I chose to talk about the topic of Capital Punishment. Even though it is a very controversial subject it wasn’t a major issue in this year’s election. Capital Punishment is defined as the killing of a person by judicial process as punishment. It is only issued by the Supreme Court and the jury for the highest crimes known as capital crimes or capital offences. Some of those offences are crimes such as murder, espionage, treason, or as part of military justice. So is Capital Punishment necessary? Numerous people agree and disagree with this topic and join together and make support and protest groups. Capital Punishment was first invented in the 18 century B.C. then later in 1968 and then it was later reinstated in 1976. Also out of the 50 states in America only 36 states are in favor of the Capital Punishment. So naturally since the death penalty is a very controversial topic it has a lot of different view points toward it and of course religion plays into it because the death penalty involves death and murder. Most religions are impartial or just against the death penalty even though it was made when the religions were really strong and in more so at the time. But whenever you look at the topic itself you can both break it down and look at its ethical aspect or its philosophy. The ethical aspect is the right and wrongness of the issue. The philosophy part is whether the death penalty is a violation of the right to life and if it will benefit human lives and welfare. Some interesting facts to know about Capital Punishment is that statistics show that in the year of 2007 alone there have been 42 executions and in the last ten years ending with 2007 there have been a total of 667. That doesn’t seem big until you look at the fact that these were walking, talking, and breathing human beings that have a life and families. Statistics state that China had the most executions carried out in 2007 at 470 or more. In comparison in 2007 The United States only had 42 executions, 17 were black and 28 were white Americans. The 42 executions were all males and lethal injections were administered in 41 executions, the electric chair was given to the remaining one. In the United States there are currently 3,200 inmates on death row awaiting capital punishment. Since the death penalty was reinstated by the Supreme Court in 1976, 1,802 white inmates have made up more than half of the number under sentence of death. As far as women are concerned there are 52 women were under a sentence of death. There is no set age group or category on the people who are arrested and sentenced to death. In 2007 the youngest and oldest inmate under sentence of death were ages 20 and 91. When it comes to the Death Penalty there are different methods to executions lethal injections, electric chair and the gas chamber . The most common is lethal injection, which is injecting a person with a fatal dose of drugs for the purpose of causing the death of the subject. The electric chair which originated from the United States. It is execution by electrocution which the person being put to death is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the body. The gas chamber is a sealed off chamber into which a poisonous gas is then used to execute the sentenced inmate. There are also other methods not used in the U.S. like the Firing squad and other types of shooting executions.
Now to talk about and the pros and cons and the effectiveness of Capital Punishment in the U.S. Since this topic is controversial there are a number of debates and arguments on the subjects there are good and strong points from both sides. There are lots of pros for the death penalty a most recent argument is that Capital punishment encourages or scares criminals not to do the crime. Also it is a guarantee that the killer will not kill again and it will protect more innocent lives than it does accidentally take the life of innocent convicts. It is said to be more economical because killing the inmate costs less than housing him/her for a lifetime however, this is also debatable. Why should money be spent on a criminal when it could be spent on education, the sick, or the needy? The only reason why it is so expensive to execute an individual is because of the numerous appeals processes. Another pro is that it permanently removes that threat from society and will prevent further crimes whether they are similar to that the death sentenced inmate committed or not. Criminals will not want to commit a major a crime for the fear of being sentenced to death row and possibly being executed.
With any controversial subject if there are pros there are cons and some basic ones are that it increases the death rate, it is financially and economically bad for the country and that it violates human rights. If murder is wrong why do we result to it as punishment? Other reasons that Capital Punishment is looked at as ineffective is that it doesn’t always decrease the crime rate because in those 38 states that support it the crime rate hasn’t lowered. It certainly doesn’t regain the victims life back so does it really bring happiness or peace to the victims family? In California alone it cost $114 million more a year than a life sentence in prison; it costs approximately $90,000 more a year to house an inmate on a sentence of death row than in regular prison.
Since I look at it from a religious perspective I am in between because who are we to take someone’s life we are not God or their creator. But also it might be needed as an example that Capital crimes are not taken lightly and can or will be punished heavily. I think that only certain severe crimes should be punishable by death and that extensive investigation and DNA testing should be done to make sure the criminal is the right person. Also the methods may be a bit cruel or harsh for some of these crimes especially if the person who committed the crime snapped and dint have any past history of convictions or crimes. Also when we look at the statistics showing the number of executions at the end f that year all the numbers should be relatively low and decrease and not increase or fluctuate between the both.
I am not an expert I just conducted a general research on the topic but people who feel a certain way about this topic whether it be for or against they should do the same so they can get a better understanding of the topic and try to look at it from a non biased source also get involved because it is a law and does affect us because it’s our economy and our country and even networking with groups who feel the same or view it the same as you do is a good idea. Since in this year’s election it wasn’t major the website source for the campaigns didn’t really touch on this subject because it is still important and good to know where the person you are voting for stands on this issue. This issue alone could change how you view the candidate or vote for the candidate this is something that has a big effect on the country so who you vote for can also get a little of your views or opinions out there through that person you chose to vote for.
Now to talk about and the pros and cons and the effectiveness of Capital Punishment in the U.S. Since this topic is controversial there are a number of debates and arguments on the subjects there are good and strong points from both sides. There are lots of pros for the death penalty a most recent argument is that Capital punishment encourages or scares criminals not to do the crime. Also it is a guarantee that the killer will not kill again and it will protect more innocent lives than it does accidentally take the life of innocent convicts. It is said to be more economical because killing the inmate costs less than housing him/her for a lifetime however, this is also debatable. Why should money be spent on a criminal when it could be spent on education, the sick, or the needy? The only reason why it is so expensive to execute an individual is because of the numerous appeals processes. Another pro is that it permanently removes that threat from society and will prevent further crimes whether they are similar to that the death sentenced inmate committed or not. Criminals will not want to commit a major a crime for the fear of being sentenced to death row and possibly being executed.
With any controversial subject if there are pros there are cons and some basic ones are that it increases the death rate, it is financially and economically bad for the country and that it violates human rights. If murder is wrong why do we result to it as punishment? Other reasons that Capital Punishment is looked at as ineffective is that it doesn’t always decrease the crime rate because in those 38 states that support it the crime rate hasn’t lowered. It certainly doesn’t regain the victims life back so does it really bring happiness or peace to the victims family? In California alone it cost $114 million more a year than a life sentence in prison; it costs approximately $90,000 more a year to house an inmate on a sentence of death row than in regular prison.
Since I look at it from a religious perspective I am in between because who are we to take someone’s life we are not God or their creator. But also it might be needed as an example that Capital crimes are not taken lightly and can or will be punished heavily. I think that only certain severe crimes should be punishable by death and that extensive investigation and DNA testing should be done to make sure the criminal is the right person. Also the methods may be a bit cruel or harsh for some of these crimes especially if the person who committed the crime snapped and dint have any past history of convictions or crimes. Also when we look at the statistics showing the number of executions at the end f that year all the numbers should be relatively low and decrease and not increase or fluctuate between the both.
I am not an expert I just conducted a general research on the topic but people who feel a certain way about this topic whether it be for or against they should do the same so they can get a better understanding of the topic and try to look at it from a non biased source also get involved because it is a law and does affect us because it’s our economy and our country and even networking with groups who feel the same or view it the same as you do is a good idea. Since in this year’s election it wasn’t major the website source for the campaigns didn’t really touch on this subject because it is still important and good to know where the person you are voting for stands on this issue. This issue alone could change how you view the candidate or vote for the candidate this is something that has a big effect on the country so who you vote for can also get a little of your views or opinions out there through that person you chose to vote for.
