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  • Essay / Capital punishment: the social, moral and historical consequences...

    Capital punishment is considered the act of killing an individual as a form of punishment inflicted for a particular crime. The act is accomplished by a legal hearing in court. The death penalty applies to cases of murder, but some countries apply the death penalty to cases of fraud, adultery, and treason against the crown. Its use varies in many countries around the world. Those who resort to capital punishment often justify their actions by arguing that such harsh penalties will deter would-be murderers from committing the act of murder. The use of capital punishment dates back "to the beginnings of English common law, under which virtually everyone convicted of a crime was sentenced to death, but the practice has always been much more widespread in the [United States rather] than 'in the United Kingdom, which abandoned capital punishment in 1973' (Marcus 2007). In 1896, America's first serial killer, Herman Webster Mudgett, was executed because he operated a hotel he called the "Murder Castle" and lured women, through sexual relationships, into purchasing insurance policies. life insurance with him as the main beneficiary. Once implicated, he tortured and killed them, dissected their bodies, and sold the skeletal remains to medical schools for research. Mudgett confessed to twenty-seven murders, but it could have been more, he was tried and hanged. In such a case, one could easily identify with the ultimate punishment of death in regards to the inhumane manner in which he killed innocent victims. . His sadistic and premeditated actions made the rest of society fear that anyone could be the next victim. According to the law, the government is required by law to protect the safety of all its citizens. With people like Mudgett on the streets...... middle of paper ...... (2011), Capital punishment for moral issues that divide us https://www.utm.edu/staff/jfieser/ class /160/7-cap-pun.htm Accessed April 21, 20143. Lair, Kevin, (2013) The Elm – Death Penalty Debate: Columnists Respond – The Death Penalty Saves Lives, Go Figure http://elm.washcoll. edu/index.php/2013/04 Accessed April 21, 20144. Marcus, Paul, (2007) “Capital Punishment in the United States and Beyond,” Faculty Publications, article 61. http://scholarship. law.wm.edu/facpubs/615. The Death Penalty – High School Curriculum – Arguments for and Against the Death Penalty (2000) http://deathpenaltyinfo.msu.edu/6. Warden, Rob, (2009) Reflections on Capital Punishment, 4 Nw.JL& Soc. Pol'y.329 http://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/njlsp/iss2/27. Arguments against capital punishment http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/capitalpunishment/against_1 Accessed: April 21, 2014