Capital Punishment :: essays research papers

Capital Punishment - History Capital Punishment - History There have been many controversies in the history of the United States, ranging from abortion, gun control, but capital punishment has been one of the most contested issues in recent decades. Capital punishment is the legal infliction of the death penalty on persons convicted of a crime. It is not intended to inflict any physical pain or any torture; it is only another form of punishment. It is irrevocable because it removes those punished from society forever, instead of temporarily imprisoning them. The usual alternative to the death penalty is life-imprisonment. Capital punishment is a method of punishment as old as civilization itself. The death penalty has been imposed throughout history for many crimes, ranging from treason to petty theft and murder. Many ancient societies accepted the idea that certain crimes deserved capital punishment. Ancient Roman and Mosaic law endorsed the notion of retaliation; they believed in the rule of "an eye for an eye." Similarly, the ancient Egyptians all executed citizens for a variety of crimes. The most famous people to be executed is Jesus. Only in England, during the reign of William the Conqueror was the death penalty not used, although the results of interrogation and torture were often fatal. Later, Britain reinstated the death penalty and brought it to its American colonies. Although the death was widely accepted throughout the early United States, not everyone approved of it. In the late-eighteen century, opposition to the death penalty gathered enough strength to lead to important restrictions on the use of the death penalty in several northern states, while in the United States, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Rhode Island abandoned the practice of it altogether. In 1794, Pennsylvan ia adopted a law to show the different degrees of murder and only used the death penalty for premeditated first-degree murder. Another reform took place in 1846 in Louisiana. This state abolished the mandatory death penalty and authorized the option of sentencing a capital offender to life imprisonment rather than to death. After the 1830s, public executions ceased to be demonstrated but did not completely stop until after 1936. Throughout history, governments have been extremely inventive in making ways to execute people. Executions inflicted in the past are now regarded today as ghastly, barbaric, and unthinkable and are forbidden by law almost everywhere. Common historical methods of execution included: stoning, crucifixion, burning, breaking on the wheel, garroting, beheading or decapitation, shooting and hanging .