Capital Punishment in America :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

with child(p) Punishment in America        The concept of a lifespan for a life is as old as civilization itself(McCiellan 9).  Capital penalization, the legal taking of the life of a criminal, has been utilized in chemical reaction to three distinct catagories of offense. The threecategories are crimes against the person crimes against propertyand crimes which bilk the security of the nation (Horwitz 13).Capital punishment is still in intake in the United States today, except has beenabolished by many countries (II 536). The countries that still scram the deathpenalty on their books, rarely employ it .         The earliest writings on the subject dates as far back as 2000 B. C.,but it is clear that ceiling punishment more or less has existed since the hand overof mankind (Szumski 25). Throughout history, it has been exercised in almost allcivilizations as a retribution for severe crimes, but sometimes also f or thethrill and excitement. The Romans intrust slaves and prisoners in the Coliseum aslion food while spectators enjoyed the circle (Horwitz 13).         In the early colonial states, the death penalty was applied for a vastnumber of crimes, just like in England, the ruler of the states in this era (II536).  In England, in the 18th century, there were approximately 220 offenses guilty by death.  Some of them would today be considered as misdemeanorsand petty crimes (i. e. crack of a rabbit, the theft of a pocket handkerchief,and to cut down a cherry tree) (Horwitz 13). The mass of these were crimesdealing with property. However, transportation became  an alternative toexecution in the 17th century. A lot of these criminals were shipped to the U.S.(28).         In the early days of our Constitution, the altogether segments that showedthat the death penalty existed were two amendments in the Bill of Righ ts (Landau11). These amendments deal with shelter and rights of the accused. The fifthamendment prohibits the state from depriving an individual of life without dueprocess of law. The eightsome amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.The Supreme Court has still not unyielding what this phrase means. In one casein the 1890s, the question was if capital punishment violated the eightamendment. The court relied on the matter that a definition of cruel andunusual punishment must reflect the evolving standards of decency that severalize theprogress of a maturing society (14). Surveys from this era show that amajority of the people favored the death penalty.         In the Middle Ages, capital punishment was also applied to animals