should capital puishment be abolished?
Jeffrey Brown
000-06-9118
English 120
Ms. Verona Seymour
September 20, 2013
Informal text-based essay
Should capital punishment be abolished?
Capital punishment or the death penalty is a legal process whereby a person is put to death by the state as a punishment for a crime. A person being punished in this manner is a death sentence, while the actual process of killing the person is an execution. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally "regarding the head" (referring to execution by beheading).
Capital punishment has, in the past, been practiced by most societies. Currently fifty-eight nations actively practice it, ninety-seven countries have abolished it for all crimes, eight have abolished it for ordinary crimes only (maintain it for special circumstances such as war crimes), and thirty-five have abolished it (have not used it for at least ten years and/or are under moratorium) .[3] Amnesty International considers most countries abolitionist, overall, the organization considers one hundred forty countries to be abolitionist in law or practice. On the other hand, murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human, and generally this premeditated state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide (such as manslaughter). A person who commits murder is called a murderer.[1] As the loss of a human being inflicts enormous grief upon the individuals close to the victim, and the commission of a murder is highly detrimental to the good order within society, most societies both present and in the distant past have considered it a most serious crime worthy of the harshest of punishment. In most countries, a person convicted of murder is typically given a long prison sentence, possibly a life sentence where permitted, and in some countries, the death penalty may be imposed for such an act, though this
000-06-9118
English 120
Ms. Verona Seymour
September 20, 2013
Informal text-based essay
Should capital punishment be abolished?
Capital punishment or the death penalty is a legal process whereby a person is put to death by the state as a punishment for a crime. A person being punished in this manner is a death sentence, while the actual process of killing the person is an execution. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally "regarding the head" (referring to execution by beheading).
Capital punishment has, in the past, been practiced by most societies. Currently fifty-eight nations actively practice it, ninety-seven countries have abolished it for all crimes, eight have abolished it for ordinary crimes only (maintain it for special circumstances such as war crimes), and thirty-five have abolished it (have not used it for at least ten years and/or are under moratorium) .[3] Amnesty International considers most countries abolitionist, overall, the organization considers one hundred forty countries to be abolitionist in law or practice. On the other hand, murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human, and generally this premeditated state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide (such as manslaughter). A person who commits murder is called a murderer.[1] As the loss of a human being inflicts enormous grief upon the individuals close to the victim, and the commission of a murder is highly detrimental to the good order within society, most societies both present and in the distant past have considered it a most serious crime worthy of the harshest of punishment. In most countries, a person convicted of murder is typically given a long prison sentence, possibly a life sentence where permitted, and in some countries, the death penalty may be imposed for such an act, though this