Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Capital punishment

2007-06-12T18:01:53Z

Endlesspossibility: Please make your argument first before simply deleting perfectly valid entries. There is nothing wrong with my entry.

'''Capital punishment''', also known as the death penalty, refers to the custom of executing prisoners who are convicted of certain crimes.

== Capital Punishment in the world today ==
Of the developed countries, only the [[United States]] and [[Japan]] have capital punishment. Western Europe and Canada no longer allow its use. It is also practiced in most Shari'a states (those whose legal systems are based on the [[Muslim]] legal philosophy), as well as many other countries which are not yet considered to be developed.<ref>EU: [http://www.eurunion.org/legislat/deathpenalty/EurHRConvProt13Decl.htm Concerning the Abolition of the Death Penalty in all Circumstances]</ref><ref>Encarta: [http://encarta.msn.com/media_461543496/Capital_Punishment_Worldwide.html Capital Punishment Worldwide]</ref>

Though the United States suspended the death penalty in 1973, it was reinstated in 1977. 65% of Americans believe putting someone to death for a crime is acceptable, according to a recent poll. But respondents were close to evenly split on whether they would prefer the death penalty (50%) to mandatory life in prison (46%). The death penalty is most favored by older, white, [[Republican]] males.<ref>ABC News/Washington Post poll: [http://abcnews.go.com/images/Politics/1015a3DeathPenalty.pdf Death Penalty]</ref>

Singapore has the highest execution rate in the world, at 13.65 hangings per 100,000 residents. Saudi Arabia has the second-highest rate, at 4.65 per 100,000.

== Catechism of the Catholic Church on Capital Punishment==

While not specifically saying it should be banned in all cases, the Catholic Church favors life over capital punishment as it gives the chance for redemption.

2266 The State's effort to contain the spread of behaviors injurious to human rights and the fundamental rules of civil coexistence corresponds to the requirement of watching over the common good. Legitimate public authority has the right and duty to inflict penalties commensurate with the gravity of the crime. the primary scope of the penalty is to redress the disorder caused by the offense. When his punishment is voluntarily accepted by the offender, it takes on the value of expiation. Moreover, punishment, in addition to preserving public order and the safety of persons, has a medicinal scope: as far as possible it should contribute to the correction of the offender.67

2267 The traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude, presupposing full ascertainment of the identity and responsibility of the offender, recourse to the death penalty, when this is the only practicable way to defend the lives of human beings effectively against the aggressor.
"If, instead, bloodless means are sufficient to defend against the aggressor and to protect the safety of persons, public authority should limit itself to such means, because they better correspond to the concrete conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person.
"Today, in fact, given the means at the State's disposal to effectively repress crime by rendering inoffensive the one who has committed it, without depriving him definitively of the possibility of redeeming himself, cases of absolute necessity for suppression of the offender 'today ... are very rare, if not practically non-existent.'[John Paul II, Evangelium vitae 56.]

<ref>http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P7Z.HTM</ref>

== Biblical View ==
The [[Old Testament]] of the [[Bible]] has several passages that recommend the death penalty for different offenses.

According to the [[Bible]], these are the offenses which merit the [[death penalty]]:

