Death Penalty

However, the death penalty has endured as a basic fact of debate in the United States. The debate over capital punishment throughout American history has been characterized by the struggle of a relative handful of groups and individuals to change the nation's broad and consistent support for the sanction. .
             The level of opposition has varied greatly. More often than not, its strength and success have been affected by other historical events. Today thirty-seven states and the federal government authorize capital punishment for the commission of certain crimes. In most states, only murder is a capital offense. In order for a specific murder to warrant the death penalty, the Supreme Court requires that two conditions must be met. The crime must be a first-degree murder and one or more aggravating circumstances must be present. First-degree murder involves the deliberate and premeditated taking of a life. Aggravating circumstances refer to those aspects of a crime that increase its severity but are apart from the essential elements of the offense itself. The majority of the population in the United States argues pro capital punishment. The first argument the public cites is that the death penalty deters criminals from committing the vial act of murder. Deterrence is the fear created by the death penalty to stop criminals from committing these crimes. Perhaps the most frequent argument for capital punishment is that of deterrence. The prevailing thought is that imposition of the death penalty will act to dissuade other criminals from committing violent acts. Numerous studies have been created attempting to prove this belief; however, all of the evidence taken together makes it hard to be confident that capital punishment deters more than long prison terms do. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the overall crime index has declined eleven percent since 1991 and is now the lowest it has been since 1985.