outline

Tia Lara 

English 102 Thursday 1:00

27 February 2014

Outline 

Introduction: I review my topic, and the issue, followed by my thesis statement. 

My topic & the issue

Over the decades society has questioned whether or not Capital punishment; also known as the Death penalty, is justice or injustice. 

From the perspective of philosopher John Rawls; justice should be described as“ a fair system of arrangements; one that the parties can agree to without knowing how it will benefit them personally” ,therefor the death penalty is justice because it creates equality between the crime and its punishment. In other words “ an eye for an eye.”

The United States has never not known Capital punishment. It has been around from the time the United States was formed; in 1776. (DPIC)

Although Capital Punishment is legal in the United States not all states believe in punishment by death.

B.  Thesis

Many people that are against Capital punishment must not fully understand this penalty because if they were to fully understand it they would not be against it. To obtain a full understanding society will need to know the history, different debates and studies, and of course the pros and cons. In the criminal justice system Capital punishment is not only a punishment; it also provides an example to the rest of society to deter from crime, brings the victim and their loved ones peace, and shows morality. 

Body: I state the history, Different debates and studies, and of course the Pros and cons. 

History

The death penalty has been around for so long that it can be traced all the way back to biblical times.

For example the first death penalty laws date back to 399 B.C. when the Greek Philosopher Socrates was convicted for corrupting the morals of the youth and sentenced to death by drinking a hemlock-based liquid (a highly poisonous European plant).

In the fifth century B.C. when the Romans used the law of the laws of the Twelve Tablets people could be put to death for any crime.

In the eleventh century A.D. William the Conqueror would not allow anybody to be put to death for any crime, unless in a time of war. However, he allowed criminals to be mutilated for their crimes.

In the sixteenth century A.D. Henry VIII made up for all the lost time in not exciting people by having as many as 72,000 people executed during his reign as king. 

Around this time citizens were most commonly executed for going against the church, witchcraft, and murder.

During executions King Henry VIII would make executions a public event. All of the town’s people would gather to watch these criminal put to death. 

A common execution method for a poor criminal was quartering, where the prisoner's limbs were tied to four oxen, then the animals were driven in four different directions ripping the person apart. 

Upper-class criminals could buy their way into a less painful death by hanging or beheading.

Guillotine: Doctor Joseph Ignace Guillotin wanted to banish the death penalty completely but because that was just not going to happen he argued for a painless method of execution; that would allow equality for all the classes. Guillotin created a machine in which the criminal would lay their neck in a slot and a diagonal blade rather than a round one would come down with great force, causing a quick and painless death. 

The execution of one convicted for witchcraft is different from other executions. Witches were burned at the stake; the executioner tied a rope around her neck when she was tied to the stake. When the flames reached her she could be strangled from outside the ring of fire. Unfortunately, this often failed and many were literally burnt alive. 

As time went by and America was developed the European settlers came to the new world and bringing the practice of capital punishment along with them. 

The first recorded execution in America was of Captain George Kendall in the Jamestown colony of Virginia in 1608; Kendall was executed for be being a spy for Spain.

In 1632 Jane Champion was hung in the Virginia colony for a reason that is unknown. 

Hangings seemed to have been the main form of execution in the colonies. 

In 1665 the New York colony set the Dukes Laws in motion. while under the Dukes Laws citizens could be put to death for hitting your mother or father, or denying the “True God”, pre-meditated murder, killing an unarmed man, killing by lying in wait or by poisoning, sodomy( being intimate with someone of the same sex), kidnapping, perjury( lying while under oath), going against the king, and conspiracy to invade towns or forts in the colony. 

Debates and studies

Deterrence is often contrasted with retributivism, which holds that punishment is a necessary consequence of a crime and should be calculated based on the gravity of the wrong done.

Cesare Beccaria's 1767 essay, On Crimes and Punishment, that had a strong impact throughout the world. In the essay, Beccaria's theory was that there is no justification for the state's taking of a life and that life imprisonment is more of a deterrence rather than death because death is short whereas life is not. 