# [[Murder]] ([[Exodus]] 21:12, 21:15)
# Kidnapping ([[Exodus]] 21:16)
# Disobedience to Parents ([[Exodus]] 21:17, [[Deuteronomy]] 21:18)
# Bestiality ([[Leviticus]] 20:15)
# Violations of the [[Sabbath]] ([[Exodus]] 31:15)
# [[Adultery]] ([[Leviticus]] 20:10, [[Leviticus]] 19:20)
# [[Abomination]]s ([[Leviticus]] 20:2)
# [[Blasphemy]] ([[Leviticus]] 24:16)
# [[Incest]] ([[Leviticus]] 20:11)
# [[Homosexuality]] ([[Leviticus]] 20:13)
# [[Witchcraft]] ([[Exodus]] 22:18, [[Leviticus]] 20:27)
# False [[Prophecy]] ([[Deuteronomy]] 13:5)
# Rebellion/[[Treason]] ([[Joshua]] 1:18)
# Worshiping a false god ([[Deuteronomy]] 13:6-10)
# [[Sodomy]] ([[Leviticus]] 18:22, 20:13)
# Sex with a woman betrothed to another ([[Deuteronomy]] 22:25)
# False witness in a capital crime ([[Deuteronomy]] 19:16-20)
# Daughters of preachers fornicating ([[Leviticus]] 21:9)
# Juvenile delinquency ([[Deuteronomy]] 21:18-21)
# Sacrificing to false gods ([[Exodus]] 22:20)
# Disrespecting a [[judge]] or [[priest]] ([[Deuteronomy]] 17:22)
# Sex with a woman during her period ([[Leviticus]] 20:18)
# Un[[chastity]] ([[Deuteronomy]] 22:21-24)
# Cursing someone ([[Leviticus]] 24:14)

Few people support capital punishment for non-murder offenses, and a number of Christians oppose the death penalty in all cases. Apologist [[JP Holding]] argues that the Bible including the New Testament nowhere repudiates the use of capital punishment, but that it does not necessarily mandate its use, either. <ref>http://www.tektonics.org/af/cappun.html</ref>

== Capital punishment in the United States ==
Capital punishment in the United States is handled on a state-by-state basis, and several states' laws do not allow for executions.
The practice appears to be on the wane, as appeals and stays of execution create a backlog on death row. [[Pennsylvania]] has hundreds of people on death row, though only three inmates have been executed since the reinstatement of capital punishment laws. One man has been on death row in Texas for 31 years. <ref>http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-deathrow28jan28,1,1271967.story?coll=la-headlines-nation</ref>

== Methods in the United States ==

[[Lethal injection]] is the official method of capital punishment in almost all of the 38 states that have the death penalty. A few states allow for other methods in some circumstances. [[Nebraska]] is the only state of these that does not have lethal injection. [[Electrocution]] is the official method of execution there. Several botched electrocutions in [[Florida]] in the 1990s have effectively put an end to the era of the [[electric chair]], which was the most common means of execution in the United States before 1972. In addition to these two methods of execution, lethal gas, hanging, and shooting have all been used at least twice since 1977. Both firing squads were conducted in [[Utah]], most recently in 1996. The three hangings took place in [[Washington]] and [[Delaware]], most recently Billy Bailey's 1996 hanging in Delaware. The [[gas chamber]], which has been abandoned because it has been found to normally lead to slow, gruesome deaths, has been used in [[California]], [[Arizona]], [[Nevada]], [[North Carolina]] since 1977. Walter LeGrand's 1999 execution in Arizona's gas chamber will almost certainly be the last of this type. The United States has never used the [[guillotine]], which was very popular in [[France]]. The last use of the guillotine in France was in 1977. Thereafter, capital punishment in France was abolished.

==Philosophical Debate==

While the Biblical references cited above and the biblical phrase 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth' are often invoked in favour of the death penalty, there are those who also point out the relevance of the Commandment "Thou Shalt Not Kill". Those who disagree with the death penalty point to the tautological nature of the moral argument wherein a State compels its subjects to not kill, yet retains the power to legally kill for itself. This places the moral authority of the State over that of the Individual, thus the same laws do not apply.

There is also an inherent logical inconsistency in the views of the supporters of the death penalty - traditionally, supporters tend to lean right politically (although this is certainly not always the case), and also tend to:

1. support the rights of the Individual over the rights of the State;
2. support absolutist moral rights over 'societal' rights;
3. support to the right of society not to have to pay taxes for the upkeep of the condemned;
4. support and a tendency to favor the support of the victim.

The logical inconsistencies in these arguments are evident:

1. Support of the moral authority of the State over the Individual is inconsistent
2. The death penalty is consistent with a morally absolutist viewpoint
3. Same inconsistency as 1)
4. Same inconsistency as 1)

Because of this, opponents of the death penalty suggest that without a removal of the blanket ban on killing of all kinds, it is impossible to make a morally logical argument for the death penalty. Put simply, Either All Killing is Legal, or All Killing is Not Legal. It is impossible to make a logically consistent argument that says that All Killing is Not Legal, except when practised by the State.

