Technical Writing 9/29/01
Ms. Gokturk Paul Prudente
Throughout history, Capital Punishment has been used to take the lives of people who were accused of committing a certain crime.
Capital Punishment has been around since colonial times. One of the first recorded executions was in 1648. A so called "witch" was hanged from a tree. Another witch was hanged in 1655 in Boston. But the best known executions of witches took place in Salem, Massachusetts, between May and October of 1692. This became known as the Salem Witch Trials. Many people at that time were thought to be possessed with evil because they would have reoccurring nightmares, some of which they never awoke from. These people were thought to be witches. They eventually were convicted of a crime and brought to trial, according to English law. By the end of the trials, twenty people had been sentenced to die. The death penalty continued to be in existence throughout the 1800�s and into the 1900�s. In the United States, roughly 13,000 people were executed since colonial times. By the 1930�s, up to 150 people were executed yearly. But the people were against this type of punishment.
The United States Supreme Court banned the practice in 1972 because of lack opf public support. In 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered to reinstate the law. Each state is able to decide whether or not they wish to have the death penalty. As of 1997, only 12 states in the United States did not honor the death penalty. These states were Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Texas. Texas holds the record for the greatest number of executions in the United States from 1976 to the end of 1997, there were 430 executions in the U. S. As of 1997 70 % of the public supported Capital punishment.
There are 7 main methods of executions that are still in use worldwide. Hanging if done correctly should break the neck immediately resulting in a immediate death. If the rope is to short the person will hang there slowly strangling to death. If the rope is to long gravity and momentum will tear the person�s head off. The electric chair is a method of punishment that no body knows what the victim is experiences because no one has ever lived threw it. If the person survives the first shock they will continue to shock you till you die. The Firing squad is conduct by setting up multiple trained marksmen. Each marksmen aims at the persons heart and simultaneously fire. The gas chamber is a place where cyanide is dropped in to acid which produces cyanide gas. The prisoner experiences many minutes of intense pain before he finally dies. The most popular form of Capital Punishment is lethal injection. Lethal drugs are injected in the prisoner while he is strapped to a table. If the correct amount of drugs is used the prisoner slips off into unconsciousness. If the dosage is to low the person will stay alive longer a may experience paralysis. The guillotine is a French invention that is not used in North America. Th prisoner is laid on a table face down with his head hanging off of one end. An extremely sharp blade is dropped which severs the neck on impact. Th prisoner dies immediately. Stoning is the most brutal punishment. The prisoner is pelted with rocks until they eventually are killed. This method is not used in North America. It is mainly used in some Muslim countries as penalty for murder, adultery and other crimes.
In some countries, child murders, murderers under the age of 18, are given the death sentence. Such countries are Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, United States ( only in Texas and Virginia ), and Yemen. Yemen has recently abolished the practice. The U.S. Senate passed the international Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1992. This law allows the state to decide whether or not they wish to use the death penalty on minors.
There are only 18 states in the U.S. that allow the execution of mentally retarded or disadvantaged to be sentenced to death. The states who practice this are the only democratic Jurisdictions in the world to do so. There are also a very little amount of countries ( which are all dictatorships ) that allow this practice. Between the years of 1976 and 2000, around 35 mentally challenged people have been executed in the United States, six of which were in Texas.
In 1998 on December 25, Pope John Paul II called for a worldwide abolishment of the death penalty. During the spring of 1999, the United Nations Commission for Human Rights held a meeting that discussed the worldwide abolishment the death sentence. Both of these attempts failed. However the U.N.C.H.R has successfully sent a petition around the world which may one day end the Death Sentence permanently.
The Death Penalty is the most controversial punishment in the world. This is so because you cannot erase the penalty once it is conducted. I believe that one day there will be a worldwide abolishment of this practice due to that fact.
Bibliography
1. Capital Punishment: the Death Penalty Debate
author: Ted Gottfried Copyright 1997 by Ted Gottfried
2. The Death Penalty: Opposing View Points
author: The Greenhaven Press, inc.
Copyright 1986, 1991 by Greenhaven Press
3. Internet
Keyword: Capital Punishment
4. Internet
Keyword: Death penalty