In 1983 Dr. Ernest Van Den Haag states in his article “For the Death Penalty.” for the New York Times that “Common sense, lately bolstered by statistics, tells us that the death penalty will deter murder... People fear nothing more than death. Therefore, nothing will deter a criminal more than the fear of death... life in prison is less feared. Murderers clearly prefer it to execution -- otherwise, they would not try to be sentenced to life in prison instead of death... Therefore, a life sentence must be less deterrent than a death sentence.” 

Dudley Sharp, Death Penalty Resource Director states that the test for deterrence is not whether executions produce lower murder rates, but that executions produce fewer murders than if the death penalty did not exist.

For example, the argument that murderers are the least likely of all criminals to repeat their crimes is not only irrelevant, but also increasingly false. 6% of young adults paroled in 1978 after having been convicted of murder were arrested for murder again within 6 years of release. ("Recidivism of Young Parolees," 4, 1987, BJS).  If theses murderers were sentenced to death the first time then their second act would have never happened. 

According to Isaac Ehrlich's study, published on April 16, 1976, eight murders are deterred for each execution that is carried out in the U.S.A. He goes on to say, "If one 8 execution of a guilty capital murderer deters the murder of one innocent life, the execution is justified.”

The Eighth amendment states that “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” Many critics of the death penalty argue that it is unconstitutional because it violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against "cruel and unusual" punishments.

The U.S. Supreme Court has determined that a penalty must be equal to the crime; otherwise, the punishment violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments.

There are many interpretations for the meaning of "cruel and unusual", but generally the term "cruel" is defined as excessively painful or brutal. Punishments such as torture and dismemberment seem to clearly fall under this heading. "Unusual" has been understood to mean a punishment that is not usually connected with a particular crime, which is rarely applied in some cases.

Today in the United States, all states and the federal government use lethal injection as the main method of execution.

Some states use a three-drug protocol; others use a single-drug process. The three-drug protocol uses an anesthetic, followed by pancuronium bromide to paralyze the criminal, and potassium chloride to stop the inmate's heart. The one-drug protocol uses a lethal dose of an anesthetic. Both forms of lethal injection are painless on the criminal; therefore this rules out cruelty.

Unusual can also be ruled out because Capital punishment has been around since before the U.S. was created. It would be unusual if capital punishment was not around. 

Many believe that it cost more to execute a criminal then it does to sentence them to life in prison.

Opponents say that the cost of the death penalty is so expensive, at least two million dollars per case and say that we must choose life without parole at a cost of one million dollars for fifty years.

JFA (Justice for All) estimates that life without parole will cost one point two million dollars through three point six million dollars more than equivalent death penalty cases.

Life without parole prisoners faces on average of thirty or forty years in prison while the annual cost of incarceration in forty thousand dollars to fifty thousand dollars a year for each prisoner (Lowe)

Opponents claim that life without parole should replace the death penalty. Therefore, any cost calculations should be based specifically on cell costs for criminals who have committed the exact same category of offense.

the average cell cost is twenty four thousand dollars per year and the maximum security cell cost is seventy five thousand dollars per year.

B. This means cost comparisons are valid only if you compare the costs of      death penalty to life without parole cases to the cost of death penalty       cases.

After doing all the math life without parole cases appear to be extremely more expensive, over time, than the death penalty cases. For years, opponents have improperly compared the cost of all life without parole cases to death penalty cases. 

    Conclusion 

Capital Punishment has been around for so long being used as not only a punishment; it also provides an example to the rest of society to deter from crime, brings the victim and their loved ones peace, and shows morality. As a supporter of capital punishment I hope that you now have a full understanding on the history, different debates and studies, and of course the pros and cons. Capital punishment is a good punishment ; all states should enforce it it so that one day our country will be a safer country.