Crime And The Death Penalty Essay

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The death penalty has existed as long as humans have existed. The quote "an eye for an eye" is found in the Bible. In the middle ages fines, public humiliation and imprisonment were appropriate punishments for all crimes, and death penalty for all murders. Today, Federal law states that the death penalty is to be enforced with convicted criminals for: treason; deserting armed forces during wartime; murder committed by a soldier; kidnapping and murder that involves crossing state lines; murder committed during an

airplane hijacking; and of course, homicide. The death penalty is

also called for punishment of for: attempting to kill anyone

investigating or prosecuting his or her activities; advising,

directing, authorizing or assisting in the murder of someone. Also,

The Anti-Drug abuse act of 1988 calls for the death penalty for all

drug related killings. Along with that, The bill amending sec. 848

to controlled substances act calls for the death penalty or life

imprisonment for certain drug offences possession of 10 or more kg of

heroin, cocaine, phencyclidine or analogue. Added to that, The drug

kingpin act sates the use of death penalty for convicted major drug

dealers caught with huge quantities of drugs, over 66 lbs. of heroin

and 330 lbs. of cocaine. Even though there are these federal laws

requiring the use of the death penalty for the crimes, State laws only

consider one crime, murder, to be a capital offense.

In the United States alone there have been 4047 executions

since 1930, and 188 were from 1977-1996. In 1996, there were a total

of 15,168,100 arrests; 33,050 for forcible rape; 1,506,200 involving

drug violations and 19,020 for murder and non-negligent manslaughter.

The death penalty was enforced 45 times. The death penalty is an

expensive punishment, since 1976 the united states have spent 700

million dollars in it. Methods of the death penalty include lethal

injection, gas chamber, electric chair, hanging and fire squad. In a

1986 poll 70% of Americans favored the death penalty as a punishment

for murder.

There have been many comparisons of crime rates of death

penalty states to non- death penalty states. These clearly show that

the death penalty has no effect on the deteration of crime. The

homicide rates in Michigan, Ohio and Illinois rise and fall along with

Wisconsin. Michigan, Ohio and Illinois all have the death penalty.

Wisconsin does not. In 1994, the average murder rate in a death

penalty state of a population of 100,00 was 8.0, for a non-death

penalty state, 4.4. In Canada the homicide rate per 100,000 people

was 3.09 in 1975, this was when they had the death penalty. In 1976

Canada got rid of the death penalty. In 1986 the crime rate decreased

to 2.19 per 100,000 people, the lowest in 15 years. Isn't it odd that

the crime rates were high with the death penalty and low without?

Clearly this shows that the presence of the death penalty has no

effect on the increase or decrease of crime rates. Even with the

death penalty, crime rates continue to rise and fall in the United

States. The number of people on death row in 1967 were in 1972: 200

and in 1997 3,100. Crimes will be committed weather or not death

penalty is a method of punishment.

Many people believe that the death penalty isn't an

effective way to deter crime. "The proposed drug death penalty is not

only barbaric but also foolish: a temper tantrum masquerading as an

act of government. It holds no promise for suppressing the drug

trade, and may even be counterproductive" (Franklin E. Zimny) Time

magazine, 1997 said 52% of Americans do not believe the death penalty

deters people from committing crime. In a recent poll of police

chiefs, 2/3 said they don't believe the death penalty deters crime

but it is used as a political football by politicians. Some people

aren't afraid of dying, either. They have realized that everyone must

die, so they have no fear of dying at any moment of time. This fact

also forbids the death penalty...

"Crimes, Politics and Race" Harvard Journal of law and Public Policy
Winter 1997: pg. 405

"Death Penalty Information Center", 1997
http://www.esential.org/dpic/dpic.html (8 Feb. 1998)

Nardo, Don Death Penalty San Diego: Lucent Books Inc, 1992

Wekesser, Carol The Death Penalty: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego:
Greenhaven Press, 1991

World Almanac and Book of Facts 1998 Mahwah, NJ: world Almanac and
Book of Facts, 1997 You should cite this paper as follows:

MLA Style
. EssayMania.com. Retrieved on 25 May, 2012 from
    <http://essaymania.com/33950/crime-and-the-death-penalty>

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