The death penalty raises important questions about the origin, status, and extent of the right to life. Most people believe that they have the right to defend themselves against an assailant. They believe that they have the right to kill an attacker if their own lives are in danger. Some philosophers had extended this reasoning to the state as a whole.
The murderer, for example, can be seen as attacking society; society is justified in using lethal force to defend itself. Of course, once apprehended, the murderer no longer threatens society in quite the same way.But if murderers are likely to murder again, the self-protection argument may apply. This strategy argues that the right to life is limited so that those who threaten death to others lose their own right to take retribution by punishing the offender.
Moreover, the punishment that seems appropriate for causing death is suffering death. They have thus maintained that justice sometimes requires the death penalty. Still others have stressed deterrence as a justification for capital punishment.Putting a criminal to death, on this view, deters others from committing similar crimes. Enforcing the death penalty thus promotes the good of society; it may save more lives than it costs.
Statistical studies of the effects of capital punishment tend to be inconclusive; it is not clear whether the death penalty actually has this effect. But some studies report that each execution saves several lives by deterring prospective murderers. Theory and Hypotheses The main idea behind the study is to determine if death penalty is a deterrent to violence in crime.This study will be conducted amid the current debate of whether we should accept the deterrent value of the death penalty, despite the inconclusive results of most statistical studies.
The primary objective of the activity will be to determine the efficacy the death penalty in minimizing violence in crimes. The entirety of the work will be focused on the gathering of both secondary and primary data. Secondary literatures pertinent to the topic were already collected during the first two assignments and it was discovered that previous researches and expositions regarding the topic abound.The synthesis of secondary literature was conducted on the entirety of the semester beginning from the time the class discussed the subject of literature review. This paper takes the stance that the death penalty is an effective deterrent to violent crimes.
It avers that death is a unique punishment in the United States. In a society that so strongly affirms the sanctity of life, not surprisingly the common view is that death is the ultimate sanction. This natural human feeling appears all about us.There has been no national debate about punishment, in general by imprisonment, comparable to the debate about the punishment of death.
No other punishment has been so continuously restricted, nor has any State yet abolished prisons, as some have abolished this punishment. Literature Review and Conceptual Model The sources explored for the commissioning brief include a variety of scholastic journal articles searched through the Internet as well as actual cases on death penalties. Capital Punishment is the legal infliction of the death penalty.Through generations, death penalty has been used to punish those who have committed crimes.
The first laws established on death penalty date back in the 18the Century B. C. The Code of King Hammurabi of Babylon, codified death penalty for 25 different crimes (Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Standard 2003). In the 14th Century BC, the Hittite Code includes death penalty as punishment. In the 17 Century B.
C. , the Draconian Code of Athens states that death is the only punishment for all crimes while in the 5th Century B. C., the Roman Law of the Twelve Tablets includes death as punishment (Death Penalty Information Center, 2005).Death us punishment is by crucifixion, drowning, beating to death, burning alive, and impalement. Hanging became the method of execution during the 10th Century A.
D. in Britain. Although, William the Conqueror in the 11th Century A. D. did not permit hanging and execution, the trend did not remain for in the ruling of Henry VIII in the 16th Century, approximately, 72,000 were executed by boiling, burning at the stake, hanging, beheading, and drawing and quartering (Death Penalty Information Center, 2005).
Randa reported that the trend was increasing for the capital crimes in Britain for the next two years such that by the 1700s, 222 crimes were punishable by death including stealing, cutting down a tree, and robbing a rabbit warren. Death penalty is a severe punishment, such that a lot of juries would not convict defendants if the offense was not serious. From 1823 to 1837, the death penalty was eliminated at over 100 of the 222 crimes punishable by death (as cited in Death Penalty Information Center, 2005).America was influenced by Britain to use death penalty when European settlers came to the new world and brought the practice of capital punishment.
The first execution recorded was that of Captain George Kendall for being a spy for Spain in 1608 in the Jamestown colony of Virginia (Green, 2005). In 1612, minor crimes like stealing grapes, killing chickens, and trading with Indians were punishable by death penalty through Virginia Governor Sir Thomas Dale who enacted the Divine, Moral and Martial Laws (Death Penalty Information Center, 2005). According to Randa (1997) laws on death penalty differ from colony to colony.In 1630, the Massachusetts Bay Colony held its first execution, even though the Capital Laws of New England did not go into effect until years later. The Duke’s Law of 1665 was instituted in New York, under which offenses such as striking one's parents, mother or father, or denying the "true God," were death penalized (as cited in Death Penalty Information Center, 2005 ).
