Capital Punishment in America :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

Capital Punishment in America        The concept of a emotional republic for a life is as old as civilization itself(McCiellan 9).  Capital punishment, the legal taking of the life of a criminal, has been utilized in response to three distinct catagories of offense. The threecategories are crimes against the person crimes against propertyand crimes which endanger the security of the nation (Horwitz 13).Capital punishment is still in use in the united States today, but has beenabolished by many countries (II 536). The countries that still have the deathpenalty on their books, rarely employ it .         The earliest writings on the subject dates as far back as 2000 B. C.,but it is clear that capital punishment more or less has existed since the birthof mankind (Szumski 25). Throughout history, it has been exercised in closely allcivilizations as a retribution for severe crimes, but sometimes also for thethrill and ex citement. The Romans put slaves and pris acers in the Coliseum aslion pabulum while spectators enjoyed the sight (Horwitz 13).         In the early colonial states, the death penalty was applied for a vastnumber of crimes, just like in England, the principle of the states in this era (II536).  In England, in the 18th century, there were approximately 220 offensespunishable by death.  Some of them would today be considered as misdemeanorsand petty crimes (i. e. blastoff of a rabbit, the theft of a pocket handkerchief,and to cut down a cherry tree) (Horwitz 13). The majority of these were crimesdealing with property. However, transportation became  an alternative toexecution in the seventeenth century. A lot of these criminals were shipped to the U.S.(28).         In the early days of our Constitution, the only segments that showedthat the death penalty existed were two amendments in the Bill of Rights (Lan dau11). These amendments deal with protection and rights of the accused. The fifthamendment prohibits the state from depriving an individual of life without dueprocess of law. The eight amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.The Supreme Court has still not determined what this phrase means. In one casein the 1890s, the question was if capital punishment violated the eightamendment. The court relied on the matter that a definition of cruel andunusual punishment must reflect the evolving standards of decency that mark theprogress of a maturing society (14). Surveys from this era show that amajority of the people favored the death penalty.         In the pose Ages, capital punishment was also applied to animals