Capital Punishment In America
Capital Punishment in the United States of America
Killing is wrong. It’s something that has been driven into us since childhood its indisputable truth. So why is capital punishment allowed? For those of you that don’t know what capital punishment is, it’s the death penalty the murder of a people in our society who are mentally or emotionally unstable, have anger management issues or simply made a plain mistake. These are many of the reasons that account for the homicides that take place each year, these are people that should have the chance to change yet have those chances taken away from them. Capital Punishment is just not humane and should not be legal.
In America as of January 2013 to June 2013 alone 16 People were sentenced to the …show more content…
death row, in 2012 forty-three inmates were executed with 3146 pending on death row. The United States of America is under constant controversy over the abolishment of the death penalty this has been ongoing since 1957 and has continued to the present day. As of 2013, it is currently a legal sentence in 32 states however thirty-four states have performed the executions in the modern era. The five states with the highest numbers of executions currently account for over sixty-fire percent of the total executions in the country since the Supreme Court re-affirmed the constitutionality of capital punishment in 1976. Since the reinstatement of capital punishment Texas alone is responsible for almost thirty-seven percent of the countries executions. Whereas fourteen other states have only executed five or fewer convicts since 1976, while Kansas and New Hampshire have yet to execute a single person in the past three decades.
The Death penalty is a contentious issue in many states, you don’t have to sympathize with criminals or want them to avoid punishments for serious crimes to realize that they don’t deserve to be put to death this issue is something of a great concern. One that often pits various government officials against each other, for instance in Connecticut officials argued that the death penalty statue reinstated in 1980 was so harsh that it could practically never be used. Throughout the 1980’s state republican legislator’s continually submitted bills to lessen the procedural strictures surrounding the death penalty only to see their bills blocked by the reasonable Democrat controlled committees. Officials did however succeed in passing such a legislation in 1987 and again in 1991, but lucky both bills were rejected by the governor’s office at the time. On a similar note Kansas also tried to re-establish the death penalty every year from 1975 up until sadly it finally managed to clear both chambers and the governor’s desk in 1994. Thankfully New Hampshire underwent changes in the other direction and proceeded to completely abolish the death penalty in there state altogether in 2000.
Since 1974 over one hundred and forty people on death row have been released with proof that they were wrongfully convicted however in the same time period more than 1,200 people were executed given more time protesters believe others may have been proven innocent and lives to have been saved.
This has led to the support for the death penalty to diminish, more than half the United States public now prefers alternatives over the death penalty as the best punishment for the crime of murder. This lead to annual death sentences in the United States to drop dramatically since the year 2000. In the last four years the number of death sentences has been lower than any time since reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, executions have declined from a high of 98 in 1999 to just 37 in 2008; there were 46 executions in 2010 and 43 in 2011 and …show more content…
2012.
As of 2012, Connecticut ended the capital punishment becoming one of the fifth states in the U.S in five years to repeal the cruel and inhuman punishment this is in part due to the protests and political pressure from groups such as Amnesty International that are trying to push for the abolition of capital punishment worldwide.
"These funds can be better spent to address crime and offer support to victims, rather than on bankrolling a punishment that has been rejected by more than 140 countries and 16 U.S. states."
Suzanne Nossel, Executive Director, Amnesty International U.S.A.
Amnesty International has spoken about how they believe they are progressing with major leaps forward in there campaign to end the death penalty. Believing it will free up resources that Connecticut had previously put towards capital punishment to policies that truly prevent crime. And support the needs of crime victims and their families. Connecticut’s lawmakers passed the bill after ten and half hours of debating the poll came out at 20 votes to 16. The Governor of Connecticut, Dannel Malloy, described the death penalty as one of the “most compelling and vexing issues of our time”, as he signed the bill to replace the death with life without parole for all new cases. As of now Connecticut joins sixteen other states in the United States of America that abandoned the death penalty this is nearly a third of all the states in the U.S and on a global scale 97 countries worldwide. A spokesperson from Amnesty International came out and said “The death penalty is a violent punishment that has no place in today 's criminal justice system. The death penalty is irrevocable, and because all legal systems make mistakes - as long as it exists, innocent people will be executed.”
