Cristian Muñoz
Mr. Coffey
English 12
April 29, 2014
The Death Penalty The death penalty, a practice that goes back to early civilizations, considered the ultimate and most extreme way of punishing a criminal. The act of taking someone’s life for heinous crimes such as rape, abuse, or homicide has greatly decreased in acceptance in recent years. However, depending where you live you might have a different opinion based on your religion, ethnicity, or moral ideals. Anyhow this is an issue that needs to be addressed promptly. A family’s wellbeing, the life of a human is in play based on a judgment that sometimes is wrong and corrupt, or simply framed for other reasons. Whether you believe in the death penalty as a fair judgment or you see …show more content…
However, as Berg pointed out, “The United States stands alone among Western democracies in retaining the death penalty.” In fact, two years ago the United States executed 43 and put another 77 people on death row. In 1972, the United States Supreme Court held that the Death Penalty “was cruel and unusual punishment” in the case of Furman v. Georgia and therefore abolished all laws allowing it (Berg). In fact, two liberal justices, William Brennan and Thurgood Marshall supported the abolition on the grounds that it “violates human dignity by treating the defendant’s life as disposable.” This relieved more than 500 people on death row, with the argument that it also The decision left much room for interpretation and opposition, when Gregg v. Georgia came along in 1976; states enacted new death penalty laws and left those four years of zero executions to an estimate of more than 1,300 people ever since it was legally reinstated in 1977. By the time new cases reached the court, the death row population grew to 600 and 35 states allowed it. Not only that, in those four years support for the death penalty rose to 66 percent compared to past years it was on the decline, with a support of less than 50 percent. The rise of crime in the 1970’s is not to be blamed, since crimes have been on the rise before Furman v. Georgia. The public believes that the new policy towards the death penalty will only punish criminals who deserve it encourages the public to support it. However not much has changed, because the states are the ones who get to put their own regulations towards the death penalty. That is why in some states is allowed, and in some states is not. The rise of new technology has also brought a new question. What about erroneous convictions? With the development of DNA testing in the 1970’s there has been an astonishing amount of people who were sentenced to death or where on death row and their
Mr. Coffey
English 12
April 29, 2014
The Death Penalty The death penalty, a practice that goes back to early civilizations, considered the ultimate and most extreme way of punishing a criminal. The act of taking someone’s life for heinous crimes such as rape, abuse, or homicide has greatly decreased in acceptance in recent years. However, depending where you live you might have a different opinion based on your religion, ethnicity, or moral ideals. Anyhow this is an issue that needs to be addressed promptly. A family’s wellbeing, the life of a human is in play based on a judgment that sometimes is wrong and corrupt, or simply framed for other reasons. Whether you believe in the death penalty as a fair judgment or you see …show more content…
However, as Berg pointed out, “The United States stands alone among Western democracies in retaining the death penalty.” In fact, two years ago the United States executed 43 and put another 77 people on death row. In 1972, the United States Supreme Court held that the Death Penalty “was cruel and unusual punishment” in the case of Furman v. Georgia and therefore abolished all laws allowing it (Berg). In fact, two liberal justices, William Brennan and Thurgood Marshall supported the abolition on the grounds that it “violates human dignity by treating the defendant’s life as disposable.” This relieved more than 500 people on death row, with the argument that it also The decision left much room for interpretation and opposition, when Gregg v. Georgia came along in 1976; states enacted new death penalty laws and left those four years of zero executions to an estimate of more than 1,300 people ever since it was legally reinstated in 1977. By the time new cases reached the court, the death row population grew to 600 and 35 states allowed it. Not only that, in those four years support for the death penalty rose to 66 percent compared to past years it was on the decline, with a support of less than 50 percent. The rise of crime in the 1970’s is not to be blamed, since crimes have been on the rise before Furman v. Georgia. The public believes that the new policy towards the death penalty will only punish criminals who deserve it encourages the public to support it. However not much has changed, because the states are the ones who get to put their own regulations towards the death penalty. That is why in some states is allowed, and in some states is not. The rise of new technology has also brought a new question. What about erroneous convictions? With the development of DNA testing in the 1970’s there has been an astonishing amount of people who were sentenced to death or where on death row and their