Whatever the political position, killing another human is [[Homicide]] - the debates occur over whether it is believed the homicide is justified or not.

== See also ==

*[[Guillotine]]

==Further reading==
*[http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55990 Christian sentenced to death for blasphemy], By Michael Ireland, ''WorldNetDaily,com'', June 2, 2007.

==References==
<references/>
[[category:politics]]
[[category:law]]

Capital punishment

2007-06-12T17:38:54Z

Endlesspossibility: Thou Shalt Not Kill, nor shall you simply remove a perfectly valid entry without appropriate debate

Capital punishment

2007-06-12T17:09:10Z

Endlesspossibility: Philosophical debate

Capital punishment

2007-06-12T02:27:38Z

Endlesspossibility: Grammatical corrections

'''Capital punishment''', also known as the death penalty, refers to the custom of executing prisoners who are convicted of certain crimes.

== Capital Punishment in the world today ==
Of the developed countries, only the [[United States]] and [[Japan]] have capital punishment. Western Europe and Canada no longer allow its use. It is also practiced in most Shari'a states (those whose legal systems are based on the [[Muslim]] legal philosophy), as well as many other countries which are not yet considered to be developed.<ref>EU: [http://www.eurunion.org/legislat/deathpenalty/EurHRConvProt13Decl.htm Concerning the Abolition of the Death Penalty in all Circumstances]</ref><ref>Encarta: [http://encarta.msn.com/media_461543496/Capital_Punishment_Worldwide.html Capital Punishment Worldwide]</ref>

Though the United States suspended the death penalty in 1973, it was reinstated in 1977. 65% of Americans believe putting someone to death for a crime is acceptable, according to a recent poll. But respondents were close to evenly split on whether they would prefer the death penalty (50%) to mandatory life in prison (46%). The death penalty is most favored by older, white, [[Republican]] males.<ref>ABC News/Washington Post poll: [http://abcnews.go.com/images/Politics/1015a3DeathPenalty.pdf Death Penalty]</ref>

Singapore has the highest execution rate in the world, at 13.65 hangings per 100,000 residents. Saudi Arabia has the second-highest rate, at 4.65 per 100,000.

== Catechism of the Catholic Church on Capital Punishment==

While not specifically saying it should be banned in all cases, the Catholic Church favors life over capital punishment as it gives the chance for redemption.

2266 The State's effort to contain the spread of behaviors injurious to human rights and the fundamental rules of civil coexistence corresponds to the requirement of watching over the common good. Legitimate public authority has the right and duty to inflict penalties commensurate with the gravity of the crime. the primary scope of the penalty is to redress the disorder caused by the offense. When his punishment is voluntarily accepted by the offender, it takes on the value of expiation. Moreover, punishment, in addition to preserving public order and the safety of persons, has a medicinal scope: as far as possible it should contribute to the correction of the offender.67

2267 The traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude, presupposing full ascertainment of the identity and responsibility of the offender, recourse to the death penalty, when this is the only practicable way to defend the lives of human beings effectively against the aggressor.
"If, instead, bloodless means are sufficient to defend against the aggressor and to protect the safety of persons, public authority should limit itself to such means, because they better correspond to the concrete conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person.
"Today, in fact, given the means at the State's disposal to effectively repress crime by rendering inoffensive the one who has committed it, without depriving him definitively of the possibility of redeeming himself, cases of absolute necessity for suppression of the offender 'today ... are very rare, if not practically non-existent.'[John Paul II, Evangelium vitae 56.]

<ref>http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P7Z.HTM</ref>

== Biblical View ==
The [[Old Testament]] of the [[Bible]] has several passages that recommend the death penalty for different offenses.

