Ladies and gentlemen, let’s for a
moment think and talk about the death penalty. They at times justify it by
calling it capital punishments or the death sentence just to make it sound more
humane. How many of you have lost a neighbor, a friend, a family member or even
a former schoolmate or one of the kids in the block to the death penalty? How
many of you have participated in the raging debate of its legalization or
otherwise? I am sure that you all have been affected either directly or
indirectly by the capital punishment enactment or have at least participated in
the debate. I don’t know what you think about it and better yet am sure that if
it were used on a direct family member, a close friend or a partner, you would
have a thing or two to say about its legalized use. Now think about this, every
passing day or even right at this moment as you listen to me, there is
somebody’s friend, neighbor, friends or family member who is being executed as
a punishment for crimes committed. Further yet, the death penalty has been
institutionalized in some regions of the world where it is used with impunity
being used as a punishment for acts that are not even criminal in nature. I
know some of you may be fast to argue that it is an efficient mode of
punishment since it eliminates the threat of insecurity in our streets but
doesn't our prisons that we spend billions of dollars every year to serve the
same purpose? The death penalty has over
time been faced with sharp criticism and the question of its legality as at
times it led to the infringement of fundamental human rights of individuals. I
am here to show you that the death sentence is no justice at all and is a
violation of the basic human right to live of the victim as provided for in the
Constitution and, therefore, ought to be abolished.
In this speech, I do not intend to
influence you to think like I do, but I intend to give you the facts as they
regard to the punishment by death. At the end of this speech, I anticipate that
you will have the facts that the politicians and the lawyers and other do not
let you now as they ask you to support the bills to keep the Death penalty
legal. I intend to stir your imagination and also show you the effects and also
the opportunity cost of having the capital punishment legal within our legal
system.
Let’s begin by looking at the
historical overview of the capital punishment. The first instituted laws of the
capital punishment dated back in the 18th Century B.C in the code of King
Hammurabi of Babylon. Twenty-five crimes codified the capital punishment. It
was a crucial part of the 14th Century B.C’s Hittite Code, the 7th Century B.C
Draconian Code of Athens that made the capital punishment as the only
punishment for all crimes and the 15th Century B.C Roman law of the 12 Tablets.
The death sentences were carried out by burning alive, beating someone to
death, impalement, crucifixion, and drowning an individual. Hartnett,
Stephen John in his book Executing Democracy, Volume 2: Capital Punishment
and the Making of America, 1635–1843 asserts
that in the
10th Century, hanging became the usual method of execution in Britain. However,
later William the Conqueror strongly opposed the implementation of persons and
reserved it for times of war alone. However, the trend lasted for a short time
since with the reign of Henry VIII there were over 72, 000 people executed. At
the time of Henry VIII, the methods he used for execution were even more brutal
since he used boiling, burning at the stake, beheading, hanging, and drawing
and quartering. The death sentences were given to individuals that committed
crimes such as marrying a Jew, treason and failing to confess to a crime
committed. Over 222 crimes in Britain were punishable with death including
minor offenses such as stealing and cutting down a tree. However, due to the
extent of the crime, many juries began pushing for reform leaving it for the
major offenses. It marked the early opposition to the capital punishment.
The death penalty in America is a
backward law that ties the country to its colonial masters. It is because, it
was introduced in this country by the British as our colonial masters and is,
therefore, founded on American values. The first record of the death penalty in
the United States territory was of Captain George Kendall in Virginia, in the
colony of Jamestown in 1608. He was executed as soon as he was found guilty of
being a Spain’s spy (Bessler, 112). In 1612, the governor of Virginia Sir
Thomas Dale enacted the law that instituted the death penalty for offenses that
were minor such as stealing grapes, trading with Indians and killing chickens.
The legislation on the capital punishment, however, varied from colony to
colony. Massachusetts Bay Colony carried out the first execution in 1630
although the capital Laws were instituted until several years later. New York
Colony established the Duke’s Laws of 1665 that allowed for the death sentence
for offenses such as striking a parent or denying the true God. They used the
legislation to suppress our forefather's ad also intimidate our people to the
rule.
America prides to be the leading nation
in the free world and is also a model to the rest of the world; however, we are
clearly lagging behind on the issue of the use of capital punishments. David
Garland, in his book Peculiar
Institution: America's Death Penalty in an Age of Abolition asserts that abolishing the capital
punishment is a universally accepted issue with the majority of countries
eliminating or controlling it over the recent past. However, America is among
the just over 36 countries that actively practice the capital punishment to date.
There are over 103 countries have completely abolished it for all crimes, and
about six states abolished it for simple offenses maintaining it offenses such
as the war crimes. Fifty other countries have abolished the crimes de facto in
that they have not used it in the past ten years. On the contrary, in the
United States alone, there are 31 states with the capital punishment while 19
other states have abolished the capital punishment. Since its reinstatement in
1976, 36 states have engaged in executions. It leaves me wondering are we
leading the world in the transformation from some of the archaic historical
laws?
