Abolishing the Death Penalty From the beginning of time the world has known conflict. It is human nature to know and to have conflict. It would be a fallacy to say that conflict will ever go away. It is a natural instinct for people to pick sides on an issue and it would be a miracle, but more realistically a lie, if everyone were to pick the same side on an issue. Throughout the years there have been several topics that start an uproar amongst the people. These topics are very controversial and always spark an argument. Each side comes up with a thought and the other instinctively looks for a counterexample to discredit their opponent. Major examples are issues on gun control, gay marriage, taxes on the wealthy, and the political war between
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Great Britain 's long history of the death penalty became a major influence to the American colonies more than any other country (Reggio). Britain’s main form of capital punishment in the tenth century AD was hanging. However, William the Conqueror Illegalized capital punishment for all times excluding cases of war (History). Instead, William the Conqueror had criminals mutilated (Reggio). This philosophy only lasted, however; until the 16 century when Henry VIII came into power. It is estimated that 72,000 people, both guilty and innocent, faced capital punishment under his rule. With Henry VIII’s influence, the number of crimes eligible for the death penalty increased over the two following years …show more content…
In the 1700’s the number of capital crimes peaked at a solid 222 total crimes ranging from offenses even as minor as robbing a rabbit’s warren, stealing, and cutting down a tree. Due to the fact that punishment in Great Britain was so severe, most juries wouldn’t even convict the defendant so long as the crime was not one of a serious matter. This lead to the government leaders of Great Britain reforming the death penalty process and cutting away 100 capitol crimes from 1823 to 1837 (History). The majority of the reforms made came from five laws passed in 1823. In the year 1840, there was an effort put forth to completely abolish the death penalty. This attempt was a valiant effort but was ultimately unsuccessful and no attempt has been made since (Reggio). Great Britain 's reforms lead to a domino effect and today, very few of the countries in Europe still retain capital
Great Britain 's long history of the death penalty became a major influence to the American colonies more than any other country (Reggio). Britain’s main form of capital punishment in the tenth century AD was hanging. However, William the Conqueror Illegalized capital punishment for all times excluding cases of war (History). Instead, William the Conqueror had criminals mutilated (Reggio). This philosophy only lasted, however; until the 16 century when Henry VIII came into power. It is estimated that 72,000 people, both guilty and innocent, faced capital punishment under his rule. With Henry VIII’s influence, the number of crimes eligible for the death penalty increased over the two following years …show more content…
In the 1700’s the number of capital crimes peaked at a solid 222 total crimes ranging from offenses even as minor as robbing a rabbit’s warren, stealing, and cutting down a tree. Due to the fact that punishment in Great Britain was so severe, most juries wouldn’t even convict the defendant so long as the crime was not one of a serious matter. This lead to the government leaders of Great Britain reforming the death penalty process and cutting away 100 capitol crimes from 1823 to 1837 (History). The majority of the reforms made came from five laws passed in 1823. In the year 1840, there was an effort put forth to completely abolish the death penalty. This attempt was a valiant effort but was ultimately unsuccessful and no attempt has been made since (Reggio). Great Britain 's reforms lead to a domino effect and today, very few of the countries in Europe still retain capital