According to the [[Bible]], these are the offenses which merit the [[death penalty]]:

# [[Murder]] ([[Exodus]] 21:12, 21:15)
# Kidnapping ([[Exodus]] 21:16)
# Disobedience to Parents ([[Exodus]] 21:17, [[Deuteronomy]] 21:18)
# Bestiality ([[Leviticus]] 20:15)
# Violations of the [[Sabbath]] ([[Exodus]] 31:15)
# [[Adultery]] ([[Leviticus]] 20:10, [[Leviticus]] 19:20)
# [[Abomination]]s ([[Leviticus]] 20:2)
# [[Blasphemy]] ([[Leviticus]] 24:16)
# [[Incest]] ([[Leviticus]] 20:11)
# [[Homosexuality]] ([[Leviticus]] 20:13)
# [[Witchcraft]] ([[Exodus]] 22:18, [[Leviticus]] 20:27)
# False [[Prophecy]] ([[Deuteronomy]] 13:5)
# Rebellion/[[Treason]] ([[Joshua]] 1:18)
# Worshiping a false god ([[Deuteronomy]] 13:6-10)
# [[Sodomy]] ([[Leviticus]] 18:22, 20:13)
# Sex with a woman betrothed to another ([[Deuteronomy]] 22:25)
# False witness in a capital crime ([[Deuteronomy]] 19:16-20)
# Daughters of preachers fornicating ([[Leviticus]] 21:9)
# Juvenile delinquency ([[Deuteronomy]] 21:18-21)
# Sacrificing to false gods ([[Exodus]] 22:20)
# Disrespecting a [[judge]] or [[priest]] ([[Deuteronomy]] 17:22)
# Sex with a woman during her period ([[Leviticus]] 20:18)
# Un[[chastity]] ([[Deuteronomy]] 22:21-24)
# Cursing someone ([[Leviticus]] 24:14)

Few people support capital punishment for non-murder offenses, and a number of Christians oppose the death penalty in all cases. Apologist [[JP Holding]] argues that the Bible including the New Testament nowhere repudiates the use of capital punishment, but that it does not necessarily mandate its use, either. <ref>http://www.tektonics.org/af/cappun.html</ref>

== Capital punishment in the United States ==
Capital punishment in the United States is handled on a state-by-state basis, and several states' laws do not allow for executions.
The practice appears to be on the wane, as appeals and stays of execution create a backlog on death row. [[Pennsylvania]] has hundreds of people on death row, though only three inmates have been executed since the reinstatement of capital punishment laws. One man has been on death row in Texas for 31 years. <ref>http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-deathrow28jan28,1,1271967.story?coll=la-headlines-nation</ref>

== Methods in the United States ==

[[Lethal injection]] is the official method of capital punishment in almost all of the 38 states that have the death penalty. A few states allow for other methods in some circumstances. [[Nebraska]] is the only state of these that does not have lethal injection. [[Electrocution]] is the official method of execution there. Several botched electrocutions in [[Florida]] in the 1990s have effectively put an end to the era of the [[electric chair]], which was the most common means of execution in the United States before 1972. In addition to these two methods of execution, lethal gas, hanging, and shooting have all been used at least twice since 1977. Both firing squads were conducted in [[Utah]], most recently in 1996. The three hangings took place in [[Washington]] and [[Delaware]], most recently Billy Bailey's 1996 hanging in Delaware. The [[gas chamber]], which has been abandoned because it has been found to normally lead to slow, gruesome deaths, has been used in [[California]], [[Arizona]], [[Nevada]], [[North Carolina]] since 1977. Walter LeGrand's 1999 execution in Arizona's gas chamber will almost certainly be the last of this type. The United States has never used the [[guillotine]], which was very popular in [[France]]. The last use of the guillotine in France was in 1977. Thereafter, capital punishment in France was abolished.

