Americans Love Capital Punishment :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

Americans Love Capital Punishment There is one question that has always brought about controversy. Shouldcapital punishment be employ as a way of disciplining criminals? Over the pasttwenty years, there has been an enormous increase in violent crimes. It seemslogical that a person is less(prenominal) likely to commit a given act if by doing so hewill suffer swift and certain punishment of a frightful kind. As most Americansagree, death is the only appropriate punishment for such crimes. In ancient times executions were not uncommon. Even the Bible teachescapital punishment. It states, Who so sheddeth mans blood, by man shall hisblood be shed for in the image of God made he man (Bible). In ancient times a hardened of laws were written which specified many crimes punishable by capitalpunishment. These laws were the Code of Hammurabi. Some of the punishablecrimes mentioned included adultery, robbery witchcraft, and murder. During theMiddle Ages, the Church assumed the certificate of indebtedness of administering punishments. During the late 1700s the death penalty steadily grew in acceptance. Over200 crimes were punishable by death at the beginning of the 1800s. There werejust as many methods used to execute wrong-doers as there were crimes. Some ofthe techniques used included beheading, stoning, drowning, hanging, crucifying,and burying people alive. Also used were many nontraditional forms ofexecution. integrity type of execution utilized elephants to crush the criminalshead on a stone block. As times changed, so did the death penalty. Laws aimed at abolishingthe death penalty began to evolve at the turn of the century. Even with thechanges made, the effectiveness of capital punishment stayed right on track.The crimes punishable by death became more specific, while nigh were eradicatedcompletely. For example, there are different types of capital murder that havebeen specifically defined, but vary from one jurisdiction to another. Theseinclude murder carrie d out during the accusation of another felony, murder of apeace officer, corrections employee, or firefighter engaged in the performanceof official duties, murder by an inmate dower a life sentence, and murder forhire (Contract Murder). Other crimes worthy of death include espionage by amember of the Armed Forces (communication of information to a hostilegovernment), tampering where death results by a witness, and death resultingfrom aircraft hijacking. While hangings and firing squads remained in use,many forms of execution were done away with. Methods such as electrocution, lethal gas, and lethal injection soon replaced the annulled ones. As withalmost everything, there were exceptions made. Some states the prohibited the