This is the fifth commandment given to us from God. These words are written in the Holy Bible and act as guidelines to live by. The commandments are the fundamental laws to be followed, therefore they should be obeyed, without exception. When one person kills, it is seen as immoral and wrong, therefore taking the life of another person by means of capital punishment is wrong as well. Capital punishment devalues life and displays uncivilized behavior by an entire society when this process is carried out.
As Encarta Encyclopedia states,Capital punishment is the legal infliction of death as a penalty for violating criminal law?. Over the years, various methods of capital punishment have evolved. Examples of these methods are the guillotine, the firing squad, hanging, the electric chair, to more common techniques of the gas chamber and lethal injection. The act of capital punishment is a very controversial one, which is one reason why many countries and various states within the United States have varying laws permitting or prohibiting capital punishment.
Earlier methods were the guillotine, the firing squad, stoning and hangings, which were and still are considered cruel and unusual punishment. These methods are inhumane and torturous because the criminal suffers a slow and painful death. The means of execution was based on self-satisfaction, as angry mobs fueled these barbaric precedings. The side effects of these cruel executions were so outlandish that the succeeding government tried to develop a new and more justified method of carrying out these acts.
Newer methods include the use of the gas chamber and lethal injection. These newer methods decrease and nearly eliminate all pain that goes along with the actual executions. Due to the fact that these new methods decreased the amount of pain accompanying the execution, government officials and citizens alike, felt as if their actions were justified, because from their perspective, capital punishment is necessary.