Death penalty

1.1. Capital Punishment

2.2. Death Penalty Capital punishment or the death penalty is a legal process whereby a person is put to death by the
state as a punishment for a crime. The judicial decree that someone be punished in this manner is a death sentence,
while the actual process of killing the person is an execution. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as
capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitals, literally "regarding the head"
(referring to execution by beheading.

3.3. Death Penalty Capital punishment has, in the past, been practiced by most societies. Currently 58 nations
actively practice it, 97 countries have abolished it de jure for all crimes, 8 have abolished it for ordinary crimes only
(maintain it for special circumstances such as war crimes), and 35 have abolished it de facto (have not used it for at
least ten years and/or are under moratorium.

4.4. Death Penalty Amnesty International considers most countries abolitionist, overall, the organization considers
140 countries to be abolitionist in law or practice. About 90% of all executions in the world take place in Asia.

5.5. Death Penalty Capital punishment is a matter of active controversy in various countries and states, and positions
can vary within a single political ideology or cultural region. In the European Union member states, Article 2 of the
Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union prohibits the use of capital punishment.[5] The Council of Europe,
which has 47 member states, also prohibits the use of the death penalty by its members.

6.6. One reason often cited for supporting the death penalty is retribution. This reason goes back to the old biblical
concept of "an eye for an eye." Many people feel that execution is a natural human response to the crime of murder.
The rationale is that, if the defendant has taken a life, then the defendant's life should be taken.

7.7. A more common academic reason given for supporting the death penalty is that it is a deterrent for others who
may consider committing the same crime. One argument for punishment of criminals is that by punishing someone who
has committed a crime, others will be deterred from committing the same or similar crimes. Supporters of the death
penalty feel that if someone knows that he or she could be executed for breaking the law, then he or she will be less
likely to follow through with the commission of a crime.

8.8. Incapacitation is another justification for supporting the death penalty. Although similar to the retribution
argument, incapacitation is more of a logical response as opposed to an emotional response. One way to be certain that
a criminal will not re-offend is to take away the possibility of re-offending. Some people feel that prison still affords a
person the ability to commit a crime and is the only true way to incapacitate the offender. To assure that he or she
cannot commit another crime, he or she is executed.

9.9. The death penalty gives closure to the victim's families who have suffered so much. Some family members of
crime victims may take years or decades to recover from the shock and loss of a loved one. Some may never recover.
One of the things that helps hasten this recovery is to achieve some kind of closure. Life in prison just means the
criminal is still around to haunt the victim. A death sentence brings finality to a horrible chapter in the lives of these
family members.

10.10. Our justice system shows more sympathy for criminals than it does victims. It's time we put the emphasis of
our criminal justice system back on protecting the victim rather than the accused. Remember, a person who's on death
row has almost always committed crimes before this. A long line of victims have been waiting for justice. We need
justice for current and past victims.

11.11. Prisoner parole or escapes can give criminals another chance to kill. Perhaps the biggest reason to keep the
death penalty is to prevent the crime from happening again. The parole system nowadays is a joke. Does it make sense
to anyone outside the legal system to have multiple "life" sentences + 20 years or other liverish? Even if a criminal is
sentenced to life without possibility of parole, he still has a chance to kill while in prison, or even worse, escape and go
on a crime/murder spree.
12.12. It contributes to the problem of overpopulation in the prison system. Prisons across the country face the
problem of too many prisoners and not enough space & resources. Each additional prisoner requires a portion of a cell,
food, clothing, extra guard time, and so on. When you eliminate the death penalty as an option, it means that prisoner
must be housed for life. Thus, it only adds to the problem of an overcrowded prison system.

13.13. It gives prosecutors another bargaining chip in the plea bargain process, which is essential in cutting costs in
an overcrowded court system. The number of criminal cases that are plea bargained (meaning the accused admits guilt
in return for a lesser sentence or some other concession) can be as high as 80 or 90 percent of cases. With the time,
cost, and personnel requirements of a criminal case, there really isn't much of a choice.

14.14. The vast majority of people that are arraigned are in fact guilty of the crime they are accused. Even if you
believe a defendant only deserves life in prison, without the threat of a death sentence, there may be no way to get him
to plead guilty and accept the sentence. If a case goes to trial, in addition to the enormous cost, you run the chance
that you may lose the case, meaning a violent criminal gets off scot free. The existence of the death penalty gives
prosecutors much more flexibility and power to ensure just punishments.

