The Anti-Death Penalty Movement In The United States
Capital Punishment is characterized as the judicature, where a person is sentenced when he or she has committed a grievous offense and is followed by the execution of the individual. Although, most states that concede capital punishment have an age requirement, it is legal to dictate death sentence on a minor, in certain cases. In every society a form of punishment is imposed on those who break the law to discourage future wrongdoers. Indeed capital punishment is a practice that has been applied since the ancient times, and has become a very controversial issue in the United States and worldwide; and it has passed through many legal disputes that even came to a halt while the Supreme Court was discussing the case to reach a decision which later upheld the
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punishment with certain conditions.
But is not killing a violent act? Killing is prohibited in every primary religion and is acknowledged as a crime in every civilized society, regardless of how it is carried out. The reality is that murder has never been absolute. Indeed, some religions accept the use of war and killing in self-defense, whereas governments not only allow soldiers to kill but they are also required to do so for their nation. As Sir James Stephen (1864) said “No other punishment deters men so effectually from committing crimes as the punishment of death.” (p. 6). This gives right to one of the most debatable questions on the topic, which is the deterrence interrogate. Deterrence as explained in the first paragraph, is the use of a punishment to prevent people from reoffending. Death attains benefits for a society, assuring it from wrongdoers. If the death penalty does not stop criminals, what would stop it? During the times when there was no judicial system, people who had carried out murder and rape, were punished by the victim’s families, which led to future vendettas that multiplied within generations.
Death penalty was a well-accepted law as a result of many criminal offenses, enforced in all American colonies and with the end of the American Revolution, the states were granted the right to set their own jurisdiction, where most of them practiced its use. Indeed capital punishment is limited under the United States Constitution, which is reserved only for cases of homicide and crimes against the state or humanity and on aggravated circumstances. Although commonly accepted in the United States, it is continued to be practiced despite the controversy over its advantages and effectiveness, its approval has not extended through all the country. Indeed, in 1972, the Supreme Court declared death penalty as a cruel and unusual punishment under the Eight Amendment and, therefore, an unconstitutional manner, a suspension that lasted until 1976. After it the court decided to advocate for capital punishment, turning it into a divided process, in which the jury decides if the defendant is innocent or contrarily not convicted of first degree murder, the sentenced will not be imposed and the second one, where the jury determines the aggravating and mitigating factors. Therefore, many state laws specify the aggravated circumstances, which differ from state to state.
Similarly, many countries still use the death penalty as a punishment, although the majority of the world countries have never used it. Indeed, the countries, which support and effectuate capital punishment, are denominated as retentionist and abolitionist are the countries that have formally eradicated it, under all circumstances. However, some abolitionist countries have reserved it for extreme cases such as; rape, murder, treason and desertion. Whereby, abolitionist de facto are the ones, which retain capital punishment but have never used it and are considered to have disregarded it.
Abolitionist argue that the cost of potential capital punishment has increased, considering that death sentence requires a set of various trials; one where it determined whether the offender is guilty or not and what penalty will be given. Also it demands the state Supreme Court reviews and the cases and appeals. However, the allegations lack of abutment when the question arises: why should tax-payers support prisoners? Why honest citizens have to pay for the food and shelter of criminals? When a simple bullet or a couple of volts are less expensive. Fragment here complete sentence Furthermore, for many countries the death sentence is a basic element of all criminal justice systems through the entire world, including the United States. Certainly, in the United States, a great majority of the states have optioned to retain death penalty as punishment.
Hayes Healy says that the death penalty “has been primarily used against the negro community and primarily in the South.” (Healy 48). Although, African Americans were the majority of people sentenced to capital punishment, the amplitude of this changed after 1972, Now white convicts have the biggest number of death penalty convictions. Texas, which has the largest number of executions carried out in the United States, has executed mostly people from white heritage; therefore, one cannot assume that a specific race has more or less probability of being sentenced. Moreover, Hispanic people, the greatest minority group in the United States have similar rates, not more of death penalty convictions as any other race or ethnic group. In the case of Jose Medellin, a criminal Mexican, who was accused of murder and rape of two girls and got executed by the state of Texas, even though, Jose Medellin tried to appeal indicating that he wanted response from the Mexican consulate. At that time the spokesman, former Texas Governor Rick Perry, said “the world court has nothing to be with Texas and Texas is not obligated by a ruling or act according to a foreign court” (Black, 79). It is easy to get caught up in discussions of international law and justice and treaties. It 's very important to remember that these individuals are on death row for killing our citizens."
Nevertheless, there has not been found sufficient evidence to support or refuse deterrence, even though, retentionist and abolitionist have done their research. Indeed abolitionist, contend that murderers do not think reasonably enough to be deterred, considering that most of their acts are committed in situations of intense rage, frustration or fear, which keeps people absent from thinking and murderers whom have strategized their crimes, believe themselves too astute to be caught. Moreover, abolitionist claim that murders whom have already been sentenced, will continuously kill, because the situation cannot get more critical, while executing every witness to avoid apprehension.
