The History of Capital Punishment
History of the Capital Punishment in Canada
Why do we kill those who kill, to show that killing is wrong? This was the thought which initially caused countries to reconsider alternatives aside from capital punishment which would have the same effectiveness in moral discipline. The largest contributing factors which led to Canada and other countries’ decision to abolish the statute were: the historical timeline of capital punishment cases in Canada, economic factors and fundamental violations of human rights. The definition cited by the legal-dictionary is, “Capital Punishment is the legally certified killing of someone as a sanction for a crime” (Merriam-Webster, 2008, p. 237), a crime called a capital crime, which are atrocious crimes that should be punished by death. The crimes punished by death were rape, murder, treason, mutiny, and theft. Although this crimes changed with time. The capital punishment is an extremely controversial practice with a diversity of concerns created by human rights, and because of this several countries decided not to be part of it. In Canada in 1976, was removed from the Criminal Code, and changed the sentence to a “mandatory life sentence without possibility of parole.” This was installed so people wouldn’t have the need to worry about having these types of criminals walking free after a few months. She also mentions that in “1998 capital punishment was also removed from the Canadian National Defence Act” which made the “Canadian military law in line with civil law in Canada” (Susan Munroe, par. 1). So this way all the legislation will be equal. Most other countries have abolished capital punishment as well, with the exception of “China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United States”, as mentioned by (Robert Badniter, 2004, p.10). Capital punishment was abolished from these countries because it violated the fundamentals of human rights. Talking away a person’s lives and their right to not be subjected to cruel, inhumane or
Why do we kill those who kill, to show that killing is wrong? This was the thought which initially caused countries to reconsider alternatives aside from capital punishment which would have the same effectiveness in moral discipline. The largest contributing factors which led to Canada and other countries’ decision to abolish the statute were: the historical timeline of capital punishment cases in Canada, economic factors and fundamental violations of human rights. The definition cited by the legal-dictionary is, “Capital Punishment is the legally certified killing of someone as a sanction for a crime” (Merriam-Webster, 2008, p. 237), a crime called a capital crime, which are atrocious crimes that should be punished by death. The crimes punished by death were rape, murder, treason, mutiny, and theft. Although this crimes changed with time. The capital punishment is an extremely controversial practice with a diversity of concerns created by human rights, and because of this several countries decided not to be part of it. In Canada in 1976, was removed from the Criminal Code, and changed the sentence to a “mandatory life sentence without possibility of parole.” This was installed so people wouldn’t have the need to worry about having these types of criminals walking free after a few months. She also mentions that in “1998 capital punishment was also removed from the Canadian National Defence Act” which made the “Canadian military law in line with civil law in Canada” (Susan Munroe, par. 1). So this way all the legislation will be equal. Most other countries have abolished capital punishment as well, with the exception of “China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United States”, as mentioned by (Robert Badniter, 2004, p.10). Capital punishment was abolished from these countries because it violated the fundamentals of human rights. Talking away a person’s lives and their right to not be subjected to cruel, inhumane or