By Kelsey RoseBy Kelsey Rose

Thesis Statement

What is capital punishment?

• Capital punishment is the execution of a person by the state as punishment for committing a crime. There have been many forms of capital punishment, but not all methods are still used today.

Past• started in the colonial times• was used to punish smaller crimes, such as stealing or denying the “true God”• methods such as stoning, beheading, hanging and death by firing squad were much more popular• the death penalty was also used a lot more frequently up until the 1950’s and 60’s when there was a lot less support for the death penalty• since World War I there has been a lot of negative opinions regarding the death penalty

Furman vs. Georgia

• this case fought against the death penalty saying that it is cruel and unusual• it tried to establish that there can easily be faults and mix ups and since it is a permanent punishment, it is unjust•“[the death penalty] is the only punishment that involves physical pain, it violates the sanctity of life, it is unusual since it is final, and that it denies the person of their humanity”

McLaughlin vs. Florida (race)

Gregg vs. Georgia (innocence)

California vs. Anderson (violates state constitution)

Present• there are a lot of arguments back and forth about whether or not the death penalty is moral

• some factors going against the death penalty are: innocent victims, could be viewed as barbaric, cruel and unusual, violates the constitution, and that using the death penalty to show that murder is wrong is hypocritical

• some factors for the death penalty are: it is supposedly quick and somewhat painless, overcrowding would occur if the convicted were sentenced to a lifetime in jail, and some people strongly believe in the concept “an eye for an eye”

Present

• Also, today there are a lot less people who are sentenced with the death penalty due to many activist groups• From 1993 to 1999 the execution rate was in the high two hundreds to mid three hundreds but in recent times, the rate has dropped down to about one hundred people executed each year•As of right now, 14 states have completely abolished the death penalty and Florida has the highest execution rate. • Today, the most common form of capital punishment is lethal injection

Future

Hopefully in the future, people will be able to see that the death penalty really is cruel and unusual. I do not think that it is just or moral and their can be many unfixable mistakes.