Unethical Use Of Capital Punishment Essay

The use of capital punishment has been around for centuries, the first known time being the code of Hammurabi, a legal code of ancient Mesopotamia dating back to 1754 BC, the death penalty was inflicted on individuals accused of 25 certain crimes such as infidelity or helping slaves escape surprisingly murder was not one of them. The death sentence for these particular crimes was carried out by such means as crucifixion, drowning, burning alive, or impalement. In our nation’s past, The death penalty was implemented through the use of Electrocution, Lethal Gas, Firing Squad, and Hanging. This was until these methods were deemed “cruel” and “unusual” by the Supreme Court. Nowadays, all jurisdictions perform the death penalty by way of lethal injection. As of 1976,1,438 have been deprived of their life through the use of the death penalty which is utilized by 31 states. The outstanding number of exonerations, 156, and costly use of the death penalty has proven the possibility of error and ineffectiveness, however, the question is not whether it’s effective but moral. The ethical issues involved have to with general moral solutions to punishment and an even greater problem which is whether it is …show more content…
This is due to the advancement of DNA, official misconduct, false confessions, false forensic evidence, faulty eyewitness identification as well as special integrity units that “double check” cases. Had it not been that we are actually paying attention to this issue, 156 families would have watched their loved ones get lethally injected. This is an important issue that must be addressed because the integrity and morality of the use of capital punishment are in question. We must question the integrity of our justice system, but even more importantly, we need to ask ourselves whether it is morally “okay” to deprive someone of their life regardless of the crime that was