Just Do It Right
...the United States. The death penalty is a fitting punishment for murder because executions maximize the public safety through a form of incapacitation and deterrence. When a person kills another person, their common sense and mental reasoning is lost. As a result of this, the murderer is no longer capable of a mentally stable life not only to himself but also society as a whole. In contrast, moral issues question the accuracy and the benefits of the death penalty as well.
Murder is defined as the crime of unlawfully killing a person with malice aforethought and to slaughter wantonly (Webster, 751). Capital punishment is the punishment by death involving execution (Webster, 162). Since ancient times it has been used to punish a wide variety of offenses. In the United States, the death penalty for murder was first abolished in Michigan (1847); Venezuela (1853) and Portugal (1867) were the first nations to abolish it altogether. Today, it is virtually abolished in all of Western Europe and most of Latin America. Elsewhere--in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East (except Israel)--most countries still authorize capital punishment for many crimes and use it with varying frequency (Academic American Encyclopedia, UT CAT).
Methods of inflicting the death penalty have ranged from stoning in biblical times, crucifixion under the Romans, beheading in France, to those used in the United States today: hanging, electrocution, gas chamber, firing squad, and the lethal injection. Beginning in 1967, executions were suspended to allow the appellate courts to decide whether the death penalty was unconstitutional. Capital statutes now typically authorize the trial court to impose sentence (death or life) only after the post conviction hearing, at which evidence is submitted to establish which "aggravating" or "mitigating" factors were present in the crime (AAE, UT CAT).
Executions...
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