Ladies and gentlemen, the death
sentence, is inefficient, and there are indications that it increases criminal
conduct and hence leads to losing of human life without meeting its objective
of deterrence due to the horrifying thought of dying if caught breaking certain
laws. Dr. Benjamin Rush Declaration of Independence and the founder of the
Pennsylvania Prison Society opposed the premise that the capital punishment was
a deterrence to committing a crime. According to him, capital punishment
increased the criminal conduct of individuals. He was one of the earliest
believers of what came to be called the ‘brutalization effect’ (Hartnett, 120).
With time, he gained the support of Benjamin Franklin and an Attorney General
of Philadelphia known as William Bradford, who later became the United States
attorney general. Bradford asserted that the death sentence ought to be
retained but agreed with Rush that it was not a deterrent to certain crimes. He
led Pennsylvania to become the first State that considered the degree of murder
based on culpability. By the year 1794, Pennsylvania repealed the capital
punishment for all the offenses apart from first-degree murder (Hartnett, 132).
According to the Death Penalty
Information Center American states led by Rhode Island and the Wisconsin States
became the first states to abolish the capital punishment entirely later in the
19th Century. It is an indication that it was a law that our forefathers saw
the need to abolish. The American bold lawmakers took a bold step that inspired
other regions in the world to abolish the death penalty. Countries like
Venezuela, Portugal, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Netherlands followed suit
by abolishing capital punishment by the end of the 19th Century. Therefore, the
United States having led the world in abolishing the inhumane punishment should
act as a model state by abolishing it entirely especially now that it is a major
leader on the global front. We also owe it to our forefathers to end what they
started by abolishing the law entirely.
The Death Penalty Information Center
further asserts that the death penalty laws were not meant for the free world
but were slavery laws instituted to retain the firm control over the slaves. It
means that the laws have serious slavery connotation in as much as it was
abolished within the United States. Our constitution pout to an end the slavery
and therefore, it is ironical, and also it contravenes such statutes to have
slavery laws enshrined in our laws today. Slavery was abolished because it went
against the moral fiber of our society and also violated the constitution and
hence it is wrong to adopt any legislation that came with slavery.
Constitutionally, the death penalty is
subject to a series of debate and uncertainty and, therefore, lacks the full
backing of the law to term it as constitutional or otherwise. Its
irreversibility makes it unethical since the law may sway on its abolishment,
but then those that suffered its brutality can never be redeemed. Before 1960,
the Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments were interpreted as allowing the
death penalty. However, there were altering developments that termed the death
sentence as crude and non-permissible by the Eighth Amendment. In 1958, in a
case of Trop v. Dulles (356 U.S. 86) case by the Supreme Court, the Court
stated that the Eighth Amendment contained a standard that allowed it to evolve
indecency in line with the maturing of the society. In as much as the case was
not a capital punishment case, it offered a legal backing to the abolitionists
who used the court’s logic to argue that the US as a nation had progressed
indecency beyond the point of tolerating such acts as the death penalty (Bohm,
157). In the 1960s, the Supreme Court also began indulging more in the issue of
capital punishment. In a case of S. v. Jackson (390 U.S. 570) in 1968, the
court heard a case of a statute that required that the death sentence could
only be imposed on the recommendation of a Jury. According to the court, such a
law was unconstitutional since it encouraged the defendants to waive their
fundamental right to a jury to avoid the death sentence at all costs (Bedau,
120).
In conclusion, the death penalty has
been an issue that has sparked massive controversy over the years. The issue
has faced extensive reforms since it started and has always faced debate with
some people opposing it and others supporting it actively. It also brings out
huge controversies and misunderstandings with other statutes of the law and
hence has been subjected to interpretations in the course of time. In the
United States, the Eighth Amendment has protected the fundamental rights to
live for individuals and hence having the death penalty a contradiction to the
capital punishment. Because of the inhumane nature of its methods and the
process, many countries around the world have completely abolished the death
penalty. However, the United States remain divided on the issue with some
states supporting capital punishment while others are opposing it strongly.
Therefore, it is a matter having a long history of controversy and continues to
spark division on its eligibility. However, the arbitrariness of the laws
governing the capital punishment penalty is still evident. There are
indications of discrimination based on race and has, therefore, been subject to
biases by the jury. The discrimination and lack of sound systems for
ascertaining who should be sentenced to death as well as the controversies on
the legality of the capital punishment make no justice at all. Therefore, the
death penalty should be abolished at all costs in every democratic and
civilized society.
Additional articles
Educational psychology serves as a foundation discipline for education. It acts as a guideline as well as a parameter to educational development as well as the practice of the educational process. It offers important ideas about learning and about...Contributions-of-psychology-to-the-educational-learning-process …
Read ArticleValue of Higher Education Higher education is imperative in preparing students from colleges and universities for their first jobs. It is very important for students to attend college and other institutions of higher learning (Yount 12). Higher...What-Is-The-Value-Of-Higher-Education …
Read ArticleClass, note that my comments/corrections are in red. This paper used a different textbook.  An Analysis of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy as it Pertains to the Treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Good title.  This paper will p...Cognitive-Behavioral-Therapy-for-Obsessive-Compulsive-Disorder:-An-Analysis …
Read Article