Environmental Scan
...offenses since prehistoric times. In Medieval England capital punishment was imposed for more than 300 of different crimes. Nowadays there is no common attitude toward death penalty, which is considered to be inhuman survival of the past, and a lot of countries have abolished its usage (e.g. European Union and members of European Council). According to Justin Healey, in the year 2004 76 countries and territories have abolished the death penalty for all crimes; 15 countries have abolished the death penalty for all but exceptional crimes such as wartime crimes; 21 countries can be considered abolitionist in practice: they retain the death penalty in law but have not carried out any executions for the past 10 years or more and are believed to have a policy or established practice of not carrying out executions (3). That totals in 112 countries which have abolished death penalty lawfully or inpractice. Nevertheless, certain number of developed countries still uses putting convicts to death to prevent other crimes and provide justice for everybody (e.g. the USA, Japan, Iran, Nigeria, etc.). The exact number of countries that retain capital punishment in the modern world is 83(Justin 4). However, what is the basis for death penalty sentence? Does it always work without fatal mistakes of depriving innocents of their lives? Is there no other choice to punish the guilty? Although people may argue a lot on the issue of capital punishment usage, a great deal of its perception is represented in the culture, cultural background and worldview, cultural behavior of individuals. The other thing that affects death penalty is government's policy on the world's political arena. But what should a simple individual consider in order to come to the point of choosing one's position about capital punishment? What is really important the morality of people or country's politics?
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