15.15. It provides a deterrent for prisoners already serving a life sentence. What about people already sentenced to
life in prison. What's to stop them from murdering people constantly while in prison? What are they going to do--extend
their sentences? Sure, they can take away some prison privileges, but is this enough of a deterrent to stop the killing?
What about a person sentenced to life who happens to escape? What's to stop him from killing anyone who might try to
bring him in or curb his crime spree?

16.16. Morality: "Ultimately, the moral question surrounding capital punishment in America has less to do with
whether those convicted of violent crime deserve to die than with whether state and federal governments deserve to
kill those whom it has imprisoned. The legacy of racial apartheid, racial bias, and ethnic discrimination is unavoidably
evident in the administration of capital punishment in America. Death sentences are imposed in a criminal justice
system that treats you better if you are rich and guilty than if you are poor and innocent. This is an immoral condition
that makes rejecting the death penalty on moral grounds not only defensible but necessary for those who refuse to
accept unequal or unjust administration of punishment." Bryan Stevenson, JD Professor of Law at New York University
School of Law "Close to Death: Reflections on Race and Capital Punishment in America," from Debating the Death
Penalty: Should America Have Capital Punishment? The Experts on Both Sides Make Their Best Case 2004

17.17. DNA testing and other methods of modern crime scene science can now effectively eliminate almost all
uncertainty as to a person's guilt or innocence. One of the biggest arguments against the death penalty is the
possibility of error. Sure, we can never completely eliminate all uncertainty, but nowadays, it's about as close as you
can get. DNA testing is over 99 percent effective.

18.18. And even if DNA testing and other such scientific methods didn't exist, the trial and appeals process is so
thorough it's next to impossible to convict an innocent person. Remember, a jury of 12 members must unanimously
decide there's not even a reasonable doubt the person is guilty. The number of innocent people that might somehow be
convicted is no greater than the number of innocent victims of the murderers who are set free.

19.19. Islam and Capital Punishment Islam on the whole accepts capital punishment. Take not life, which God has
made sacred, except by way of justice and law. Thus does He command you, so that you may learn wisdom Qur'an
6:151 "

20.20. Islam and Capital Punishment "Whoever slays a soul, unless it be for manslaughter or for anarchy in the land,
it is as though he slew all men; and whoever keeps it alive, it is as though he kept alive all men; and certainly Our
apostles came to them with clear arguments, but even after that many of them certainly act extravagantly in the land.
Chapter 5, Verse 120 "The Table" "...do not kill the soul which Allah has forbidden except for the requirements of justice;
this He has enjoined you with that you may understand." Chapter 6, Verse 165: "The Cattle

21.21. Islam and Capital Punishment According to the Islamic injunctions, death penalty can be administered in two
cases only. Firstly, if a person is physically harmed or injured by another, Islam directs the state to provide justice to the
individual (or his relatives) by letting him/them harm or injure the guilty to the same extent, as he himself was guilty of
harming his victim, in the first place. This concept of punishing the guilty is known as 'Qisaas', which means 'to follow
suit' or to deal with the criminal in a manner similar to the act originally committed. In other words, the criminal is to be
killed or injured in the same way as he himself killed or injured his victim...

22.22. Islam and Capital Punishment Secondly, the death penalty may be administered if the criminal is guilty of
'Hiraabah' or 'Fasaad fil Ardh'. 'Hiraabah' and/or 'Fasaad fil Ardh' include crimes committed against the community,
rather than an individual or crimes that are of the nature of religious persecution or crimes committed with the
objective of spreading a wave of terror through the community or crimes committed against the state..."

23.23. Islam and Capital Punishment [Editor's Note: The above quote states that only "two cases" exist for which the
Qur'an allows the death penalty. The first case is for murder. The second case applies to "crimes committed against the
community" which, depending on who is interpreting the Quran, may include: treason, apostasy (when one leaves the
faith and turns against it), terrorism, piracy, rape, adultery, and homosexual activity.]

24.24. BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH B BLAH BLAH

25.25. Types of Death Penalty
26.26. Animals Crushing Elephant Devouring by animals, as in damnatio ad bestias (i.e., as in the clich, "being
thrown to the lions"), as well as by alligators, crocodiles, piranha and sharks. Stings from scorpions and bites by snakes,
spiders, etc. (e.g. the "Snake pit" of Germanic legend)[dubious discuss] Tearing apart by horses (e.g., in medieval
Europe and Imperial China, with four horses; or "quartering", with four horses, as in The Song of Roland and Child
Owlet). Trampling by horses (example: Al-Musta'sim, the last Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad).

