Capital Punishment

Let me make a case against Capital Punishment. I tried it and I didn t like it. I would venture to say that few among you would. It was rated at one hundred thousand Scoville units, which, you should know, places this hot-pepper sauce roughly in the same heat category as glowing charcoal. Chomping on glowing charcoal may actually have been more pleasant. 

On June 15, 1994, dramatic events unfolded during the execution of capital punishment. David Lawson, sentenced to death for a capital felony, was scheduled to be killed by hydrogen cyanide in the gas chamber located in the state prison of Raleigh, North Carolina—but the prisoner refused to assist his executioners.1 Lawson repeatedly held his breath for as long as possible and took only short breaths in between.2 Lawson exhibited enormous willpower, calling out to both executioners and witnesses throughout his execution ... 

In his book about America s Capital Punishment Industry , Ste-... 

With a career built on the motto Capital punishment, not capital torture , Leuchter takes pride in his work. He is glad to be able to ensure that condemned prisoners die painlessly, that the personnel who carry out executions are not endangered, and that taxpayer dollars are saved. 

Cigarette smoking, phencyclidine synthesis, ingestion of nail polish remover, suicide, homicide, terrorist attack, chemical warfare, capital punishment... 

This is, I believe, the strongest argument against capital punishment for those who are not opposed to it on other grounds. 

Some people think capital punishment should be allowed to exist because it acts as a deterrent to people about to commit crimes or who are even considering them, but other people hold the view that they shouldn t have to pay for feeding and housing them for years after crimes are committed, so they should be executed instead. 

Sometimes conclusions show what the author considers is important, but you need to have read the whole of the essay to understand this. This is why students sometimes think that the conclusion is the place where the writer can express her own opinion. Beware of this idea, however, because the conclusion still has to follow on from the whole piece of writing. You can t spend the whole essay putting two sides of an argument, for example about capital punishment, and then simply say, Well, what 1 think is. ..By this stage you must have buUt up a case for your point of view, and you will probably have signalled this in the introduction. Then make sure that you follow this through in your conclusion. 

In some U.S. states, capital punishment is carried out with poisonous gas. The substance is actually generated in the gas chamber after the executioner slips it, in pellet form, into a clear liquid. What is the gas, and what chemicals are used in the reaction ... 

The Bible speaks of spies and assassins, and of war and violence. Nnmerons texts condemn violent acts and cruelty in warfare. Some Christians have read these texts as mandating pacifism. But most believers would agree with St. Augustine (354-430) and the tradition of just war. For them, the Bibhcal prohibition against murder (the sixth commandment) allows for three exceptions just war, capital punishment, and self-defense. 

Deterrence attempts to formulate punishments that are so unwelcome that they will prevent individuals from committing crimes. For instance, many believe mandatory minimum sentences and the threat of capital punishment have a deterrent effect on crime. However, harsh punishments can be effective deterrents only if they are combined with a high probability of arrest and conviction. Therefore, the role of law enforcement and the courts in bringing offenders to justice is as important as the sentences themselves. The deterrence model of penal policy is based largely on a theory of criminal behavior called... 

The Death Sentence. One of the weightiest problems penologists attempt to tackle is determining whether the death sentence is an effective deterrent that is, how well the threat of execution, or capital punishment, prevents crime. The many studies in this area have been inconclusive. Some, for example, have found no significant difference in the murder rate in states that impose the death penalty and those that do not, but one meta-analysis of death penalty studies... 

Let there be several minor magistrates over the several areas of divided jurisdiction. On military service let there be tribunes in command of those whom they are ordered to command. In civilian affairs let them guard the public funds, let them supervise the chains of the guilty, let them inflict capital punishments, let them publicly coin bronze, silver, or gold, let them judge lawsuits that have been joined, and let them perform whatever the senate shall decree. 

A. petitions Marcellinus that the convicted Donatists be spared capital punishment or mutilation, or even condemnation to the mines with resulting loss of citizenship and certain death, but that they be sentenced instead to forced labour. 

This is probably A. s strongest statement against capital punishment in... 

Writes Letter too to Donatus, the proconsul of Africa, urging him to avoid capital punishment in dealing with Donatists or Circumcellions convicted of injuring Catholics. 

Doyle, D.J. Biomedical engineers and participation in judicial executions Capital punishment as a technical problem. J Long-Term EffMed Implants. 2007 17(4) 297-302. 

In the third place, I may be reproached for having given myself useless trouble. For some will say, why do we need to know if this Cassius Longinus has been confused with another, or whether he was capitally punished or merely banished Does the public lose sleep over such things What does it matter if Scaliger was or was not incensed against Erasmus when he considered him as a mere soldier and so on . .. 

---