Capital Punishment

Capital Punishment can be described as the penalty of death for commission of a crime. Capital punishment is a controversial issue in the United States and, indeed, in most of the world, with many prominent organizations and individuals participating in the debate. Arguments for and against it are based on moral, practical, religious, and emotional grounds. (Wikepida Enclyopodia). The death penalty is the harshest form of punishment in the United States today, which also makes it a difficult issue.

Murder is the unlawful killing of another human being with an intentional or criminal intent. In today's world, terrible crimes are being committed daily. Many believe that these criminals deserve one fate: death. Capital punishment, the death penalty, is the maximum sentence used in punishing people who kill another human being - and is a very controversial method of punishment. Capital punishment is a subject that can be counted upon to stir emotion and controversy into any conversation or argument. The very concept provokes a profusion of valid questions and opinions. Today's daily world of crime and violence calls for punishment of a severe nature, and many citizens argue that the punishment necessary is the death penalty.

In most states, a person convicted of first degree murder has the potential to be given the death penalty. Capital punishment is a subject that can be counted upon to stir emotion and controversy into any conversation or argument. The very concept provokes a profusion of valid questions and opinions. Today's daily world of crime and violence calls for punishment of a severe nature, and many citizens argue that the punishment necessary is the death penalty.

Britain influenced America's use of the death penalty more than any other country. When European settlers came to the new world, they brought the practice of capital punishment. The first recorded execution in the new colonies was that of Captain George Kendall in the Jamestown colony of Virginia in 1608. Kendall was executed for being a spy for Spain. In 1612, Virginia Governor Sir Thomas Dale enacted the Divine, Moral, and Martial Laws, which provided the death penalty for even minor offenses such as stealing grapes, killing chickens, and trading with Indians. Laws regarding the death penalty varied from colony to colony. The Massachusetts Bay Colony held its first execution in 1630, even though the Capital Laws of New England did not go into effect until years later. The New York Colony instituted the Duke's Laws of 1665. Under these laws, offenses such as striking one's mother or father, or denying the "true God," were punishable by death. For most of American history, capital punishment was a state or even a local issue. Criminal was tried, convicted, and sentenced according to local rules and customs, and their executions were generally carried out by town sheriffs in courthouse squares. Federal judges took almost no interest in the death penalty, and even state appeals courts tended to give the matter little consideration. In the 1930s there were on average 152 executions per year. In 1962 there were 47 executions, and in 1966 there was 1. (Hickey) Polls taken in the 1990s showed that 75-80n percent of all Americans support capital punishment. In 1990, 23 people were executed; in 1999, 98 were. Since 1976, when capital punishment was restored, over 600 people have been executed. Currently, there are approximately 3,500 people on death row. Eighteen states allow executions of defendants who are young as 16, and there are currently over 60 juvenile on death row. (Hickey) In 2007, 42 persons in 10 States were executed .26 in Texas; 3 each in Alabama and Oklahoma; 2 each in Indiana, Ohio, and Tennessee; and 1 each in South Dakota, Georgia, South Carolina, and Arizona. Of persons executed in 2007, 28 were white and 14 were black. All 42 inmates executed in 2007 were men. Lethal injection accounted for all of the executions in 2007. Thirty-eight States and the Federal government in 2006 had capital statutes. At yearend 2006, 37 States and the Federal prison system held 3,228 prisoners under sentence of death, 17 fewer than at yearend 2005. Capital punishment is legal in Washington State, Montana, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Nevada, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Mississippi, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Washington DC. Out of these, lethal injection is legal in thirty two states, electrocution in ten states, the gas chamber in five

states, hanging in three states and the firing squad in two states. Some states use more than one method. Out of the thirty nine states where the death penalty