Capital punishment is also known as the death penalty
Capital punishment is also known as the death penalty. It is the legal process where a criminal is put to death by the state to act as a punishment for a crime that they have committed. The judgment of the jury that a person should get punished in this manner is known to be a death sentence while the enforcement is an execution. (Wikipedia).
Criminal activities that can lead to capital punishment are called capital crimes and includes murder, rapes and treason. Currently capital punishment is practiced in 58 nations but has ended in 95 countries.There has been 15 states within the U.S. and the District of Columbia that has banned death penalty except for Texas, Texas leads the nation with approximately one third of the consummated executions (“Capital Punishment” 7).
In the past, capital punishment horrified people, which deterred them from committing crime. In England, the country from which the United States adopted the death penalty, the death penalty was imposed for a rather large number of offenses in an effort to discourage people from committing crimes. Methods of inflicting the death penalty have ranged “From stoning in biblical times, crucifixion under the Romans, beheading in France, to those used in the United States today: hanging, electrocution, gas chamber, firing squad, and lethal
Injection” (Bedau 124). The fight over whether the death penalty should be abolished continues to be debated with costs being one of the major topics of disagreement.
Though there are many countries around the world that have outlawed the capital punishment the U.S. remains as one of the very few major nations that still executes prisoners. i I believe Capital punishment should be abolished for many reasons. People are also wrongly charged for crimes they did not commit and have too either face life in prison or the death penalty which is totally unfair. It cost a lot to execute someone than to give them life behind bars. Death penalty cases cost roughly around $3-4 billion compared to cases involving life sentences without parole. The funding to administrate capital punishment is suppressive because of the incurred expenses to enforce death penalty includes many items that aren’t needed for a life sentence without parole mean while the costs are further increasing by the length of time required for capital punishment. Advocates of the death penalty do argue that the cost are irrelevant and the only concern is for criminals to repay for their crimes. Some states currently spend about $180 million in death penalties and plan to spend way more in coming years.
Another major factor is that there is no deterrent effect for the death penalty. According to studies from Lancet Psychiatry done by MD. Massimo Clerici and MD. Seena Fazel being behind bars is tough as is it’s very hard to cope with. Inmates who are imprisoned are at a higher when it comes there mental health especially being in such small spaces with so many thoughts. Individuals who commit crimes do it most commonly under the influence whether that is drinking Alcohol or taking drugs on the other hand some people just can’t help it this could be because of mental illness and many other behaviours that are beyond their control, they are not really aware of the threats they pose to society.
Although sixteen out of 50 U.S. states retain the death penalty you would think that those sixteen states have lower murder rates compared to states that have no death penalty well that’s false states that implement the death penalty have higher crime rates and from data shown by the huffington post in the last two decades homicide rates in states that have death penalty has increased from 48%- 101% when compared to states that have no death penalty laws.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the death penalty is a very controversial topic. There are people who are for death penalty and people who are are against it. Capital punishment should certainly be abolished because it violates the Bill of Rights. The reason it violates the Bill of Rights is because it involves the life of a human being, being taken away in a very unjust way. Our Bill of Rights states that we have the right to live and by implementing the death penalty the life of an individual and the rights of that person’s’ life is breached. When a person is executed it is possible to resuscitate them back to life, therefore capital punishment/death penalty should be eradicated by all means necessary.
