Capital Punishment: Ongoing Debate
...It was used to punish thieves and liars or those disloyal to their country. It was carried out in a barbaric way before; lopping off heads, feeding people to animals, or burning at a steak. Even back in those ages, people were protesting it at a small level. They knew it was cruel, but the way it was carried out did not change much because if people questioned it, they might end up being killed themselves. The death penalty has now evolved in to more humane methods; lethal injection, toxic gases, and electrocution. Yet there are still those who question the humanity of it. There are those who still believe it is cruel and unusual and just an unnecessary measure to take. They feel it is better to just let them rot in life imprisonment, living out their years, while the other group feels life is something they do not deserve. The truth is that capital punishment is full of controversy that will never die for all time.
Before getting into the controversy, one must understand the history and origin of capital punishment, which dates back to the Eighteenth Century B.C. in the Code of King Hammaurabi of Babylon. This code made twenty five different crimes punishable by death. The sentence was carried out in many barbaric ways which would be completely unacceptable in today's world. These ways of execution were: crucifixion, drowning, beating to death, burning alive, and impalement. The popular form of execution, hanging, became the accepted form of execution first in Britain in the tenth century. However, methods like boiling, burning at the stake, hanging, beheading, and drawing and quartering were still being used all the way up to the Sixteenth century. Britain finally reformed their policies and eliminated many crimes punishable by death (http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org).
In America, the death penalty was greatly influenced by the British...
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