America Loves Capital Punishment

Americans Love Capital Punishment

There is one question that has always brought about controversy. Should

capital punishment be used as a way of disciplining criminals? Over the past

twenty years, there has been an enormous increase in violent crimes. It seems

logical that a person is less likely to commit a given act if by doing so he

will suffer swift and certain punishment of a horrible kind. As most Americans

agree, death is the only appropriate punishment for such crimes.

In ancient times' executions were not uncommon. Even the Bible teaches

capital punishment. It states, "Who so sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his

blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man" (Bible). In ancient times a

set of laws were written which specified many crimes punishable by capital

punishment. These laws were the Code of Hammurabi. Some of the punishable

crimes mentioned included adultery, robbery witchcraft, and murder. During the

Middle Ages, the Church assumed the responsibility of administering punishments.

During the late 1700's the death penalty steadily grew in acceptance. Over

200 crimes were punishable by death at the beginning of the 1800's. There were

just as many methods used to execute wrong-doers as there were crimes. Some of

the techniques used included beheading, stoning, drowning, hanging, crucifying,

and burying people alive. Also used were many nontraditional forms of

execution. One type of execution utilized elephants to crush the criminal's

head on a stone block.

As times changed, so did the death penalty. Laws aimed at abolishing

the death penalty began to evolve at the turn of the century. Even with the

changes made, the effectiveness of capital punishment stayed right on track.

The crimes punishable by death became more specific, while some were eradicated

completely. For example, there are different types of capital murder that have

been specifically defined, but vary from one jurisdiction to another. These

include murder carried out during the commission of another felony, murder of a

peace officer, corrections employee, or firefighter engaged in the performance

of official duties, murder by an inmate serving a life sentence, and murder for

hire (Contract Murder). Other crimes worthy of death include espionage by a

member of the Armed Forces (communication of information to a foreign

government), tampering where death results by a witness, and death resulting

from aircraft hijacking. While hangings and firing squads remained in use,

many forms of execution were done away with. Methods such as electrocution,

lethal gas, and lethal injection soon replaced the annulled ones. As with

almost everything, there were exceptions made. Some states the prohibited the

execution of anyone mentally retarded. In 1901, Colorado made it a law that

capital punishment would not be used if the accused was convicted only on

circumstantial evidence.

The American public has long been favorably disposed toward capital

punishment for convicted murderers, and that support continues to grow. In a

1981 Gallup Poll, two-thirds of Americans voiced general approval of the death

penalty. That support rose to 72 percent in 1985, to 76 percent in 1991, and

to 80 percent in 1994 (Moore, 1994:5). Although these poll results need to be

interpreted with extreme caution, it is clear that there are few issues on

which more Americans agree: in at least some circumstances, death is seen as a

justifiable punishment for the worst sorts of criminal homicides.

On the other hand, much of the public and political support for capital

punishment rests on its presumed value as a general deterrent: we need the

death penalty to encourage potential murderers to avoid engaging in criminal

homicide. Unlike the issue of retribution, empirical studies can answer

questions about the death penalty's general deterrent effects.

To supporters of capital punishment, the statistics are pleasing. In the

past seventy years there have been 4,002 executions carried out in the United

States. Approximately three-fifths