Death Penalty

Today there are many positions for and against the Death Sentence. Although in order to understand the current system of the death sentence, the history of it must be discussed and understood. Once the history has been discussed explaining all the reasoning behind the decisions our people have made, a more accurate argument can be established. We will be discussing the factual history and current facts of the death sentence so I can further explain my reasoning on the death penalty and its future effects.

In history, as far back as the B.C. (Before Christ) era, the death sentence to crimes "were carried out by such means as crucifixion, drowning, beating to death, burning alive, and impalement (Part I: History of the Death Penalty (2007). Retrieved October 5, 2007, from http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=15&did=410#IntroductionoftheDeathPenalty) ." Supposedly America's influence on the death penalty is from Britain. The first recorded death sentence was in 1608 of Captain George Kendall, from Jamestown, Virginia. Kendal was accused of being a spy for Spain. The laws set out for the death penalty varied place to place.

In colonial times Cesare Beccaria's "On Crime and Punishment (1767)" essay had a huge impact through the world. Beccaria's essay brought about an influence of American intellectuals in which a bill was proposed that made only crimes of murder and treason punishable by death. Soon after, Dr. Benjamin Rush, a founder of the Pennsylvania Prison Society and signer of the Declaration of Independence, became the U.S. Attorney General. Pennsylvania was then the first state to consider degrees of murder in which was led by Rush. Then, in 1794, the death penalties for all offenses were repealed to just first degree murders.

Later, in 1834, executions were pulled away into correctional facilities from the public eye for the first time in Pennsylvania. Then, in 1846 "Michigan became the first state to abolish the death penalty for all crimes except treason (Part I: History of the Death Penalty (2007). Retrieved October 5, 2007, from http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=15&did=410#IntroductionoftheDeathPenalty)." By the end of the nineteenth century most countries like Venezuela, Netherlands and Costa Rica, followed Rhode Island and Wisconsin's death penalty abolishing its existence. Meanwhile, in 1838, discretionary death penalty statutes were enacted in Tennessee, then later in Alabama. This was a huge issue due to the fact that earlier in history the death penalty was mandated regardless the circumstance. By 1963, all capital punishment that was mandatory was abolished. Although after the Civil War, the electric chair, as a means of execution was introduced. In 1888, the first electric chair was built in New York, executing William Kemmler in 1890. Other states later adopted this execution technique.

In the early and mid-Twentieth Century six states outlawed the death penalty, limiting such an execution to first degree murder of an officer and treason (1907- 1917). Although due to World War II and the citizens' panic of the revolution, in 1920, five of the states reinstated the death penalty. Cyanide gas was later introduced in 1924, as a different method of executing inmates which was thought to be more humane. Due to the cyanide gas proving to be impossible to use in an inmates cell as tried in Gee Jon's cell, the gas chamber was constructed. Later, due to the suffering of Prohibition and The Great Depression an average of 167 executions per year in the 1930's were the most executions to occur in American History. In the 1950's the amount of executions dropped noticeably. "Whereas there were 1,289 executions in the 1940s, there were 715 in the 1950s, and the number fell even further, to only 191, from 1960 to 1976(Part I: History of the Death Penalty (2007).Retrieved October 5, 2007, from http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=15&did=410#IntroductionoftheDeathPenalty) ." In 1966, support of capital sentencing were then at an all-time low.

Before the 1960's the fifth, eighth, and fourteenth amendments were interpreted allowing the death penalty although, capital punishment being considered "cruel and unusual punishment," meant it was unconstitutional by the eighth amendment. In the Trop v. Dulles (356 U.S. 86) case, the eighth amendment was understood to contain a standard of decency evolving with the progress of a growing society. The Trop v. Dulles case, although did not involve the death penalty, proved as evidence that the death penalty should not be tolerated by the United States due to the "standard of decency" in it's growing society. The 1968 case of Witherspoon v. Illinois (391 U.S. 510), the Supreme Court argued that the potential juror's doubts would prevent him from making a fair decision about the sentence. In the 1971 case Crampton v. Ohio and McGautha v. California (consolidated under 402 U.S. 183), it was argued by the defendants that their fourteenth amendments were desecrated due to jurors having unlimited restriction when deciding whether a defendant is suppose to live or die. It was also argued by Crampton that having his guilt and sentence decided in one deliberation was unconstitutional. The Court then rejected free jury discretion, and sole proceeding to decide guilt and sentence. Guiding capital punishment is "beyond present human ability," as stated by the Court. These court cases were cases brought about in the late 1960's and early 1970's to help modify the means the death penalty was administered.

Then in 1972 the Supreme Court brought about Furman v. Georgia, Jackson v. Georgia, and Branch v. Texas (known as the landmark case Furman v. Georgia (408 U.S. 238)). The confusion of what "cruel and unusual" punishment would be understood as, violated the eighth amendment because although the Supreme Court held a "cruel and unusual" punishment standard is "if it was too severe for the crime, if it was arbitrary, if it offended society's sense of justice, or if it was not more effective than a less severe penalty," the court held that the jury given total sentencing discretion, might result in arbitrary sentencing. Due to the Furman v. Georgia case the Supreme Court voided 40 death sentencing statutes, questioned the 629 death row inmates in the U.S., and postponed the death penalty because to many existing statutes were invalid. Because of the separate opinions and views the Court unlocked the door, allowing the states to propose fresh statutes to eliminate past problems, to end arbitrariness in capital punishments. Although due to the "Gregg v. Georgia (428 U.S. 153), Jurek v. Texas (428 U.S. 262), and Proffitt v. Florida (428 U.S. 242)"