Suyog Shrestha

Jose Hernandez
Humanities II
08 March 2016
Death Penalty
The death penalty has a controversial topic for decades. Many
countries have debated the usage of the death penalty multiple times. Some
countries abolished it, while some are still enforcing it. One of the concerns
dealing with the death penalty is the issue of race playing a factor in the
selection of the people receiving the death penalty. Throughout history, there
have been many policies that have been issued concerning the death
penalty; some which were seen to be too cruel, while other seeming to be
too generous. Even today there are many policies that concern the death
penalty, which are still debated upon till this day. In this paper, I will be
discussing the policy history of the death penalty, the current policies that
are affecting the death penalty, and lastly my opinion, and concern of the
death penalty.
The furthest back history dates of the death penalty policies go back to
the eighteenth century B.C. in the Code of King Hammurabi of Babylon (Part
I). Those laws made the death penalty an option for 25 different crimes.
These crimes include adultery (cheating on a wife or husband) and helping
slaves escape. Murder was not one of the twenty-five crimes (Historical).
Death sentences were carried out by many different means such as,

crucifixion, drowning, beating to death, burning alive, and impalement

(Nicolau). Soon enough, the death penalty spread throughout the world and
became a mean of punishment for many different countries. In Britain,
hanging became the usual method of execution; and even the crime for the
death penalty was changed. Executions could be carried out for many
different things such as, marrying a Jew, not confessing to a crime, and still
treason (Part I). The death penalty became very popular in Britain and by the
1700s, 222 crimes were punishable by death. Those crimes included
stealing, cutting down a tree, robbing a rabbit warren, and many other small
crimes. Due to the increasing number of deaths, juries would not convict
defendants due to the fear of them being killed. This led to the death penalty
being eliminated for over 100 of the 222 crimes between 1823 to 1837. The
death penalty was also quite popular in America. The very first recorded
execution that occurred in the British American Colonies was in 1608 and
was for the crime of treason. Captain George Kendall was hanged in the
Jamestown colony of Virginia (Entrada). The laws regarding the death penalty
varied from the different colonies. In the New York Colony, offenses such as
striking ones mother or father, or denying the true God (Part I) were
punishable by death.
During the colonial times, an abolitionist movement rose against the
death penalty. The first known movement started from Cesare Beccarias
1767 Essay, On Crimes and Punishment (The U.S), which had a strong impact
towards the world. Beccaria stated that there was no reason to take a

persons life. This essay of his successfully resulted in the abolition of the
death penalty in Austria and Tuscany. Due to Beccaria, many Americans were
influenced to reform the policies on death penalty. Dr. Benjamin Rush, a
signer of the Declaration of Independence, challenged the belief that the
death penalty serves as a deterrent (Part I). He believed that the death
penalty actually increased criminal conduct. This abolishment movement
gained momentum in the early to mid-Nineteenth Century. Many states
reduced their number of capital crimes and built state penitentiaries as a
second option from the death penalty. In 1834, Pennsylvania became the
first state to move executions away from the public eye and carrying them
out in correctional facilities (Historical). In 1846, Michigan became the first
state to abolish the death penalty for all crimes except treason, later on
Rhode Island and Wisconsin abolished the death penalty entirely. Although
some U.S states began to abolish the death penalty, many other passed laws
against mandatory deaths. This movement died for a while due to the Civil
War and the attention going towards the anti-slave movement. After the war,
new forms of the death penalty arose, such as the electric chair. From 1907
to 1917, many states outlawed the death penalty, but during World War I,
they allowed them once again due to the fear of the Russian Revolution. The
use of cyanide gas was first introduced in 1924 as scientists felt that they
needed a more humane way of executing (Part I). Once the creation of the
gas chambers, death penalty execution rose until the 1950s when many of
the allied nations stopped the use of death penalty. In the 1960s the

Supreme Court began to intervene in the constitutionality of the death

penalty. In the Witherspoon v. Illinois case, the Court dismissed many jurors
due to their beliefs on capital punishment. In June 29, 1972, the Supreme
Court administered that the death penalty was unconstitutional and
overturned over 600 death sentences (Historical) but in July 2, 1976 the
Court reaffirms the constitutionality of the death penalty. Soon after, the
lethal injection became the more common way of executing, with Texas
being the first to perform a lethal injection in December 7, 1982. The use of
hanging and gas chamber also became a distant memory.
There have been many different reforms concerning the death penalty.
Recently in 2002, the U.S Supreme Court ruled that the execution of mentally
retarded offenders as unconstitutional (U.S). There are multiple states who
have created different policies concerning the death penalty. Each state has
a different type of view of it and their own thoughts on the morality of it.
Recently, Alabama passed a bill that claimed that eight senate cosponsors
would establish an Innocence Inquiry Commission and put a hold on
execution for about a year. It was passed unanimously and only capital cases
would be subjected to review (Recent). California proposed an initiative that
would curtail the appeals process and bypass public review of the execution
protocol. The same bill also set an initiative on repealing the death penalty,
including for those currently on death row (Recent). In order for this bill to be
passed signatures must be gathered to be eligible for the November 2016
ballot. Mississippi proposed a bill to impose secrecy regarding source of

lethal injection drugs, names of employees, and family witnesses (Recent).

This bill was passes but it is still held for possible further debate. Oklahoma
recent passes a bill to allow lethal injection drugs to be held at the prison.
Utah proposed two bills, HB 136 and SB 189. HB 136 would allow the death
penalty if the death of a person occurs in the course of human trafficking and
defendant acted with reckless indifference to the loss of life. This bill was
referred to the House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee and
was passed on February 2. SB 189 was a repeal of the death penalty
proposed by Senator Steve Urquhart. The repeal would not affect those who
are currently on death row. This bill was also passed. Virginia proposed a bill
to prohibit secrecy of drug providers of drug providers in lethal injection and
was defeated, 4-1 (Recent). Many states are trying to pass bills that concern
the death penalty and this topic is still very controversial in society and
politics today.
In my personal opinion, I think that the death penalty should be
abolished entirely. I see the death penalty as a form of justice and I do not
think that is the right thing to do. I dont think that anyone has the right to
take another persons life. To me the death penalty is a form of an eye for an
eye and I do not think that is the right thing to do. I believe that it is
definitely unconstitutional and should not be practiced anywhere. This is
relevant to me because the society I live in believes that the death penalty is
a good thing to do and is the right thing to do. I do not agree with them at
all. There could be a chance that someone I know committed a crime and is

sentenced to the death penalty. If I had the power, I would determine that
the death penalty is unconstitutional and would make it illegal to be
practiced. I would go about doing this in multiple ways. I would first make
sure that the people who are sentenced or have been sentenced to the death
penalty be put to life in prison. Many people will ask where the money for
that will come from but that is an easy fix. A lot of the tax money goes to
incriminate people for minor drug charges. I would make the laws concerning
drug laws to be easier and not have so many people in prison for small petty
drug crimes. By doing this, more people would be out of prison and they
could be replaced with the prisoners who were sentenced to the death
penalty.
In conclusion, the death penalty has been around since the beginning
of time and has been a controversial topic since then. It was debated upon
and fought against. There have been many different forms of the death
penalty and many different policies concerning it. Even today there are many
states that are trying to pass different bills that support or disagree with the
death penalty. I personally believe that it should be abolished. I dont think
that any human has the right to take another humans life.

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