The Unfair Trial of Tom Robison In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the character Tom Robison is accused of a crime he did not commit and the evidence presented in the courtroom actually supported he was innocent. Heck Tate is the sheriff of Maycomb County, who was called after the crime, was made. As the sheriff he didn’t handle this crime the appropriate way. Heck was supposed to call a doctor to check Mayella, getting an understanding of exactly what was wrong with her. Heck also went wrong when he didn’t get everyone’s side of the story; he only got the Ewells side.
Mia Michael H.English Mrs. Gaskill April 23, 2013 An argument that never seems to have a clear winner is “Life in Prison” vs. “The Death Penalty”. Although both sides have valid points, I feel that only one should be allowed. The death penalty is inhumane and unethical. It seems hypocritical for us, the American people, and are judicial system to say that murder is wrong and illegal, but continue to murder both the guilty and thee wrongfully accused. The death penalty gives those that are actually guilty the easy way out of punishment, and the innocent a wrongful death.
Capital Punishment and the Deterrence Theory Capital Punishment Deters Crime 11/9/2012 Dr. Ji Seun Sohn Brooke Lee Capital Punishment and the Deterrence Theory: Capital Punishment Deters Crime Jerry Kilgore said in an editorial written for USA Today, “As a former prosecutor, former secretary of public safety and now attorney general, I believe that some crimes are so evil, some criminals so dangerous and some victims so tortured that executing the criminal is appropriate” (Kilgore, 2002). Capital punishment, or commonly referred to as the death penalty, is the most controversial of all of the disciplinary practices. Since it involves taking another human being’s life, this is not at all surprising. Since it is the most severe of all sentences, there have been countless efforts to abolish the death penalty, and in most of the industrialized nations, with the exception of Japan and the United States of America, these efforts have proved effective. In this paper, I will discuss the effect that capital punishment has on deterring criminal activity.
Kelly may be criminally liable for two offences due to her conduct towards Dave and Peter. Kelly may be liable for the death of Peter. First to consider is Kelly’s liability for murder. Lord Coke’s definition of murder can be summarised as the unlawful killing of a human being within the Queen’s peace with malice aforethought. In English law you cannot commit murder on a foetus or a corpse because neither are considered as human beings.
Guns are Never the Culprit The Newton Elementary School massacre was the second deadliest shooting in U.S. history and one of the deadliest around the world. Adam Lanza, armed with a power rifle, killed a total of 27 people including himself; seven adults, one being his own mother, and 20 children in an act that is still not explained to this day (Press, 2012). There have been many attempts to try and explain the actions of this disturbed individual and what would drive someone to commit such a hideous act; the main reason people are citing that this happened is lack of gun control. Other murder or suicides that have taken place over the years involving guns have struck up debate over whether or not citizens should be able to own guns;
Introduction On February 27, 1859 at two in the afternoon 12 people witnessed a man being shot several times in his legs and thighs and then being murdered by a gunshot to the chest. Phillip Barton Key, the son of Francis Scott Key, the man known for writing The Star Spangled Banner, was having an affair with Congressman Daniel Sickles’s wife. Sickles caught Phillip Key calling for his wife from a second story window and became enraged. His anger led him to grab two handguns and run after Key screaming several times that he must die. This is the point where he fires several shots into Key's legs and thighs forcing him to fall into a fence.
Since insanity is defined so arbitrarily, lawyers can protect their clients from their punishments with relative ease by dragging out the legal process for years at a time by using the insanity defense. To be protected with the insanity defense in many states, a criminal must take the M'Naghten test: failure to determine right from wrong deems the criminal insane (Cornell University Law School). Although some argue that people with mental illnesses cannot be held accountable for their actions, the greater concern should be for the overall safety for The United States of America because criminals who plead insanity can be a danger when released, legal definitions of insanity vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, Supreme Court has upheld four states' abolishing of insanity defense, and there is incomplete research on insanity. Shafer !2 Insane criminals who are found not guilty by reason of insanity are sent to mental hospitals to rehabilitate and treat their illness. The problem is that the criminals who are sent to a hospital and become "cured" could be a danger to society.
Deterrence is an act or process of discouraging and preventing an action from occurring. When potential killers know that the cost of their murderous action can result in their own death, they are much more hesitant and more likely to reconsider their plans. Murderers are selfish and sick-minded people who have no consideration of others. Isaac Ehrlich puts it perfectly, “ if one execution of a guilty capital murderer deters the murder of one innocent life, the execution is justified.” Therefore, capital punishment should be strictly enforced and legalized.Capital punishment also provides protection to the society. Philosopher Jackues Barzun compares such criminals to wolves.
In the essay, “The Death Penalty: Is it Ever Justified,” an admitted killer named, Joseph Carl Shaw, in an appeal wrote: ‘Killing was wrong when I did it. Killing is wrong when you do it. I hope you have the courage and moral strength to stop the killing”’ (575). In the same essay, Edward I. Koch states, “It is a curiosity of modern life that we find ourselves being lectured on morality by cold-blooded killers” (575). If a person takes another persons’ life, how dare they plea for their own!
Secondly, it is true that death penalty is irreversible, but it is hard to kill a wrongly convicted person due to the several chances given to the convicted to prove his innocence with the appellate systems in place with the existing justice system, otherwise why does every country in the world have one? Thirdly, death penalty assures safety of the society by eliminating these criminals, thus eliminating repeat offenders. Deterrence means to punish somebody as an example and to create fear in other people for the punishment. The death penalty is one of those