The Constitutional Death Penalty Kissandra Moore U.S. Constitutional History 556 Douglas A. Dribben Sep. 10, 2012 Arguments over the death penalty always refer back to Amendment V or Amendment VIII regarding due process and cruel and unusual punishment. To understand the use of the death penalty in America, it is important to consider that executions were common prior to the Constitutions framing and that Amendment V recognizes capital crime. The framers were obviously aware of capital punishment and considered capital crimes as they set forth the provisions that would protect those accused. Prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment was also considered, but cruel and unusual punishment is subjective.
This argument can be compared to if a police officer shoots an innocent man, the country should purge police officers of their weapons. When reviewing at the examples, one argument cannot be made without including the other. For the good of the country, some sacrifices must undeniably be made. The Death Penalty system needs to be revised to produce positive results and deliver justice promptly. The death penalty must remain a valid source of punishment because with the court system we have today, most sentenced for murder do not receive a life sentence and are released back into the public after a couple years.
Lethal Injection For thousands of years, many governments have punished people convicted of certain crimes by putting them to death, using various means to accomplish this. The death penalty is considered by many to be the ultimate form of punishment for those who have committed society's most heinous crimes, including rape and murder. As times have changed, so have the methods of execution. The idea of someone being put to death is not a pleasant one. About 74 of the world's countries and 38 American states have a death penalty (although the vast majority of executions in 2004 took place in China, Iran, Vietnam and the United States), so this unpleasant topic is bound to come up.
Rivkind/Shatz study in response to Furman: 1. 87% of murders (1988-92) were statutorily death-eligible 2. In 9.6% of cases, death sentences were sought 3. 11.4% of D-E murderers are actually sentenced to death v. Rivkind’s Concerns 1. DP is a powerful incentive for Δs to plead 2.
Charles Ray Hatcher was an American serial killer who confessed to murdering 16 people during the years of 1969-1982. Born in Missouri; July, 16th 1929. Criminal conduct beginning in 1949, crimes become more severe over time. Criminal acts that started with Auto Theft later turned into murdering of innocent people in methods such as stabbing with knife or strangulation. Hatcher claimed to be the most notorious criminal in northwest Missouri since Jesse James.
“Along with Troy Davis hundreds of people have been wrongfully convicted and executed in the United States” (David A. Love 1). Think about it if the person that faced the death penalty wasn’t guilty you took an innocent life. There are just some things that people shouldn’t have the ability to do, and sentencing someone to a death is one of them. “Since 1976-2010 there have been approximately 1,226 executions”.
Many criminals are going to jail but the Pohnpei state jail is very small but today more are going in but less coming out. They must have this kind of punishment because they are wasting government money because commit treason, do not pay taxes but just sit on their asses eating free meal. If the prisoners are not to be killed they will gain number and escape wihich could be dangerous for every single Pohnpeian. The third reason Pohnpei state need to have death penalty is to make the citizens stop crimes. Pohnpei are type of people who are afraid of death if they will hear a prisoner is going to be killed because he or she commits crime.
This is costing the tax payers twenty- nine million dollars over a twenty year period (Death Penalty Information Center). There is also the cost of the many appeals process that the inmate now goes through to try to overturn their conviction. This also cost the tax payers absorb anent amount of money. Now there is the issue of the inmates that are sitting with a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. This is costing the tax payers the same amount of money.
Critics believe modern law is more concerned with the consequences of crime and less with the moral imperatives. [3] When a crime is committed the person should be convicted. Mental illness could be taken into account at the time of sentencing. Several states have accepted this reasoning, the insanity plea is abolished and replaced with guilty but insane. This verdict carries a criminal penalty, the defendant is sentenced to a hospital prison and the defendant must prove he is no longer dangerous or mentally ill. Advocate of the insanity defense believe that a fundamental principle of criminal law is a stake.
Abstract This paper addresses the constitutionality and imposition of the death penalty. I will present some historic aspects of the use of the death penalty as well as constitutional issues that have risen through the years over its imposition and the execution of some convicts. Also I will discuss the general goals of sentencing and the various types of sentences available to judges. I will also review the constitutional rights and issues important in criminal sentencing especially as it pertains to the death sentence. At the end of the paper I will compare the death sentence to the alternative which is life in prison without parole- the deterrent effects on crimes, and the costs would be the main focus of the comparison.