Each year Amnesty International releases statistics and a report on death penalty and executions across the world. They oppose the death penalty in all cases without exception and look forward to a day where capital punishment has been completely abolished across the world. Reports have shown that the world is continuing in its trend towards abolishing the death penalty. The downside is that major countries like the United States still haven’t completely abolished capital punishment with the U.S as a major role model for some countries they have continued to use the death penalty with some countries actually resuming it, India, Japan, Gambia and Pakistan to name a few have once again resumed executions. However even so the use of the death penalty has been greatly reduced. 11 years ago, 28 countries carried out the death penalty last year there were just 21. In 2012 globally there were 682 confirmed executions. The five biggest contributors were China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the United States of America.
The sentence of Capital Punishment is not a cost effect way of punishing a criminal it costs more than life without parole.
It’s inhumane and murder. Why is murder unaccepted by society when Capital Punishment is? Sentencing a criminal to death does not solve the problems or issues that are left behind. It causes more friends and loved ones to grieve for their loss. The families and friends of the victims will still grieve they will still cry for a child that is never coming home; the victim will not be brought back the family will still suffer. It’s a barbaric alternative for punishing a criminal a criminal that will never have to atone for the consequences of their actions. The only people suffering are us, people that allow this to precede the murder of a man innocent or guilty is never an option. It’s inhumane and with the help of organizations like Amnesty International pushing for it i can hope that role model countries like the United States will abolish the Capital
Punishment.
References
"Amnesty International Australia." Amnesty Australia. Amnesty International, June 2013. Web. 19 June 2013.
"The Armband Protest Against the Death Penalty." The Armband Protest Against the Death Penalty. Organization, June-July 2013. Web. 19 June 2013.
"Capital Punishment in the United States." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 19 June 2013. Web. 19 June 2013.
Dieter, Richard C. "The Death Penalty in America." Analyzing Legislative Abolition of the Death Penalty. Death Penalty Information Center, New Jersey. Reading.
"Execution List 2013." DPIC. Roderick MacArthur Foundation, June 2013. Web. 19 June 2013.
Killing is wrong. It’s something that has been driven into us since childhood its indisputable truth. So why is capital punishment allowed? For those of you that don’t know what capital punishment is, it’s the death penalty the murder of a people in our society who are mentally or emotionally unstable, have anger management issues or simply made a plain mistake. These are many of the reasons that account for the homicides that take place each year, these are people that should have the chance to change yet have those chances taken away from them. Capital Punishment is just not humane and should not be legal.
In America as of January 2013 to June 2013 alone 16 People were sentenced to the …show more content…
death row, in 2012 forty-three inmates were executed with 3146 pending on death row. The United States of America is under constant controversy over the abolishment of the death penalty this has been ongoing since 1957 and has continued to the present day. As of 2013, it is currently a legal sentence in 32 states however thirty-four states have performed the executions in the modern era. The five states with the highest numbers of executions currently account for over sixty-fire percent of the total executions in the country since the Supreme Court re-affirmed the constitutionality of capital punishment in 1976. Since the reinstatement of capital punishment Texas alone is responsible for almost thirty-seven percent of the countries executions. Whereas fourteen other states have only executed five or fewer convicts since 1976, while Kansas and New Hampshire have yet to execute a single person in the past three decades.
The Death penalty is a contentious issue in many states, you don’t have to sympathize with criminals or want them to avoid punishments for serious crimes to realize that they don’t deserve to be put to death this issue is something of a great concern. One that often pits various government officials against each other, for instance in Connecticut officials argued that the death penalty statue reinstated in 1980 was so harsh that it could practically never be used. Throughout the 1980’s state republican legislator’s continually submitted bills to lessen the procedural strictures surrounding the death penalty only to see their bills blocked by the reasonable Democrat controlled committees. Officials did however succeed in passing such a legislation in 1987 and again in 1991, but lucky both bills were rejected by the governor’s office at the time. On a similar note Kansas also tried to re-establish the death penalty every year from 1975 up until sadly it finally managed to clear both chambers and the governor’s desk in 1994. Thankfully New Hampshire underwent changes in the other direction and proceeded to completely abolish the death penalty in there state altogether in 2000.