27.27. Back Breaking A Mongolian method of execution that avoided the spilling of blood on the ground[2] (example:
the Mongolian leader Jamukha was probably executed this way in 1206).[3]

28.28. Blowing from a gun Tied to the mouth of a cannon, which is then fired. Boiling to Death This penalty was
carried out using a large cauldron filled with water, oil, tar, tallow, or even molten lead.

29.29. Breaking Wheel Also known as the Catherine wheel, after a saint who was allegedly sentenced to be
executed by this method. Berried Alive Traditional punishment for Vestal virgins who had broken their vows.

30.30. Burning Most infamous as a method of execution for heretics and witches. A slower method of applying
single pieces of burning wood was used by Native Americans in torturing captives to death.[4] Crucifixion Roping or
nailing to a wooden cross or similar apparatus (such as a tree) and allowing to perish.

31.31. Crushing By a weight, abruptly or as a slow ordeal. Decapitation Also known as beheading. One of the
most famous execution methods is execution by guillotine. Disembowelment Often employed as a preliminary stage
to the actual execution, e.g. by beheading; an integral part of seppuku (harakiri), which was sometimes used as a form
of capital punishment.

32.32. Drawing & Quartering English method of executing those found guilty of high treason. Electrocution The
electric chair. Falling The victim is thrown off a height or into a hollow (example: the Barathron in Athens, into which
the Athenian generals condemned for their part in the battle of Arginusae were cast).[5] In Argentina during the Dirty
War, those secretly abducted were later drugged and thrown from an airplane into the ocean.

33.33. Flaying The skin is removed from the body. Garrote Used most commonly in Spain and in former
Spanish colonies (e.g. the Philippines), used to strangle or choke someone. Gas Death by asphyxiation or poison gas in
a sealed chamber. Gibbeting The act of gibbeting refers to the use of a gallows-type structure from which the victim was
usually placed within a cage which is then hung in a public location and the victim left to die to deter other existing or
potential criminals.

34.34. Hanging One of the most common methods of execution, still in use in a number of countries. Immurement
The confinement of a person by walling off any exits; since they were usually kept alive through an opening, this was
more a form of imprisonment for life than of capital punishment (example: the countess Elisabeth Bthory, who lived for
four more years after having been immured). Keelhauling European maritime punishment.
35.35. Poisoning Lethal injection. Before modern times, sayak (, ) was the method of capital punishment of nobles
(yangban) and members of the royal family during the Joseon Dynasty in Korea due to the Confucianist belief that one
may kill a seonbi but may not insult him (, ). Pendulum A type of machine with an axe head for a weight
that slices closer to the victim's torso over time. (Of disputed historicity.) Swing (Of disputed historicity.)

36.36. Shooting By cannon (see Blowing from a gun) By firing squad By a single shot (such as the neck shot,
often performed on a kneeling prisoner, as in China).

37.37. Stoning The condemned is pummeled by stones thrown by a group of people with the totality of the injuries
suffered leading to eventual death.

38.38. Thanks From Your Attention

No Death Penalty Cost of Putting someone to death Death penalty is 2.5 times more costly than to put someone in
prison for life. Cost of multiple trials and the cost of appeals. The extra cost of putting someone to death gives the
option of just putting someone in prison without the possibility of parole.

1.7. No Death Penalty continued Putting someone to death who is innocent The chance of putting someone to death
who is falsely accused. The chance of someone incorrectly accused being put to death outweighs putting the right
criminal to death Since 1973, one hundred thirty people have been released form death row due to evidence that
shows their wrongful conviction.

2.8. No Death Penalty continued Publicity of crime The publicity of a crime and the long trials that come with it cause
more crimes. Life in Prison is more of a deterrent than the Death Penalty

3.9. No Death Penalty Continued Rehabilitation Failure By putting someone to death it does not give them time to
acknowledge their mistakes. The murder does not have the ability to ask for forgiveness. Death of a murderer does
not bring back a loved one.

4.10. Conclusion In conclusion both sides have strong arguments, and it is very important to understand both sides of
the argument before you decide your stance on the topic.