However, in some circumstances the minds behind some criminal cases are so heinous, that they have astonished me, as is the case with Westly Dodd. Dodd raped and murdered three children, the youngest of them being only 4 years old. He tortured a boy for a number of days, and later lynched him and took pictures of him. At his trial, the judge asked him what would be his intention if he was forced to live in prison, and he replied harshly, that he would do everything he could do to escape, and if necessary, kill guards who got in his way and to go back and do what he used to do, which was kill children. Consequently, Dodd was executed in 1993, not only as a punishment for his crimes but also for the protection of the society. In conclusion, the decision of capital punishment should be kept as penalty because it is the only appropriate sanction in response to extreme cases, even though there is not enough evidence to support the retention of death sentence as it is, neither there to abolish it nor to … what?. Indeed, the majority of people accept it as part of our law system; otherwise it would be annulled and capital punishment should be considered as an ordinary crime as well to deflect the high costs that it carries. I believe that capital punishment not only deters people from committing crimes but also gives to the society that a sense of justice has been done in this world, as once Albert Einstein (as cited in Capital Punishment Second Edition, 2001, p. 4) suggested, “There is no reason why society should not rid itself of individuals proved socially harmful.”
References
Kronenwetter, M. (2001). Capital Punishment in Context. Capital Punishment Second Edition, (pp. 1-33). Santa Barbara, CA: Contemporary World Issues.
Haines, H.
H. (1996). Against Capital Punishment. The Anti-Death Penalty Movement in America, 1972-1994 (pp. 1-40). New York, NY: Oxford.
Baik, E. (2012). Gender, Religion and National Origin: Latinos attitude toward Capital Punishment. Journal of Social Sciences (15493652), 8(1), 79-84
Stetker, C. S., & Stetker, J. M. (2010). Capital Punishment: A century of discontinuous debate. Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, 100(3), 643-689.
Phillips, S. (2009). Criminology: Legal disparities in the capital of Capital Punishment. Journal Of Criminal Law & Criminology, 99(3), 717-755.
Homans, L. (2008). Swinging Sixties: The Abolition of Capital Punishment. History Today, 58(12), 43-49.
Yost, B. S. (2011). The Irrevocability of Capital Punishment. Journal of Social Philosophy, 42(3), 321-340. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9833.2011.01537.x
Langhamer, C. (2012). The Live Dynamic Whole of Feeling and Behavior: Capital Punishment and the Politics of Emotion, 1945-1957. Journal of British Studies, 51(2), 416-441.
Garland, D. (2011). The Problem of the Body in Modern State Punishment. Social Research, 78(3), 767-798
White Paper on Ethical Issues Concerning Capital Punishment. (2012). World Medical Journal, 58(3),
82-87.
punishment with certain conditions.
But is not killing a violent act? Killing is prohibited in every primary religion and is acknowledged as a crime in every civilized society, regardless of how it is carried out. The reality is that murder has never been absolute. Indeed, some religions accept the use of war and killing in self-defense, whereas governments not only allow soldiers to kill but they are also required to do so for their nation. As Sir James Stephen (1864) said “No other punishment deters men so effectually from committing crimes as the punishment of death.” (p. 6). This gives right to one of the most debatable questions on the topic, which is the deterrence interrogate. Deterrence as explained in the first paragraph, is the use of a punishment to prevent people from reoffending. Death attains benefits for a society, assuring it from wrongdoers. If the death penalty does not stop criminals, what would stop it? During the times when there was no judicial system, people who had carried out murder and rape, were punished by the victim’s families, which led to future vendettas that multiplied within generations.
Death penalty was a well-accepted law as a result of many criminal offenses, enforced in all American colonies and with the end of the American Revolution, the states were granted the right to set their own jurisdiction, where most of them practiced its use. Indeed capital punishment is limited under the United States Constitution, which is reserved only for cases of homicide and crimes against the state or humanity and on aggravated circumstances. Although commonly accepted in the United States, it is continued to be practiced despite the controversy over its advantages and effectiveness, its approval has not extended through all the country. Indeed, in 1972, the Supreme Court declared death penalty as a cruel and unusual punishment under the Eight Amendment and, therefore, an unconstitutional manner, a suspension that lasted until 1976. After it the court decided to advocate for capital punishment, turning it into a divided process, in which the jury decides if the defendant is innocent or contrarily not convicted of first degree murder, the sentenced will not be imposed and the second one, where the jury determines the aggravating and mitigating factors. Therefore, many state laws specify the aggravated circumstances, which differ from state to state.
Similarly, many countries still use the death penalty as a punishment, although the majority of the world countries have never used it. Indeed, the countries, which support and effectuate capital punishment, are denominated as retentionist and abolitionist are the countries that have formally eradicated it, under all circumstances. However, some abolitionist countries have reserved it for extreme cases such as; rape, murder, treason and desertion. Whereby, abolitionist de facto are the ones, which retain capital punishment but have never used it and are considered to have disregarded it.
