Death Penalty Essay Example for Free

Death Penalty Essay Death penalty has been an inalienable part of human society and its legal system for centuries, regarded as a necessary deterrent to dangerous crimes and a way to liberate the community from dangerous criminals. However, later on this type of punishment came to be regarded as a crime against humanistic ideals by many, and its validity in the legal system has been questioned. Until now, the debate rages on. But I’m here to tell you that the death penalty is the right thing to do !! Background: The first established death penalty laws date as far back as the Eighteenth Century B.   C. E. in the Code of King Hammurabi of Babylon, which codified the death penalty for 25 different crimes. The death penalty was also part of the Fourteenth Century B. C. E. s Hittite Code; in the Seventh Century B. C. s Draconian Code of Athens, which made death the only punishment for all crimes; and in the Fifth Century B. C. s Roman law of the Twelve Tablets. Death sentences were carried out by such means as crucifixion, drowning, beating to death, burning alive, and impalement. In the Tenth Century A. D. , hanging became the usual method of execution in Britain. In the following century, William the Conqueror would not allow persons to be hanged or otherwise executed for any crime, except in times of war. This trend would not last, for in the Sixteenth Century, under the reign of Henry VIII, as many as 72,000 people are estimated to have been executed. Some common methods of execution at that time were boiling, burning at the stake, hanging, beheading, and drawing and quartering. Executions were carried out for such capital offenses as marrying a Jew, not confessing to a crime, and treason. The number of capital crimes in Britain continued to rise throughout the next two centuries. By the 1700s, 222 crimes were punishable by death in Britain, including stealing, cutting down a tree, and robbing a rabbit warren. Because of the severity of the death penalty, many juries would not convict defendants if the offense was not serious. This lead to reforms of Britains death penalty. From 1823 to 1837, the death penalty was eliminated for over 100 of the 222 crimes punishable by death. And in America over 38 states use the death penalty. Now that tells me that almost 50% of the United States uses he death penalty and even john Haynes from the book â€Å"the death penalty† even agrees with me..!!! Mistakes  now let’s move on to mistakes , as we all know back then several ages ago we didn’t have the technology that we do have now. But wait now that we have the world’s smartest people, well at least some. They can assure you that we will give correct D. N. A. answers!!! And if I was to give you a percentage of how many we have gotten correct I would say 100%. Cost of death vs. life in prison: So in the case for money which is better, I would say that the death penalty is a lot better and it’s cheaper than keeping the prisoner there and going through trial after trial after trial, I mean this could go on for weeks and even up to months!!! The death penalty cost the government 1. 5 million- 5. 1 million dollars. The cost of keeping the prisoner $22,218 to 50,000 per year ! In conclusion I know that the death penalty may cost more but do we really want to have our citizen’s life in danger, I know I don’t. Any consideration of the crime rate cancellation would become viable if the crime rate at least for murders goes sharply down. At present, however, capital punishment serves as an important barrier on the way of criminals ready to take another persons life.