Capital Punishment - Research Paper Example

 Capital Punishment Introduction Capital punishment is a lawful procedure in which an individual found guilty is sentenced to death by the state as a penalty for an offense. In the United States, death penalty has been a tremendously contentious issue on ethical, moral, and legal grounds. In 1972, the ruling by the Supreme Court  that the capital punishment was not in code, cruel and strange punishment which indeed is not, therefore unconstitutional, but that its performance through existing state laws was illegal. In 1976, the Supreme Court for a second time ruled that the capital punishment was illegal, though a compulsory capital punishment for any offense was. Thirty-nine states now practice the capital punishment (Chandler, 24). This paper is going to contrast the two sides of the subject matter. For example, the side that people are for the subject of capital punishment and the other side on which they are against. Source: Article: The Doctrine of State and the Principles of State Law. Main Idea: Capital punishment helps to deter future crimes Topic: Capital punishment controls future criminal activities Stahl (39) is for capital punishment, where he believes that death penalty is valuable for the society as it stops the illicit from committing another offense and it prevents the other law breakers from doing the same crime. It should however, be stressed that till now there has been no scientific writing that will confirm that there is a causal linkage or a cause and effect connection between death penalty and the commission of the offense. They belief that when one lawbreaker is charged to death others who may have the same mind to do the carry out the same act. It is alleged that, people of the same character fear to continue in line with their possessed character whenever they see others of the same character being heavily punished due to such characters hence they are forced to change due to then strict conviction if found in doing the same act. Source: Newspaper article- Death by Design: Capital Punishment as a Social Psychological System. Main idea: Not every person subjected to Capital Punishment may be guilty of the alleged crime Topic: Why many people are for the idea against capital punishment Many people object to death penalty for the reason that it is always likely that a prisoner who is on death row may be confirmed to be not guilty.  There are flaws in each illegal justice system.  We take up the adversarial system in which the prosecution and defense have enough freedom to manage the way and process of presenting proof.  In such a system, the judge acts simply as an inactive arbiter who makes sure that all is in order and decides on the issues offered to him.  In this system, the tribunal lawyers in their swiftness to “win” their case, more often than not, are fanatical not with getting the truth but with the belief of the accused.   The public prosecutors, similarly, are previously burdened with the number of cases they are presently managing that they can no longer sufficiently protect the cause of the accused (Haney, 56). Source: Journal: Capital Punishment: New Perspectives Main idea: capital punishment mostly affects the poor Topic: Capital punishment as an unfair penalty According to Hodgkinson (18), the consequence is, there is an integrity system in which only those who can pay for the best lawyers can be sufficiently represented or defended in court.  In such a justice system, the accused is at the pity of the public prosecutor.  From this description, there is nothing new when a good number of people who are languishing in prison are those with a poor economic background. This is because they cannot afford paying up high charges set by experienced professional lawyers to defend themselves in a court of ruling.  On the other hand, those who are economically capable can employ expert lawyers who can help and defend them. Source: Book: The Case for Capital Punishment Main Idea: changes in laws cannot benefit an individual sentenced to death. Topic: Capital Punishment is irreversible Heilbrun, Jr (103) argues that Capital punishment is a permanent process.  Once it is obligated, it can no longer be taken back by the state.  Some time ago, there have always been instances where the public has by chance obligated to the death penalty on an alleged a criminal.  It is sad that when an individual is sentenced to death, he can no longer be helped by any alterations in laws. Similarly, he can no longer have any benefit by the likelihood that new proof will be gotten that will vindicate him.  It carries stressing that no less than scientific proof has been used in the past to turn around past convictions.   An investigation carried by Bruce Robinson in 2002 shows that at least 350 people between 1900 and 1985 in United States might have escaped prison gates because nobody has managed to prove them guilty of the offenses for which they were charged, and could have been sentenced to death.” Even when we use the example, the bible where God created humans in His own likeness and image taking the human being to be a special creature who should be respected, hence capital punishment has to interfere with such beliefs (Heilbrun, Jr, 57). Conclusion From my view point, each state must abolish death penalty as it violates human rights and is a tool of prejudice against most vulnerable classes, e.g. poor class people. One reason why I am against this barbaric act is that no one has the right to murder a fellow human being, thus capital punishment is an infringement of the most vital human right we have, that is, the right to life. An individual who has been a lawbreaker and has killed people has to be punished with life detention not with capital punishment. Life detention is a fair penalty and at the same time, it guarantees self-respect and moral of humans. Some instances of cases that can be charged to life detention may include robbery, murder, human trafficking, and drug dealing. It is important to consider that there are a number of cases of murderers who have regretted inside jail and this issue has been the key reason for their life transformation after many years of unpleasing behaviors. Nevertheless, this is just one of the many fine reasons why there is need to reform this law in all the states, which are still using it. The other reason is that over history, capital punishment has been rehabilitated in a prejudice tool against minorities and poor. The minorities such as poor people and black people are the ones who undergo the most in the case of capital punishment. Poor people most of the times are not able to pay great sums of money and a high-quality lawyer due to their financial states while rich people possess enough money go on to look for the most excellent lawyers who can come and defend them in the court of laws so that they prove their innocence. The other reason why I am against capital punishment is that, even from the bible, God is the only giver of life to all of his creations, which should be respected. Death penalty is against such Godly beliefs, hence to my perception, it is not pleasing in the eyes of the almighty God who had a purpose for the life of every individual living. Works Cited Alfred B. Heilbrun, Jr. The Case for Capital Punishment. Hamilton Book, 2012. Chandler, David B. Capital Punishment in Canada: A Sociological Study of Repressive Law. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, 1976. Cromwell, Austin Sarat William Nelson. The Killing State : Capital Punishment in Law, Politics, and Culture. Oxford University Press, 1998. Franklin E. Zimring, Gordon Hawkins. Capital Punishment and the American Agenda. CUP Archive, 189. Haney, Santa Cruz Craig. Death by Design : Capital Punishment As a Social Psychological System. Oxford University Press, 2005. Hodgkinson, Peter. Capital Punishment: New Perspectives. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd, 2014. Holy bible; chapter one and two, the creation story Joseph A. Melusky, Keith Alan Pesto. Capital Punishment. ABC-CLIO, 2011. Mandery, Evan. Capital Punishment in America: A Balanced Examination. Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 2011. McCafferty, James A. Capital Punishment. AldineTransaction, 2001. Punishment, Great Britain. Commissioners Appointed to Inquire into Capital. Report of the Capital Punishment Commission: Together with the Minutes of Evidence and Appendix. Presented to Both Houses of Parliament. G.E. Eyre and W. Spottiswoode, 2011. Punishment, Great Britain. Royal Commission on Capital. Report of the Capital Punishment Commission: Together with the Minutes of Evidence and Appendix. H.M. Stationery Office, 1866. Rooney, Anne. Capital Punishment. Raintree, 2005. Schmidt, Petra. Capital Punishment in Japan. BRILL, 2002. Stahl, Friedrich Julius. The Doctrine of State and the Principles of State Law. WordBridge Publishing, 2009. Wilson, Robert. Capital Punishment. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013. Woolf, Alex. Capital Punishment. Chrysalis Education, 2004. Read More