An Overview of Capital Punishment Essay -- Capital Punishment Death Pe

â€Å"The question with which we must deal is not whether a substantial proportion of American citizens would today, if polled, opine that capital punishment is barbarously cruel, but whether they would find it to be so in light of all information presently available.†- Justice Thurgood Marshall Imagine a man who commits murder once, is given a fifteen-year jail sentence and is returned to the streets where he kills again. He is imprisoned again only to be released. This could happen since almost one in ten death row inmates has been convicted of murder at least once. That means that some death row inmates have been given more than one chance to rehabilitate in prison and continue to commit violent crimes. Should the United States justice system continue to let violent criminals back on the streets where they are likely to commit murder again? Capital punishment is one of the oldest forms of punishment in the world. Most societies have considered it a fair punishment for severe crimes. It is even mentioned as an appropriate punishment in the Bible. American colonists used capital punishment before the United States was a country, and most states use it today. Currently, however, there is a great deal of controversy surrounding the death penalty. Capital cases are long and expensive, and there is no proof as to whether capital punishment deters crime. For these reasons total abolition may be the best way to resolve the capital punishment controversy. If the laws concerning capital punishment were modified, however, capital punishment could become much cheaper, and possibly a lot more effective. – Steve Brinker Capital Punishment: Give It A Chance Since the beginning of man, people have been put to death. Capital punishment has been used all over the world as a means of punishing people for their crimes. Here in America, people are usually given a trial for their crime, judged upon by the jury and judge, and then finally decided upon their final verdict. If the crime is serious enough, the person is sent to spend time on death row in a maximum-security prison. The judge then sets a date when the person is to be executed. The person has an opportunity to appeal, which must be granted by the governor in the state in which the person is imprisoned. If the pers... ...al punishment has been an instrument of government authority since it was first written into Hammurabi’s Code nearly four thousand years ago, if not before. In today’s modern, more â€Å"enlightened† times, many find the practice barbaric, and object on principle. Others believe the practice is sometimes justified, but object on grounds of iniquities in its application. Still others believe capital punishment lacks â€Å"teeth†, and would be a more effective deterrent to crime if used less sparingly, and with less of the Byzantine judicial process currently required. Recent reforms here in Florida reflect the latter view. In an effort to reduce the time actually spent on Death Row by the condemned, the State of Florida is altering its law to require that all appeals be complete within five years of sentencing in the absence of new evidence, and must be submitted simultaneously, not sequentially. At the same time, other states, such as Illinois, have imposed a moratorium on executions. It is an issue few are in total agreement about. Most Americans, however, agree that in the most heinous, horrific cases, the condemned has earned his fate.