Capital Punishment: A Crime Against Humanity

Capital Punishment, more commonly known as the death penalty, is the decision by a jury, in the second phase of a capital case, that the convicted defendant should be put to death. Laws were passed as far back as 1730 B.C. to allow legal executions. Historically the death penalty was widely accepted. Thousands of people would come to see an execution as a form of entertainment. As a result of the turnout from the crowd on execution day, thousands were killed for such crimes that today would consider a simple misdemeanor. Even the church in England was allowed to burn people at the stake. The eighteenth century was the main time frame in which these mass executions took place. Today, society would consider past executions unethical and corrupt, but what will people think hundreds of years from now when they look back on present day and see how we still have the same standards of killing?

Since colonial times about 13,000 people have been legally executed in the United States alone; 1,100 since 1976. Texas alone has executed 405 felons since 1976, and currently has 390 on death row. California has only executed 13 since 1976 but currently has 655 on death row. Almost three and a half thousand inmates are currently facing the death penalty in the United States today. There are currently 37 states that still have the death penalty implemented including Virginia, who happens to have the second highest execution rate. The United States stands as the fifth highest country to use the death penalty.

I believe this is a huge problem not only in America, but all over the world. Executions in Singapore are the highest compared to their population. People are executed for simple drug crimes and misdemeanors. Almost every single killing in Singapore is done by hanging. Afghanistan still has stoning as a legal way of implementing the death penalty. China is the leader in executions per year, which is ten times the number of executions of the country that is in second, Iran. It is said that as many as 6,000 executions could have been carried out in 2007. Most of these executions were done by firing squad.