Capital Punishment 1

Capital Punishment

Caleb McFalls

CJ 1010

Michael Renckert

07/20/21
Capital Punishment 2

Abstract

A very hot topic of debate recently is whether or not the death penalty is allowed within the

United States. In the United States, capital punishment is only upheld by 54% of states. With a

number that low many people have started to ask if capital punishment should be outlawed as a

means of punishment for crimes. For this paper I will; discuss methods of execution, present

information on both sides of the argument, give statistics on previous and current executions

(stats on numbers and inequalities) and give my opinion on the debate. Sources for the paper will

include ( but are not limited to): ncsl.org (National Conference of State Legislatures), aclu.org

(American Civil Liberties Union), deathpenality.org, and britannica.com.

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Capital Punishment

Since the dawn of time people have been punished for crimes that they have

committed, the punishment for said crime should depend on the severity of the

wrong-doing. Many people believed in the eye-for-an-eye mentality. If you stole, you’d

lose a hand, if you spoke slander, you’d have your tongue cut out, and if you killed

someone, you would be put to death. The first recorded death sentence was in 16th

century BC Egypt where the offender was a member of the royal family and was

sentenced to take his own life for practicing magic (Reggio, 2019). Death sentences have

been written into law as far back as 18th century China where King Hammurabi of

Babylon had capital punishment listed as the standard for 25 different crimes, although

none of these crimes were murder (Reggio, 2019). 14th Century BC, the Hittite Code had

death sentences for numerous crimes including murder. While a lot of countries at the

time had capital punishments for some crimes, the Draconian Code in Athens,7th Century

BC, every crime was punishable by death. (Reggio, 2019). Note these are not all of the

people that believed in capital punishment, punishment by death was very common

throughout history.

Even though the presence of capital punishment has been fairly consistent

throughout history, the method of execution has not been. Many ways of execution have

been used through history, most are fairly normal methods such as; stoning, hanging, and
Capital Punishment 4

beheadings. Although as empires rose and fell we also saw abnormal methods of death

come and go, some of which include crucifixion, drowning, live mummification, burying

alive, and being beaten to death. All of these ways of carrying out a death sentence

involved immense suffering and pain on behalf of the convict; this was meant to dissuade

people from committing crimes, although there is no concrete evidence that it was

successful. This is why, after the age of enlightenment, we saw a turn towards less cruel

execution methods. Now the most common method is lethal injection because it is seen

as the most humane. Other ways include firing squad, electric shock, lethal gas, and

hangings. Although these methods are seen as humane there is widespread debate on if

these are actually as painless as they claim to be, which is one of the biggest arguments

against capital punishment.

There are lots of moral arguments both for and against the death punishment.

Those who are against capital punishment say that it is “counterproductive” because by

killing a convict who has killed someone it is not really achieving anything. Another

argument against it is that when it’s the punishment for anything other than murder it will

then become disproportionate and too severe on the punishment side. On the other side of

the coin, believers in the death sentence argue that because the convict has killed another

person they have forfeited their own life. They also believe that it is a form of

retribution/vengeance for the victim’s family and loved ones. Some claim that capital
Capital Punishment 5

punishment is just because it was used many times in religious texts, but in present-day,

there is no real decision one way or another but we did see a trend in the latter half of the

20th century where major religions and their leaders were very public against death

sentences, namely Pope John Paul II denounced it as “cruel and unnecessary” (whole

paragraph, Hood, n.d.).

Another kind of argument for or against the death sentence includes, Is it Ethical?

The biggest ethical argument for those who support capital punishment is that the death

sentence will keep people from committing crimes because they will be scared of

receiving the death sentence. But opposers say that there is no concrete evidence saying

that capital punishment prevents crime more so than life sentences.

There are numerous practical arguments against the death sentence one of which

is that it is unjust because it sees a much higher rate of non-white convictions. According

to deathpenaltyinfo.org “Since executions resumed in 1977, 295 African-Americans

defendants have been executed for the murder of a white victim, while only 21 white

defendants have been executed for the murder of an African-American victim.”(Center,

2021). Opponents also point out that the death sentence is also cruel and unusual because

the appeal process is very long and drawn out so the accused will sit for long periods of

time and will not know if they are going to die or not.
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Currently, there are 27 states that uphold capital punishment, recently though

there have been a few states that previously had death sentences but have now outlawed

them within the state. The most recent of these countries is Virginia who outlawed it in

2021, others that have changed their stances recently include Colorado (2020) and New

Hampshire (2019). These states that have recently switched have replaced the death

sentence with life in prison without parole. Although we do see a few states that have

been opposed to the death sentence in the past but have voted to uphold it, Nebraska is a

perfect example of this. The state outlawed it back in 2015 but it was reinstated in 2016

by the popular vote. Even in states that uphold capital punishment it is still heavily

regulated, according to NCSL.org “Since 2015, 25 states enacted 66 new laws addressing

state systems of capital punishment. Trends include expanding or limiting aggravating

factors, modifying execution methods and procedures, changing trial and appellate

procedures, modifying laws to comply with litigation outcomes, and repealing the

practice altogether.” (States and Capital Punishment, 2021).

In conclusion, The death penalty is a very controversial topic not only in the

United States but across the globe. We see that there are both supporters and opponents

who list multiple reasons why it should be abolished or upheld including moral, practical,

and ethical arguments. Personally, I believe that capital punishment should be allowed

but only on a case-by-case basis, because not all murders should result in death, but some
Capital Punishment 7

should. It should be judged on the intention, whether premeditation was present, whether

or not the cause of death was cruel/involved torture, etc. I do not think that there should

be blanket statements like all murderers will be put to death but should be judged by each

individual case.
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Reference

Center, D. P. I. (2021, January 13). Enduring Injustice: the Persistence of Racial

Discrimination in the U.S. Death Penalty. Death Penalty Information Center.

https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/dpic-reports/in-depth/enduring-injustice-t

he-persistence-of-racial-discrimination-in-the-u-s-death-penalty

Hood, R. (n.d.). Capital punishment - Arguments for and against capital punishment.

Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved July 20, 2021, from

https://www.britannica.com/topic/capital-punishment/Arguments-for-and-against-capital-

punishment

Reggio, M. (2019, January 18). History of the Death Penalty. FRONTLINE.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/history-of-the-death-penalty/

States and Capital Punishment. (2021, June 16). NCSL.

https://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/death-penalty.aspx
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Assignment Reflection

● What assumptions have you made (outside of the research information evaluated)?

○ I assumed that Most states did support the death sentence, my assumptions were

correct but only barely.

● Do you need to investigate more facts and data?

○ I feel like While I do have a good understanding of the subject, More research and

data is never a bad thing to have.

● Does the conclusion you came to make sense?

○ I feel that my conclusion/my opinion on capital punishment does make sense but

also both the for and against sides do have some valid points.

● Does the information researched, and your assumptions support the conclusion?

○ Yes, My research does support the conclusion because both the for and against

capital punishment have good points so my opinion of a case by case system is

valid.

● Did you ask the right questions?

○ I feel that I did ask the right questions for the topic.

● Did you ask enough questions?

○ While I feel that I had an ample amount of information I could have asked a few

more questions.

● Was there more than one possible conclusion?

○ With such a complicated topic there might not be just one correct answer.