"We universally and consistently oppose the death penalty, in all circumstances. ... However these anomalies were swept away with the passing of the Crimes (Death Penalty Abolition) Amendment Act, 1985. ... On this occasion 95 per cent of the respondents were in favor of the reintroduction of capital punishment. ... In Queensland, for example, in the decade prior to the abolition of capital punishment (1912-21), there were 131 murders, whereas in the decade following abolition (1923-32) there were 129 murders. ... In Canada, the homicide rate fell from a peak of 3.09 per 100,000 population in ...

• Word Count: 2841
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Capital punishment, to many people, seem cruel and unusual, but its purpose is to punish those who committed such horrendous crimes as murder and to make people who would otherwise commit these violent acts think twice before they go out and commit crimes such as murder. Although in the past, the number of crimes that were subjected to capital punishment, defined simply as the death penalty for a crime, were outrageous. Amendments were made to reflect the changes in the society's views on the morality of capital punishment. ... "In the United States alone there have been 4047 ex...

• Word Count: 2831
• Approx Pages: 11
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

In 2002 seventy-one inmates were executed, five more than the year before. ... Fifty-three were white and eighteen were black. Sixty-nine were men and two were women. ... At the end of 2002 there were 3,557 prisoners under the sentence of death in our country, twenty fewer than the year before. ... There are more people on death row now then there has ever been before. ...

• Word Count: 2619
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

Before the Pardon Board, Pat's new lawyer, Millard Farmer, states the ineffectiveness of the state appointed lawyer, almost to the point of claiming he was totally incompetent and should have never been before a judge trying a case in which the death penalty was sought. ... In 1989 there were 249 homicides in New Orleans alone, eighty-five percent of these victims were black. Only sixteen offenders were convicted and jailed. ... Why should such a moral dilemma come into play on every case brought before the governor? ... Legally Parole Boards, made up of five members have the choice to ...

• Word Count: 2921
• Approx Pages: 12
• Has Bibliography

The old adage tells us that a person may steal from a thief, that a person can wrong those that has wrong him or her, but do we, as a society, have the right to decide on whether a person lives or dies? Do we have the right to kill those who have killed and if we do kill the murderers, does that, technically, make us murderers ourselves and doesn't that make us hypocrites? We hold a hypocrisy that the society must not possess any longer. ... Those who were often sentenced to death were considered to be "outsiders," or foreigners, minorities and people who were not from the immediate ...

• Word Count: 6785
• Approx Pages: 27
• Grade Level: High School

If Osama bin Laden were caught and executed then more Americans would feel better flying in airplanes. ... Wrongly accusing people has been done before. ... Letting them go free is obviously out of the question. ... Before one considers the death penalty as punishment for a grave crime, one must reflect upon the purpose of any form of punishment."... Member Ted Gausmann state, "First, we must understand the context of this verse. ...

• Word Count: 2542
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

"If someone deserves to die, does it mean that we have the right to kill him? ... If executions were made public, America would see the torture we put Americans through and be so ashamed by it that they would want the government to abolish the law. ... If we did sink to the level of the criminal, it shows that we have no morals. ... Many questions have to be answered before making a final judgment about the morality of the death penalty (Williams, 2000). ... Capital punishment fails to successfully fight crime and to construct a society that is free from crime. ...

• Word Count: 2712
• Approx Pages: 11
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Jon Manning: If capital punishment were carried out more it would prove to be the crime deterrent it was partly intended. Most criminals would think twice before committing murder if they knew their own lives was at stake. ... In 1994 there were 2,850 persons awaiting execution. ...

• Word Count: 4694
• Approx Pages: 19
• Grade Level: High School