Each person can form their own opinion on the death penalty, but ultimately the government sees the death penalty as a just form of punishment for those who commit such horrible crimes as murder. 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 f...

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

However, we believe that capital punishment is rarely if ever justified. ... In point of fact, as the eloquent testimony of soaring crime rates in Florida and Texas shows, society does not get better when the state kills killers. ... Cruel and Unusual Punishment in the 8th Amendment In the late 70's, the US ended a 10 year hiatus on Capital Punishment. During this break from public executions, the crime rate in the U.S. did not rise. ... Australia ceased the practice of capital punishment some 40 years ago. ...

• Word Count: 2517
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Capital Punishment: A System of Error Since 1976, when capital punishment was reinstated, eighty-seven men and women have been taken off death row and freed because they were proven innocent. ... Since murder can be considered the most heinous of crimes, there is extreme political and public pressure on police and prosecution to solve murder crimes and close cases. ... Others have been granted immunity or less severe punishments for their own crimes in exchange for their testimonies. ... Thirty-six of the thirty-eight states with capital punishment statutes provide automatic review of a...

• Word Count: 2692
• Approx Pages: 11
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

" The death penalty is commonly defined as a punishment inflicted upon a criminal for a crime that they have committed." ... o committed crimes. ... Even though almost everything and everybody speaks against capital punishment, people still believe, those who commit violent crimes should be punished to the fullest extend of law, which capital punishment basically is. ... Before one considers the death penalty as punishment for a grave crime, one must reflect upon the purpose of any form of punishment."... Not the capital punishment....

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

Dustin Cox: The first argument that I shall contend with is that capital punishment does not deter crime. ... Jon Manning: If capital punishment were carried out more it would prove to be the crime deterrent it was partly intended. ... Modern supporters of capital punishment no longer view the death penalty as a deterrent, but as a just punishment for the crime, a shift from the attitudes of past generations.... These safeguards are: 1. " Capital punishment may be imposed only for a crime for which the death penalty is prescribed by law at the time of its commission. 2. ... Abel Martinez...

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

For many, the response to crimes of a violent nature is calls to "get tough on crime". ... The term 'capital punishment' is derived from the Latin caput, meaning 'head'. ... Australia is a world leader in seeking the abolition of capital punishment. ... Supporters of capital punishment believe if people know that committing a certain crime will cause them to lose their life, then they are less likely to commit that crime. ... (Source: Wallace, Alison (1986), Homicide: The Social Reality, New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, Sydney, 93) In Victoria and Q...

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

Crimes occur in every society around the world. Historically, criminals convicted of these crimes were dealt with in different ways, some of which are sentenced to death. ... This along with capital punishment's usage as a deterrent for crime is what many people use as arguments for either the opening or maintenance of capital punishment in many countries including Australia. ... It is believed that fear of execution discourages people from committing crimes. ... Historically, many people have been wrongfully executed for crimes that they did not commit. ...

• Word Count: 3217
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The first question that should be addressed, is whether or not we should enforce and even carry out capital punishment. ... To understand more about capital punishment, we must understand the legal requirements and judicial procedures to be summoned to executions. ... Capital punishment does have some positive affects. ... It allows society to act upon these crimes in a suitable fashion, which in turn creates deterrence to commit these types of crimes. ... It will be more of an issue of ratings than punishment through retribution and deterring society. ...

• Word Count: 2651
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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

A great number of people would argue that there are very few things, which our American society holds dear. However, after the events on September eleventh just over a year ago, it became abundantly clear that the one thing we revere the most is our freedom and ability to choose in a democratically based republic. It is this ability to choose, and the mutual respect of other people's right to choose based in their own beliefs which makes picking and finding one single, moral, and ethical law to govern any situation a difficult task. Too often people see morality and ethics as a clear c...

• Word Count: 4097
• Approx Pages: 16
• Grade Level: High School

In the 18th Century public punishment started to decline and the use of prison grew as a means for punishment. ... It should also be noted that crime rates fell by 43% between 1997 and 2010 with violent crimes falling by 42% whilst under the new government (www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk). ... Do the figures mean that the crime rates have fallen because the criminals are being caught, meaning prison does work or is it just because more serious crimes are being committed and are not being caught? ... The purpose of retribution is to apply a punishment that is proportional to the offender's c...

• Word Count: 3653
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• Has Bibliography

Capital Punishment Capital punishment is not a new concept. ... In reality, executions are seen as the appropriate punishment for certain criminals committing specific crimes. ... It has been the main recourse against those who commit the most serious crimes. ... Georgia, struck down the capital punishment statutes of 39 states. ... Bedau and Radelet already knew that plea-bargains, the juries, the evidence, the prosecutors, judicial review and/or the legal statutes had put these crimes in the "no capital punishment" category. ...

