History of Capital Punishment Although many view capital punishment or the death penalty as cruel and unusual punishment it is still strongly used today in the United States. In today’s time people discuss capital punishment when referring to criminals such as the Mason Family, OJ Simpson, Bonnie and Clyde, Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Tedd Bundy, Amy Fisher, and Al Capone who were all hardcore criminals. However not everyone views capital punishments as cruel and unusual, some have religious factors to consider.
Most major world religions take a puzzling position on the morality of capital punishment. Religions are often based on a body of teachings the standards of present-day Western civilization, and the Old Testament. A few public policy issues have inflamed passions as consistently and as strongly as the debate over capital punishment. Religious communities have been deeply involved on both sides of the issues, drawing on teachings and traditions of justice and the dignity of human life.The debate over the death penalty has been complicated in recent years by questions regarding both the fairness of the criminal justice system and the possibility of reform and rehabilitation among death row inmates. Throughout my paper I will discuss the history of capital punishment and reasons why one might receive this punishment.
The execution of criminals, soldiers, and political opponents has been used by nearly all societies, in both to punish crime and to suppress political dissent. In most places that practice capital punishment it is usually reserved for murder, espionage, treason, or as a part of military justice.However in some countries sexual crimes such as rape, adultery, incest and sodomy, carry out capital punishment in some situations. Religious crimes such as apostasy in Islamic nations (is the formal renunciation of the State religion). Although religious crimes are rare, in many countries that are in favor of the death penalty, drug trafficking is also a capital offense. One country that supports this is China, human trafficking and serious cases of corruption are punished by using the death penalty.
Dealing with militaries around the world courts have issued the death penalty for offenses such as cowardice, desertion, insubordination, and mutiny. The first form of punishment was the guillotine, which started way before the French Revolution. Guillotine like machines seem to have functioned in Germany, Great Britain and Italy around the 18th century. Monsieur Guillotin's only connection to the device lies in his efforts to convince the French National Assembly to adopt some sort of new machine as a more humane method of capital punishment.
