Dei delitti e delle pene

The history of the death penalty within the United States reflects the many changes to the core value system our country has seen since its inception. Many different aspects of life have impacted these changes, such as religion, politics, major social movements, the burst in scientific knowledge, philosophers/psychologists/criminologists, and our own ever-changing morals. These many facets were not just changed by the laws of our society, but also changed these very same laws, too. The death penalty has seen its many changes throughout American history. Its global beginnings can be confirmed to as far back as the sixteenth century in Egypt, where a nobleman accused of magic was condemned to death through suicide; these spectacular details, Hatch and Walsh assert, are likely why this is the first written record of the imposition of the death penalty. The Code of Hammurabi, one of the first legal codes that was written around 1750 B.C., had the famous phrase “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” part of its codified sayings. Clearly, the ideas of executions as a form of punishment has great historical roots. This lengthy historical basis for the death penalty cannot be discussed, however, without considering the impact made by the world’s major religions, religions that played a major role in the formation of the United States. Furthermore, since the death penalty has been considered a moral question throughout its history, we must investigate the main source…

off my previous post, this is where classical and positive criminology come into play. The classical school uses subjective factors to illustrate why criminal activities occur. These factors would include that people have the free will to choose whether or not they want to commit a crime. They also believe that the right suitable punishment can deter crime. Now the positive school of criminology; however, uses a more objective approach, such as scientific investigations and explanations. In…