• Word Count: 2839
• Approx Pages: 11
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

During the early century's punishment for those who committed crimes were considered abominations to their people. ... Prison was not necessarily considered punishment; it was more of a waiting area for prisoners before they received their real punishment. ... As time passed different methods of punishment evolved. ... People had more understanding of what punishment should be like. ... There are necessary steps that could be taken in order to avoid such crucial punishment for a petty crime. ...

• Word Count: 2658
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Capital punishment is ethically wrong, it does not decrease crime, and innocent people are being killed. ... There should be a strict punishment for terrible crimes, but that does not mean kill the ones who have killed. ... Capital punishment fails to successfully fight crime and to construct a society that is free from crime. ... The supporters of capital punishment claim that it stops other people from committing horrible crimes. ... So the government has to show them that the punishment fits the crime (Winters, 1997). ...

• Word Count: 2712
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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Immediately following the civil war, Black codes created a list of crimes punishable only when committed by black people. ... Fredrick Douglass claimed that many white criminals escaped punishment by blacking their faces during a robbery or a murder. Police always found an innocent black man to blame for the crime since, as Douglass pointed out, all Negroes look alike. ... Davis pointed out that crime has not increased since the 1970s, and that the vast majority of prisoners are serving sentences for nonviolent, often self-destructive crimes. ... The dividends that accrue from investment i...

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Our children are committing adult crimes. ... Sarah agrees that she deserved to be punished for her crime. ... Kuntrell was at the scene of the crime but he did not commit the crime of murder. ... There is no doubt that this crime is heinous. This crime is subject to a sentence of life in prison. ...

• Word Count: 2565
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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Today, many of these punishments may seem antiquated, but the basic scope of the protection remains the same. ... Inmates have the right to be free from sexual crimes, including sexual harassment. ... The Eighth Amendment has been the topic of much controversy mostly concerning the death penalty, but it also covers the treatment of those convicted of crimes. It is thought that the Eighth Amendment was written to eliminate torture which had been used in dealing with those convicted of crimes. ... The framers of the Constitution did not give us specific instructions on what was to be considered ...

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These motives involved items dealing with pressure from the prosecutor, acceptance of responsibility for the crime, pragmatic reasons, etc. ... Pressure from the prosecutor came in a variety of forms including direct external pressure, intimidating the defendant with several crimes, and severe punishment [Bor851]. Indirect pressure factors such as getting a severe punishment if the defendant refused the plea bargain played a major role, likewise the belief that a guilty verdict was inevitable, and concern of the individual's family [Bor851]. Bordens and Bassett reached the conclusion that...

• Word Count: 3937
• Approx Pages: 16
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

The situation was similar to one in which Big Brother could tell what you were thinking, because the only crimes that were being punished so severely were crimes of the mind and soul. It was a crime to have been born in a foreign land and currently live in the nation of France. It was a crime to think that so much death was necessary for the survival of the nation. ... Once case in which several upper-middle class people were arrested for the crime of conspiracy against the government of France. ... In all there were twenty-five people arrested and put on trial for these crimes. ...

• Word Count: 5412
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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Nevertheless, many consider imprisonment to be the punishment of choice. ... When a prisoner is released, has he really paid for his crime? ... This issue is of concern not only to those whose lives have been touched by crime, but also to everyone else. ... "Most of my fellow inmates started off with petty crime, then they moved up to property crime, and finally they graduated to serious offenses against other humans,"" he says. ... While prisons may take criminals off the streets for a while, it seem that they do little-if anything-to deter crime in the long term. ...

• Word Count: 3038
• Approx Pages: 12
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

It is therefore to the private companies" advantage to keep the beds filled which brings us to legislation being passed to put more and more people in jail for less and less violent crimes. ... In the 1996 Immigration Reform Act, Congress widely expanded the list of crimes for which a noncitizen must be deported after serving his or her sentence. These crimes, called "aggravated felonies," are now defined to include many offenses that are neither aggravated nor even, in many other jurisdictions, felonies. This has fueled an all-out campaign to find crime-committing immigrants even relatively s...

• Word Count: 3333
• Approx Pages: 13
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

They committed the crime; they can do the time. ... The political future of problem solving courts will depend on their efficiency and cost effectiveness as a response to crime. ... Stacy Lee Burns states, "Problem-solving courts share the common goal of altering participants' so-called ˜deviant' ways and reforming them into law-abiding citizens, having a future-oriented focus on treatment and recovery (rather than on blame and punishment for past misconduct) " (Burns 2010, p 75). ... The objectives of holding those accountable for the harm while preventing future harm by doin...

• Word Count: 4011
• Approx Pages: 16
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate