Essay Assignment 2v1m6h

Capital punishment Capital punishment is the lawful infliction of death as a penalty for violating the law and since ancient times, it has been used for a wide variety of offences. Throughout history, people have been put to death for various forms of wrongdoing. Methods of execution have included such practices as crucifixion, stoning, drowning, burning at the stale, impaling and beheading. Today, capital punishment is typically accomplished by lethal gas, lethal injection, and electrocution, hanging or shooting. Capital punishment is the most controversial penal practice in the modern world. As has been pointed out by Zimring, Public opinion about capital punishment is both complicated and ambivalent. Public attitudes toward the death penalty vary not only over time, but also on what sort of question is being asked. As a matter of Principle, the American public believes that death is an appropriate penalty for murder, but the average citizen neither trusts nor s the system that determines who shall be executed. (2004, p. 10) Other harsh, physical forms of criminal punishment have generally been eliminated in modern times as uncivilized and unnecessary. In the majority of countries, contemporary methods of punishment, such as imprisonment or fines, no longer involve the infliction of physical pain. Although imprisonment and fines are universally recognised as essential to the control of crime, the nations of the world are split on the issue of death penalty.

1|Page

Keene (2002,p. 142) observed that by 2002, 

74 countries had abolished the death penalty altogether



15 countries had retained the death penalty only for exceptional crimes such as wartime offences and treason.



22 countries had the death penalty but had not executed anyone for at least 10 years.



84 countries retained and used the death penalty.

It is hard to believe that any form of death, let alone execution, is either instant or painless. Hanging is an extremely quick process that is designed to cause instant and deep unconsciousness and also benefits from requiring simple and thus rapid preparation of the prisoner. Lethal injection may appear to be more humane than other methods of execution to the witnesses, but it is a very slow process of about thirty to forty-five minutes. There is considerable debate as to whether the first chemical causes full unconsciousness. Electrocution causes a quick death when all goes well but seems to have a greater number of technical problems than any other method. Shooting by a single bullet in the back of the head is greatly preferable to shooting by a firing squad in that it is likely to cause instant unconsciousness followed quickly by death rather than causing the prisoner to bleed to death, often while still conscious. The gas chamber seems to possess no obvious advantage as the equipment is expensive to buy and maintain, the preparations are lengthy, adding to the prisoner‟s agonies. It is also very dangerous to the staff. Kudlac (2007, p. 115) states that “religion has historically played an important role in the capital punishment debate, and it continues today, as evidenced by the religious references and arguments found on both sides of the issue”. ers of capital punishment are adamant that the Bible prescribes death for murder and many other crimes, including kidnapping and

2|Page

witchcraft. They consider death penalty as an effective deterrent. According to Nathanson (2001, p. 17) , “the common sense that death is the best deterrent rests on the belief that people fear death more than they fear anything else”. However, it is hard to prove that death penalty deter in one way or another. On the other hand, opponents of capital punishment declare that life is a gift of God, life is sacred and holy, and should be cherished and valued. They are convinced that only God can ultimately judge as he gave life and he alone can take it. Indeed, who are we to play God? Moreover, will death penalty bring back the victim? Isn‟t death penalty some form of murder? Society is a little more than a murderer itself if it executes criminals. There must always be the concern that the state can ister the death penalty justly, most countries have a very poor record on this as the justice system is not infallible. Genuinely innocent people will be executed and there is no way of compensating them for this miscarriage of justice. The person convicted of murder may have actually killed the victim and may even it having done so but does not agree that the killing was murder. In many cases, the only persons knowing what actually happened are the accused and the deceased so that it then comes down to the skill of the prosecution and the defence lawyers as to whether there will be a conviction for murder or for manslaughter. In the Race, Class and Death Penalty book (2008, p. 12), the authors suggested that “racial and ethnic disparity in the use of death penalty has been of substantial magnitude in America”; a prisoner can be on death row for many years, on average eleven years, awaiting the outcome of numerous appeals and their chances of escaping execution are better if they are wealthy and white rather than poor and black, irrespective of the actual crimes they have committed which may have been largely forgotten by the time the final decision is made.

3|Page

Money is not an inexhaustible commodity and the state may very well better spend our limited resources on the old, the young and the sick rather than on long term imprisonment for the worst of criminals; murderers, rapists and terrorists. Capital punishment permanently removes the latter from society and should prove much cheaper and safer for the rest of us than long term or permanent imprisonment. It is self-evident that dead criminals cannot commit any further crimes, either within prison or after escaping or being released from it. However it must be ed that criminals are real people too, who have life and with it the capacity to feel pain, fear and loss of their loved ones and all the other emotions that the rest of us are capable of feeling. Every form of execution causes the prisoner suffering, some methods cause less than others, but being executed is undoubtedly a terrifying and gruesome ordeal for most criminals. So we cannot penalize them because of money. What is often overlooked, is the hell the family and friends of the criminal go through in the time leading up to and during the execution, and which causes them serious trauma for years afterwards. It is very difficult for people to come to with the fact that their loved one could be guilty of a serious crime and no doubt, even more difficult to come to with their death in this form. It is easier to put this thought aside when discussing the most awful murderers but less so when discussing for instance, an eighteen year old girl convicted for murder. However strongly one may capital punishment, two wrongs do not make one right. Nevertheless, the suffering of the victim‟s family in a murder case cannot and should not be denied. Retribution is seen by many as an acceptable reason for death penalty as the criminal is made to suffer in proportion to his offence. The criminal owes society a debt; the more serious the crime the greater the debt. But is there a place for the old fashioned “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” in our modern society? 4|Page

Execution is a very real punishment rather than some form of rehabilitative treatment. It removes the individual‟s humanity and with it, any chance of rehabilitation and their giving something back to society. The death penalty is the bluntest of blunt instruments. Whilst a person is imprisoned, society can make an attempt to reform him or her. Sessions should be held to help him or her see the effect his or her crime had on the victims and give him or her a chance for penance. Prisons, though, are severely overcrowded and this makes it very difficult, and often impossible, to carry out effective reformative work. During a prison sentence, prisoners are mixing with other criminals and this could reinforce the tendencies to break the law. Prison has often been called a “University of Crime”. The trend in most industrialized nations has been to stop executing prisoners and to substitute death penalty by long-term imprisonment. The USA is an important exception to this trend. The Federal government and a majority of US states provide for the death penalty, and from 50 to 75 executions occur each year throughout the US.

Number of executions in 2006 according to AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 Number of executions in 2006

5|Page

China

Iran

Pakistan

Iraq

Sudan

USA

1010

177

82

65

65

53

Capital punishment is a very emotive subject. There is no such thing as a humane method of putting a person to death irrespective of what the states may claim. Kudlac (2007, p. 115) stated that “as the state capital system continues to come under increased scrutiny, the federal system is alive and well and seen as more necessary than ever with the threat of terrorism”.

6|Page

Summary The practice of putting someone to death lawfully for killing someone else or committing a very serious crime is not new but is still a controversial subject. The different forms of capital punishment comprised of burning at stake, beheading, stoning, crucifixion and recently of hanging, shooting, lethal injection, or electrocution. Partisans of death penalty believe that it is the most appropriate punishment and, the only really effective way of protecting society against the most dangerous criminals. However opponents argue that the justice system is not infallible and innocents are thus executed in the process. People from religious groups have mixed feelings about the subject as while some vehemently believe in “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” thesis; others think that only God can ultimately judge as he bestowed life. The main arguments include retribution, deterrence, protection and reformation. It is very difficult to feel any sympathy for a person who kills a defenceless victim. However many people feel that execution is not appropriate in a civilised society. Death penalty has been abolished throughout Europe. It is still used in countries, including the USA, China and some Muslim countries.

7|Page

Literature Review 1. The Gospels describe the execution of Jesus Christ at length and these s form the central story of the Christian faith. Depictions of the crucifixion are abundant in Christian art. 2. A tale by two cities by Charles Dickens ends in a climatic execution of the book‟s main character. 3. The last day of a condemned man by Victor Hugo describes the thought of a condemned man in the time leading up to his execution.

8|Page

Bibliography and References Allen, H. W., Clubb, J. M. & Lacey, V. A. 2008, Race, Class and the Death Penalty, illustrated edn, SUNY Press, p. 9 – 27. Amnesty International, http://web.amnesty.org/pages/deathpenalty-facts-fra. Bromiley, G. W. 1995, The International Bible Encyclopedia, vol. one: A-D, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, p. 900. Gerber, R. J., Johnson, J. M. & Prejean, H. 2007, The Top Ten Death Penalty Myths: The Politics of Crime Control, Greenwood Publishing Group. Keene, M. 2002, Religion in Life and Society, Folens Limited, p. 142-150. Kudlac, C. S. 2007, Public executions: The Death Penalty and the Media, Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 115 Nathanson, S. 2001, An eye for an eye: The immorality of Punishing by death, 2nd edn, Rowman & Littlefield. White, D. 2009, „Pros and Cons of the Death Penalty‟, US Liberal Politics, http://usliberals.about.com/od/deathpenalty/.

Zimring, F. E. 2004, The Contradictions of American Capital Punishment, Oxford University US Press, p. 10.

9|Page