Capital Punishment

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102

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Political Science

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Oct 30, 2023

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Uploaded by DrOxideStarling28

Capital Punishment Capital punishment is a punishment given to criminals that have committed the most heinous crimes. In simpler terms it is the death penalty. Capital punishment is an institutional practice of deliberately taking away someone’s life. Capital punishment is state sanctioned, meaning that individual states gets authority over this sentence. When a prisoner is given the death penalty they are conidered “on death row” and are awaiting their time to be executed. Crimes that put prisoners on death row are referred to as: capital crimes, capital felonies, and capital offenses. The most commonly crimes that are sentenced to death are murder, aggravated cases of rape, and genocide. There are many methods to carry out the death sentence, some which vary from physical (hanging), to lethal doses of injection, lethal gas, firing squad, and nitrogen hypoxia. Criminals that are given the capital punishment are unforgivable and have no chance of parole and no way of getting out of it. According to a survey done in 2001- 2004, overall data suggest that 67% of Americans are in favor and 26% oppose capital punishment in 2001. Those percentages stayed relatively the same from 2001-2004. The same survey shows that 74% of men and 62% of women are in favor of the death penalty. Studies have shown that most supporters of capital punishment are republicans. Based on data from 2001 through 2004, 80% of republicans are in favor while only 58% of democrats are in favor of capital punishment. Statistics vary based on political ideology, with 74% of conservatives in favor and 54% of liberals in favor.

As of 2022 there are still 55 countries that support capital punishment. 109 have abolished it by law for all crimes, 7 have abolished it from ordinary crimes with special circumstances like war crimes and 24 completely abolished the punishment. Although all these countries either stopped or have special circumstances for giving the death penalty, 60 percent of the world population still live in counties that still support it such as China, India, the US, japan, and many more. Of 18 countries the Amnesty International recorded there were 578 executions in 2021, which is a 20% increase from the 483 recorded in 2020. This number has since been the second lowest recorded number of executions since 2010. Amnesty International also recorded that out of the 579 people executed 4%(24) of them were women which span from different countries such as: Egypt(8), Iran(14), Saudi Arabia(1), and the USA(1). In the United States, only 27 states are in favor of capital punishment. Those states are authorized by the federal government and the U.S. military. Currently those states are MT, ID, WY, SD, IN, OH, PA, OR, NV, NE, MO, KY, CA, UT, KS, AR, TN, NC, SC, AZ, OK, LA, MS, AL, GA, TX, and FL. Lethal injection is currently the primary method of execution in those states. Some states only have lethal injection, while other states have secondary methods. Statistics gathered from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, show since 2020, there have been 31 lethal injections, 9 electrocutions, 3 lethal gas, 2 hanging, 3 firing squad, and 3 hydrogen hypoxia. There have been a total of 2,563 prisoners under sentence of death, 1,443 prisoners were whites and 1,057 prisoners were black in 2019. There were a total of 17 prisoners who were executed in 2020, 11 which were white and 5 which were black. Demographic characteristics of prisoners under sentence of death gathered from the Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2020 showed

that: 97.9% were male, 2.1% were female, 56.5% were white, 41.1% were black, 0.7% American Indian/Alaska Native, 1.7% Asian/Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander. The average age of those under the death sentence had a mean and median of 52 years old. Statistics also showed the marital status of those prisoners: 21.1% married, 20.0% divorced, 3.5% widowed, and 55.4% never married. There are many reasons that someone may be given the death penalty but its not all terrible since they are all criminals who commit crimes without giving a thought of the consequences. Some of the pros of the death penalty is none other than getting them rid of the world so they cannot harm someone else again. Supporters of capital punishment believe that it is a form of retribution on criminals that have committed horrendous crimes. Although the criminals are sentenced to death row, it’s not going to be painful. It is usually carried out by injection and it is quick, painless, and humane. Another reason capital punishment works is to prevent criminals from commiting these crimes. Some criminals even openly admit re-offending if they had the chance to. Capital punishment could be used to set an example and to help prevent future crimes. On top of all this the justice system is always improving to maximize justice. The court will give the convicted a means to appeal to the court's decision. Families are also given closure because they get to know who committed the crime and know that that person takes the consequences of their actions. Although the death penalty sounds like it would be effective in stopping these criminals its not a permanent solution. In states that have abolished the death penalty compared to those who still posses it, shows no creditable proof that it is working against serious crimes such as murder. The death penalty is also just another form of revenge. It is like using fire against fire

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and is just an everlasting cycle of violence instead of finding another solution. It also questions the morality of our government. Not only is the death penalty irreversable it is also flawed. Falsely accused and innocent lives could be at risk of the death penalty. Capital punishment is also far more costly than a life sentence in prison. Those who are convicted of the death penalty have all been given a chance to prove themselves and prove their innocence. Gary Gilmore was sentenced to capital punishment and was executed in January 17, 1997. Gary was a white male from Utah and from Utah County and at the time of his execution he was 36. His trial began on October 5, 1976 at the Provo courthouse and it lasted 2 days. He was trialed for the robbing and murder of Max Jensen July 19, 1976 and Bennie Bushell the next evening. Gary Gilmore was cruel and murdered his victims although they complied with his demands but in the process also shot himself and left a trail of blood. When he was brought the court appointed lawyers Micheal Esplin and Criag Snyder did not even cross examine the majority of the state witnesses and did not call anyone to the stand. Gary Gilmore tried to testify for himself and said that due to his dissociation and lack of control he could get a good case of insanity but his attorneys presented the findings of 4 psychiatrists who said he was perfectly aware of his actions and knew it was murder. The trial was fair because not only did Gary Gilmore get the chances to prove himself he just wasn’t able to prove it himself against all the evidence. His execution was set on November 15th at 8 A.M and he had two choices of either hanging or shooting and he chose to be shot. But through his wishes he was not executed until January 17, 1977 at 8:07 A.M by firing squad at Utah State Prison in Draper, Utah.

https://bjs.ojp.gov/topics/corrections/capital-punishment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Gilmore https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/05/death-penalty-2021-facts-and-fi gures/ https://soapboxie.com/government/Death-Penalty-Pros-and-Cons https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/execution-database https://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/death-penalty.aspx https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/history-of-the-death-penalty/early-history- of-the-death-penalty