==Philosophical Debate==

While the Biblical references cited above and the biblical phrase 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth' are often invoked in favour of the death penalty, there are those who also point out the relevance of the Commandment "Thou Shalt Not Kill". Those who disagree with the death penalty point to the tautological nature of the moral argument wherein a State compels its subjects to not kill, yet retains the power to legally kill for itself. This places the moral authority of the State over that of the Individual, and the same laws do not apply. Because of this, opponents suggest that without a removal of the blanket ban on killing of all kinds, it is impossible to make a morally logical argument for the death penalty. Whatever the political position, the nature of a killing is technically [[Homicide]] - the debates occur over whether it is believed the homicide is justified or not.

== See also ==

*[[Guillotine]]

==Further reading==
*[http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55990 Christian sentenced to death for blasphemy], By Michael Ireland, ''WorldNetDaily,com'', June 2, 2007.

==References==
<references/>
[[category:politics]]
[[category:law]]

Capital punishment

2007-06-12T02:19:32Z

Endlesspossibility: Philosophical Debate

'''Capital punishment''', also known as the death penalty, refers to the custom of executing prisoners who are convicted of certain crimes.

== Capital Punishment in the world today ==
Of the developed countries, only the [[United States]] and [[Japan]] have capital punishment. Western Europe and Canada no longer allow its use. It is also practiced in most Shari'a states (those whose legal systems are based on the [[Muslim]] legal philosophy), as well as many other countries which are not yet considered to be developed.<ref>EU: [http://www.eurunion.org/legislat/deathpenalty/EurHRConvProt13Decl.htm Concerning the Abolition of the Death Penalty in all Circumstances]</ref><ref>Encarta: [http://encarta.msn.com/media_461543496/Capital_Punishment_Worldwide.html Capital Punishment Worldwide]</ref>

Though the United States suspended the death penalty in 1973, it was reinstated in 1977. 65% of Americans believe putting someone to death for a crime is acceptable, according to a recent poll. But respondents were close to evenly split on whether they would prefer the death penalty (50%) to mandatory life in prison (46%). The death penalty is most favored by older, white, [[Republican]] males.<ref>ABC News/Washington Post poll: [http://abcnews.go.com/images/Politics/1015a3DeathPenalty.pdf Death Penalty]</ref>

Singapore has the highest execution rate in the world, at 13.65 hangings per 100,000 residents. Saudi Arabia has the second-highest rate, at 4.65 per 100,000.

== Catechism of the Catholic Church on Capital Punishment==

While not specifically saying it should be banned in all cases, the Catholic Church favors life over capital punishment as it gives the chance for redemption.

2266 The State's effort to contain the spread of behaviors injurious to human rights and the fundamental rules of civil coexistence corresponds to the requirement of watching over the common good. Legitimate public authority has the right and duty to inflict penalties commensurate with the gravity of the crime. the primary scope of the penalty is to redress the disorder caused by the offense. When his punishment is voluntarily accepted by the offender, it takes on the value of expiation. Moreover, punishment, in addition to preserving public order and the safety of persons, has a medicinal scope: as far as possible it should contribute to the correction of the offender.67

2267 The traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude, presupposing full ascertainment of the identity and responsibility of the offender, recourse to the death penalty, when this is the only practicable way to defend the lives of human beings effectively against the aggressor.
"If, instead, bloodless means are sufficient to defend against the aggressor and to protect the safety of persons, public authority should limit itself to such means, because they better correspond to the concrete conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person.
"Today, in fact, given the means at the State's disposal to effectively repress crime by rendering inoffensive the one who has committed it, without depriving him definitively of the possibility of redeeming himself, cases of absolute necessity for suppression of the offender 'today ... are very rare, if not practically non-existent.'[John Paul II, Evangelium vitae 56.]

<ref>http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P7Z.HTM</ref>

== Biblical View ==
The [[Old Testament]] of the [[Bible]] has several passages that recommend the death penalty for different offenses.

