The most severe of all sentences: being put to death. Also known as the death penalty and capital punishment is the most severe form of corporal punishment. It is requires law enforcement officers to kill the offender. It has been banned in many countries and in the United States an earlier movement to eliminate capital punishment has been reversed and more and more states are resorting to capital punishment for serious offenses such as murder. An eye for and eye, a life for a life, who has never heard of that? The Bible mentions it, and people have been using it regularly for centuries. We use it in reference to burglary, adultery, love and many other situations. However, some people use it on a different level, some people use it in reference to death. One steals from those who have stolen from him, one wrongs those who have wronged him, but do we really have the right to kill those who have killed. Today, there is a big controversy over capital punishment whether or not it works or if it is morally right. .
History of the Death Penalty.
Use of the death penalty has declined throughout the industrial Western World since the 19th century. In 1972 there was a movement to have the death penalty declared unconstitutional with the case of Furman v. Georgia. That case declared the death penalty cruel and unusual punishment. However, a Supreme Court decision in 1975,in the case, Gregg v. Georgia, stated capital punishment, did not violate the eighth Amendment, WHAT IS THE EIGTH AMENDMENT, and executions commenced again under state supervision.
Deterrence.
The incapacitation effect saves lives. It basically says that by executing murderers you prevent them from murdering again and doing so saving innocent lives. The individual deterrent effect proves that executions save innocent lives. This effect represents those potential murderers who did not murder under specific circumstances because of their fear of execution.