Since 1974 over one hundred and forty people on death row have been released with proof that they were wrongfully convicted however in the same time period more than 1,200 people were executed given more time protesters believe others may have been proven innocent and lives to have been saved.
This has led to the support for the death penalty to diminish, more than half the United States public now prefers alternatives over the death penalty as the best punishment for the crime of murder. This lead to annual death sentences in the United States to drop dramatically since the year 2000. In the last four years the number of death sentences has been lower than any time since reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, executions have declined from a high of 98 in 1999 to just 37 in 2008; there were 46 executions in 2010 and 43 in 2011 and …show more content…
2012.
As of 2012, Connecticut ended the capital punishment becoming one of the fifth states in the U.S in five years to repeal the cruel and inhuman punishment this is in part due to the protests and political pressure from groups such as Amnesty International that are trying to push for the abolition of capital punishment worldwide.
"These funds can be better spent to address crime and offer support to victims, rather than on bankrolling a punishment that has been rejected by more than 140 countries and 16 U.S. states."
Suzanne Nossel, Executive Director, Amnesty International U.S.A.
Amnesty International has spoken about how they believe they are progressing with major leaps forward in there campaign to end the death penalty. Believing it will free up resources that Connecticut had previously put towards capital punishment to policies that truly prevent crime. And support the needs of crime victims and their families. Connecticut’s lawmakers passed the bill after ten and half hours of debating the poll came out at 20 votes to 16. The Governor of Connecticut, Dannel Malloy, described the death penalty as one of the “most compelling and vexing issues of our time”, as he signed the bill to replace the death with life without parole for all new cases. As of now Connecticut joins sixteen other states in the United States of America that abandoned the death penalty this is nearly a third of all the states in the U.S and on a global scale 97 countries worldwide. A spokesperson from Amnesty International came out and said “The death penalty is a violent punishment that has no place in today 's criminal justice system. The death penalty is irrevocable, and because all legal systems make mistakes - as long as it exists, innocent people will be executed.”
Each year Amnesty International releases statistics and a report on death penalty and executions across the world. They oppose the death penalty in all cases without exception and look forward to a day where capital punishment has been completely abolished across the world. Reports have shown that the world is continuing in its trend towards abolishing the death penalty. The downside is that major countries like the United States still haven’t completely abolished capital punishment with the U.S as a major role model for some countries they have continued to use the death penalty with some countries actually resuming it, India, Japan, Gambia and Pakistan to name a few have once again resumed executions. However even so the use of the death penalty has been greatly reduced. 11 years ago, 28 countries carried out the death penalty last year there were just 21. In 2012 globally there were 682 confirmed executions. The five biggest contributors were China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the United States of America.
The sentence of Capital Punishment is not a cost effect way of punishing a criminal it costs more than life without parole.
It’s inhumane and murder. Why is murder unaccepted by society when Capital Punishment is? Sentencing a criminal to death does not solve the problems or issues that are left behind. It causes more friends and loved ones to grieve for their loss. The families and friends of the victims will still grieve they will still cry for a child that is never coming home; the victim will not be brought back the family will still suffer. It’s a barbaric alternative for punishing a criminal a criminal that will never have to atone for the consequences of their actions. The only people suffering are us, people that allow this to precede the murder of a man innocent or guilty is never an option. It’s inhumane and with the help of organizations like Amnesty International pushing for it i can hope that role model countries like the United States will abolish the Capital
Punishment.
References
"Amnesty International Australia." Amnesty Australia. Amnesty International, June 2013. Web. 19 June 2013.
"The Armband Protest Against the Death Penalty." The Armband Protest Against the Death Penalty. Organization, June-July 2013. Web. 19 June 2013.
"Capital Punishment in the United States." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 19 June 2013. Web. 19 June 2013.
Dieter, Richard C. "The Death Penalty in America." Analyzing Legislative Abolition of the Death Penalty. Death Penalty Information Center, New Jersey. Reading.
"Execution List 2013." DPIC. Roderick MacArthur Foundation, June 2013. Web. 19 June 2013.