Abolitionist argue that the cost of potential capital punishment has increased, considering that death sentence requires a set of various trials; one where it determined whether the offender is guilty or not and what penalty will be given. Also it demands the state Supreme Court reviews and the cases and appeals. However, the allegations lack of abutment when the question arises: why should tax-payers support prisoners? Why honest citizens have to pay for the food and shelter of criminals? When a simple bullet or a couple of volts are less expensive. Fragment here complete sentence Furthermore, for many countries the death sentence is a basic element of all criminal justice systems through the entire world, including the United States. Certainly, in the United States, a great majority of the states have optioned to retain death penalty as punishment.
Hayes Healy says that the death penalty “has been primarily used against the negro community and primarily in the South.” (Healy 48). Although, African Americans were the majority of people sentenced to capital punishment, the amplitude of this changed after 1972, Now white convicts have the biggest number of death penalty convictions. Texas, which has the largest number of executions carried out in the United States, has executed mostly people from white heritage; therefore, one cannot assume that a specific race has more or less probability of being sentenced. Moreover, Hispanic people, the greatest minority group in the United States have similar rates, not more of death penalty convictions as any other race or ethnic group. In the case of Jose Medellin, a criminal Mexican, who was accused of murder and rape of two girls and got executed by the state of Texas, even though, Jose Medellin tried to appeal indicating that he wanted response from the Mexican consulate. At that time the spokesman, former Texas Governor Rick Perry, said “the world court has nothing to be with Texas and Texas is not obligated by a ruling or act according to a foreign court” (Black, 79). It is easy to get caught up in discussions of international law and justice and treaties. It 's very important to remember that these individuals are on death row for killing our citizens."
Nevertheless, there has not been found sufficient evidence to support or refuse deterrence, even though, retentionist and abolitionist have done their research. Indeed abolitionist, contend that murderers do not think reasonably enough to be deterred, considering that most of their acts are committed in situations of intense rage, frustration or fear, which keeps people absent from thinking and murderers whom have strategized their crimes, believe themselves too astute to be caught. Moreover, abolitionist claim that murders whom have already been sentenced, will continuously kill, because the situation cannot get more critical, while executing every witness to avoid apprehension.
However, in some circumstances the minds behind some criminal cases are so heinous, that they have astonished me, as is the case with Westly Dodd. Dodd raped and murdered three children, the youngest of them being only 4 years old. He tortured a boy for a number of days, and later lynched him and took pictures of him. At his trial, the judge asked him what would be his intention if he was forced to live in prison, and he replied harshly, that he would do everything he could do to escape, and if necessary, kill guards who got in his way and to go back and do what he used to do, which was kill children. Consequently, Dodd was executed in 1993, not only as a punishment for his crimes but also for the protection of the society. In conclusion, the decision of capital punishment should be kept as penalty because it is the only appropriate sanction in response to extreme cases, even though there is not enough evidence to support the retention of death sentence as it is, neither there to abolish it nor to … what?. Indeed, the majority of people accept it as part of our law system; otherwise it would be annulled and capital punishment should be considered as an ordinary crime as well to deflect the high costs that it carries. I believe that capital punishment not only deters people from committing crimes but also gives to the society that a sense of justice has been done in this world, as once Albert Einstein (as cited in Capital Punishment Second Edition, 2001, p. 4) suggested, “There is no reason why society should not rid itself of individuals proved socially harmful.”
References
Kronenwetter, M. (2001). Capital Punishment in Context. Capital Punishment Second Edition, (pp. 1-33). Santa Barbara, CA: Contemporary World Issues.
Haines, H.
H. (1996). Against Capital Punishment. The Anti-Death Penalty Movement in America, 1972-1994 (pp. 1-40). New York, NY: Oxford.
Baik, E. (2012). Gender, Religion and National Origin: Latinos attitude toward Capital Punishment. Journal of Social Sciences (15493652), 8(1), 79-84
Stetker, C. S., & Stetker, J. M. (2010). Capital Punishment: A century of discontinuous debate. Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, 100(3), 643-689.
Phillips, S. (2009). Criminology: Legal disparities in the capital of Capital Punishment. Journal Of Criminal Law & Criminology, 99(3), 717-755.
Homans, L. (2008). Swinging Sixties: The Abolition of Capital Punishment. History Today, 58(12), 43-49.
Yost, B. S. (2011). The Irrevocability of Capital Punishment. Journal of Social Philosophy, 42(3), 321-340. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9833.2011.01537.x
Langhamer, C. (2012). The Live Dynamic Whole of Feeling and Behavior: Capital Punishment and the Politics of Emotion, 1945-1957. Journal of British Studies, 51(2), 416-441.
Garland, D. (2011). The Problem of the Body in Modern State Punishment. Social Research, 78(3), 767-798
White Paper on Ethical Issues Concerning Capital Punishment. (2012). World Medical Journal, 58(3),
82-87.