Death Penalty

Death Penalty

Introduction

Death penalty has been a form of punishment since the ancient times. Although the means of taking life of the convict have been different, the end result stays the same. It is not only the United States of America that has a history of capital punishment, but the whole world has been drenched in this hideous act of punishment since long. Many great civilizations have exercised this form of punishment for convicts (Carmen, Vollum, Cheeseman, Frantzen & Miguel, 2008). The United States of America also has a long history of the imposition of capital punishment for convicts. In fact, capital punishment has been such a debatable topic that the imposition of death penalty as a form of punishment has seen phases of implementation and dissolution in the past decades (Bedau & Cassell, 2004). At common law, death was imposed for all convicted murderers. Consequently, many states of the U.S. went through prolonged periods in which death penalty was considered as legal. Later it was declared illegal in most states, but then after being revised it was again declared legal. Later it was declared illegal again, and then after further considerations it was declared a legal act again (Carmen, Vollum, Cheeseman, Frantzen & Miguel, 2008).

The paper attempts to enlighten and explore the concept of death penalty in a holistic context. The paper is an argumentative paper aimed at providing valuable points, both for as well as against, about the concept of death penalty. It provides authentic evidences supporting the implementation of death penalty as well as presents evidences that refute it. The paper presents diverse scenarios from the past as well as the present time for the purpose of analyzing the idea of whether or not death penalty is fair. Death penalty has been considered as an extreme representation of the violation of human rights. Every human has the right to live, which certainly cannot be taken away from him/her under any law. Death penalty is a cruel enforcement of law, which distorts the concept of human rights.

Discussion

Death penalty or capital punishment has been amongst the most hotly debated topics in the United States of America. Death penalty is cruel law enforcement. The fact that the convicted is not given any chance is undoubtedly a very harsh decision for the convicted (Bedau & Cassell, 2004). The state mandated death for only those killings that were "willful, deliberate and premeditated." Every other state followed Pennsylvania's lead. Jurors balked, however, at being forced to impose the death in cases that were inappropriate for capital punishment. As a result, they engaged in jury nullification by simply refusing to convict the defendant. The concept of death penalties has been utilized throughout history and there are many cases of death sentences in the United States of America (Hood & Hoyle, 2008). Death penalty means that a person is completely being denied the right to live. The imposition of capital punishment has been challenged by many people as being extremely unjust and ...