that the death penalty deters criminals from committing the vial act of murder. Deterrence is the fear created by the death penalty to stop criminals from committing these crimes. Perhaps the most frequent argument for capital punishment is that of deterrence. The prevailing thought is that imposition of the death penalty will act to dissuade other criminals from committing violent acts. Numerous studies have been created attempting to prove this belief; however, all of the evidence taken together makes it hard to be confident that capital punishment deters more than long prison terms do. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the overall crime index has declined eleven percent since 1991 and is now the lowest it has been since 1985. Violent crimes in the United States are at its lowest since 1989. The amount of murders in the United States declined thirteen percent since 1991. The number of rapes in the United States is at the lowest level since 1991, and the number of burglaries is at its lowest level in two decades. In some of the biggest cities in the United States the amount of violent crimes decreased to astonishing levels. In New York City alone the amount of violent crimes decreased forty percent. It is hard to see why opponents of the death penalty do not believe that it has an impact when in the 1940's and 1950's executions took place more frequent, and the murder rate was much lower. In the 1960's, the murder rate increased dramatically and did not decrease until the reinstatement of the death penalty. The taking of a life by society, through the court of law, eliminates personal vendetta and sends a message that society will not tolerate this criminal action. Public opinion in America supports the death penalty by a more than two to one margin, and this view rests largely on the deterrence of crime from this severe punishment. An example of these statistics comes from the state of Florida. Support for death penalty changes when alternatives are added. When asked simply whether they favor the death penalty, 80 percent of Floridians said they did.

Retribution refers to the penalty a society exacts for wrongful behavior. Retribution is another leading argument in the pro capital punishment movement. The criminal law of a society reflects its value system or moral code. Proponents of capital punishment believe that the law should place less value on the life of a convicted murderer than on the life of an innocent person. Proponents insist there is no valid substitute for the death penalty. More serious offenses should be met by more severe penalties. Proponents emphasize that retribution is not revenge, but the individual's desire for revenge replaced by a concept of lawful punishment. It is important that the penalty for a crime fulfill society's sense that justice has been served. For certain horrid infractions, only the execution of the offender will satisfy the public that justice has been attained. Why should a person such as OJ Simpson or Charles Manson get the satisfaction of life imprisonment. Why should they be treated fairly or nice when they took someone's life. Why give them the satisfaction of living in a cell with cable TV and many other emenities that the general public does not receive. Why should they sit in jail and take up valuable space and waist important tax money that many people could use.

The issue of expense is the most recent argument for the opponents of capital punishment. People commonly assumed that it cost less to execute a person than it does to imprison them for life; however, the price of execution is more costly