Should We Enforce The Death Penalty?

Capital punishment, the penalty, or execution is the killing of a person by judicial process as a punishment for their offense.  They are called capital crimes or capital offences.  The U.S. Supreme Court has determined that a penalty must be proportional to the crime; otherwise, the punishment violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments.  The most popular countries which apply the death penalty are China, India, United States and Indonesia.  In other countries, such as Australia, New Zealand and Canada do not have capital punishment. In Latin America, most states have completely abolished capital punishment, while some countries, such as Brazil, allow for capital punishment only in exceptional situations, such as treason committed during wartime.

The use of formal execution extends to the beginning of history.  Most historical records and various primitive tribal practices indicate that the death penalty was a part of their justice system.  Some penalties included boiling to death, slow slicing, crucifixion, crushing, execution by burning, and stoning.

In some parts of the world, execution was held in a public place as a warning to the population.  The heads of the executed were displayed on poles.  In some cases, the families were also held accountable by death whether or not they were guilty.

Some countries have resumed practicing the death penalty after having suspended executions for long periods. The United States suspended executions in 1967 but resumed them in 1977, then again in September 25, 2007 to April 16, 2008; there was no execution in India between 1995 and 2004; and Sri Lanka declared an end to it on November 20, 2004 although it has not yet performed any executions. The  Philippines ee-introduced the death penalty in 1993 after abolishing it in 1987, but abolished it again in 2006.

Between 2005 and May 2008, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen were reported to have executed child offenders, the most being from Iran.  China, Iran and Iraq had the most recorded executions, exceeding more than 1,500 in 2009. The United States had 29 executions in 2010, with 13 from Texas.  There are many arguments involving the death penalty, but for most, if they knew the outcome, I believe they would never commit the crime.