Blacks, both slave and free, were threatened with death for many crimes that were punished less severely when committed by whites (Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Standard 2003).From the article Illinois Suspends Death Penalty (2000), there are several states with capital punishment that have already embarked on a moratorium on all pending executions. There is already an increasing recognition of the innate injustice in the system (Illinois Suspends Death Penalty, 2000). This means that a lot of reforms are necessary in order for it to be truly effective. Thus Illinois has been quite very active in actually reforming their justice system.
Former Governor George Ryan leads these active changes in the system. There are basic facts that actually led to the reforms being made in Illinois.There is a need to recognize the increase in the number of innocent prisoners being freed prior to their execution. Since 1977, Illinois has already freed 13 innocent prisoners from the death row.
With these developments, Governor George H. Ryan has imposed a moratorium on all executions and also has commissioned a committee that would actually help them reform the system and increase the accuracy of judgments (Illinois Suspends Death Penalty, 2000). The increase in the error rate in Illinois has alarmed Governor Ryan thus the rate is actually at 4. 5 percent (Illinois Death Penalty, 2001).The stakes are quite high and therefore there is a need to actually make the system fair and equitable before embarking on such a dangerous form of justice. The Illinois Death Penalty Education Program is formed in order to study the efficiency of the death penalty or capital punishment implementation.
The aim is to initiate reforms to the Act such that it would create a fairer, and equitable implementation of the capital punishment. The aim is to increase the accuracy of judgment and reduce the risk of executing an innocent person (Illinois Death Penal 2001).Many legislators believe that the risk of punishing an innocent person is very alarming and hence steps must be made in order to reform the system. Some of the basic changes that Illinois wants to embark are the increase in training of many judges in terms of handling cases that are leaning towards capital sentencing.
All lawyers of the defense are supposed to have extensive experience on handling such cases. They must have sufficient professional experience in order to ensure that they have the professional capacity in defending the client.In addition to this, they have also created a Capital Litigation Trust Fund that would ensure that all defendants have sufficient funding in defending their case. Among other improvements proposed are related to the eyewitness fallibility tests and standardization of protocols in order to ensure that all witnesses are actually accurate and credible.
There is also a need to establish punishment of Life without Possibility of Parole for any participant that would attempt to witness against the defendant with favors in exchange with the aim of obstructing the truth (Reforms to Improve Accurac).Governor Ryan still believes that there is a need to actually use capital punishment. The Governor believes that it is still the appropriate response when it comes to heinous crimes. However the circumstances of accuracy made the Governor Ryan improve the policies of the system. The Governor believes that there is no need for the Committee to work quickly on the investigation and assessment of the current system. There is a need to maintain high accuracy of assessment and evaluation (Illinois Suspends Death Penalty, 2000).
Using the 13 cases of errors in judgment, the Governor ordered that the Committee propose several reforms that would actually improve the system. The system should be improved in terms of accuracy and efficiency. There is a need to make sure that all defendants will have access to equitable judicial process and all resources needed to prove their case must always be available. The Governor believes that there is a need to make sure that the system is efficient before ever using the punishment again (Illinois Suspends Death Penalty, 2000).The systemic injustice in the system needs to be reformed in order for it to be truly called an effective justice. Bohm (1999) reported that the way death penalty is enforced varies significantly among the states.
This is influence by the percentage of inmates on death row. The method usually used in most states is lethal injection but there are several states where the prisoner may choose an alternative method. Nebraska stills mandates electrocution. The use of cyanide gas was introduced in 1924, as Nevada sought a more humane execution of its inmates. Gee Jon was the first person executed by lethal gas.The state tried to pump cyanide gas into Jon's cell while he slept, but this proved impossible, and the gas chamber was constructed.
(cited in Death Penalty Information Center, 2005). Reform and Abolition Movement Until the end of 18th century, the call and efforts to abolish the death penalty did not gather momentum. The reform was led by the Quakers in Britain and the United States. A short treatise, On Crimes and Punishments in 1764, by the Italian jurist Cesare Beccaria, inspired thinkers like Voltaire to fight against torture, flogging, and death penalty.
Through the written works of philosopher Jeremy Bentham, Britain repealed all but a few of its capital statutes during the 19th century. A number of states in the United States, led by Michigan in 1847, abolished the death penalty totally. (Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Standard 2003) According to Bedau (1997) and Bohm (1999) although the abolishment of death penalty started in the mid-Nineteenth Century, it was the first half of the 20th Century which denoted the breakthrough of the "Progressive Period" of reform in the United States.Six states completely outlawed the death penalty from 1907 to 1917, while three limited death penalty to the rarely committed crimes of treason and first degree murder of a law enforcement official. But because of the coming of the Russian Revolution and the joining of the U. S.
in World War I which caused intense class conflicts as socialists mounted the first serious challenge to capitalism, the reform was short-lived and caused five of the six abolitionist states to reinstate their death penalty in 1920. (cited in Death Penalty Information Center, 2005).