According to the [[Bible]], these are the offenses which merit the [[death penalty]]:

# [[Murder]] ([[Exodus]] 21:12, 21:15)
# Kidnapping ([[Exodus]] 21:16)
# Disobedience to Parents ([[Exodus]] 21:17, [[Deuteronomy]] 21:18)
# Bestiality ([[Leviticus]] 20:15)
# Violations of the [[Sabbath]] ([[Exodus]] 31:15)
# [[Adultery]] ([[Leviticus]] 20:10, [[Leviticus]] 19:20)
# [[Abomination]]s ([[Leviticus]] 20:2)
# [[Blasphemy]] ([[Leviticus]] 24:16)
# [[Incest]] ([[Leviticus]] 20:11)
# [[Homosexuality]] ([[Leviticus]] 20:13)
# [[Witchcraft]] ([[Exodus]] 22:18, [[Leviticus]] 20:27)
# False [[Prophecy]] ([[Deuteronomy]] 13:5)
# Rebellion/[[Treason]] ([[Joshua]] 1:18)
# Worshiping a false god ([[Deuteronomy]] 13:6-10)
# [[Sodomy]] ([[Leviticus]] 18:22, 20:13)
# Sex with a woman betrothed to another ([[Deuteronomy]] 22:25)
# False witness in a capital crime ([[Deuteronomy]] 19:16-20)
# Daughters of preachers fornicating ([[Leviticus]] 21:9)
# Juvenile delinquency ([[Deuteronomy]] 21:18-21)
# Sacrificing to false gods ([[Exodus]] 22:20)
# Disrespecting a [[judge]] or [[priest]] ([[Deuteronomy]] 17:22)
# Sex with a woman during her period ([[Leviticus]] 20:18)
# Un[[chastity]] ([[Deuteronomy]] 22:21-24)
# Cursing someone ([[Leviticus]] 24:14)

Few people support capital punishment for non-murder offenses, and a number of Christians oppose the death penalty in all cases. Apologist [[JP Holding]] argues that the Bible including the New Testament nowhere repudiates the use of capital punishment, but that it does not necessarily mandate its use, either. <ref>http://www.tektonics.org/af/cappun.html</ref>

== Capital punishment in the United States ==
Capital punishment in the United States is handled on a state-by-state basis, and several states' laws do not allow for executions.
The practice appears to be on the wane, as appeals and stays of execution create a backlog on death row. [[Pennsylvania]] has hundreds of people on death row, though only three inmates have been executed since the reinstatement of capital punishment laws. One man has been on death row in Texas for 31 years. <ref>http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-deathrow28jan28,1,1271967.story?coll=la-headlines-nation</ref>

== Methods in the United States ==

[[Lethal injection]] is the official method of capital punishment in almost all of the 38 states that have the death penalty. A few states allow for other methods in some circumstances. [[Nebraska]] is the only state of these that does not have lethal injection. [[Electrocution]] is the official method of execution there. Several botched electrocutions in [[Florida]] in the 1990s have effectively put an end to the era of the [[electric chair]], which was the most common means of execution in the United States before 1972. In addition to these two methods of execution, lethal gas, hanging, and shooting have all been used at least twice since 1977. Both firing squads were conducted in [[Utah]], most recently in 1996. The three hangings took place in [[Washington]] and [[Delaware]], most recently Billy Bailey's 1996 hanging in Delaware. The [[gas chamber]], which has been abandoned because it has been found to normally lead to slow, gruesome deaths, has been used in [[California]], [[Arizona]], [[Nevada]], [[North Carolina]] since 1977. Walter LeGrand's 1999 execution in Arizona's gas chamber will almost certainly be the last of this type. The United States has never used the [[guillotine]], which was very popular in [[France]]. The last use of the guillotine in France was in 1977. Thereafter, capital punishment in France was abolished.

==Philosophical Debate==

While the Biblical references cited above and the biblical phrase 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth' are often invoked in favour of the death penalty, there are those who also point out the relevance of the Commandment "Thou Shalt Not Kill". Those who disagree with the death penalty point out the tautological nature of the moral argument that says that a State that compels its subjects to not kill, yet retains the power to legally kill only for itself, and suggest that without a blanket ban on killing of all kinds, it is impossible to make a morally logical argument for the death penalty. Whatever the political position, the nature of a killing is technically [[Homicide]] - the debates occur over whether it is believed the homicide is justified or not.

== See also ==

*[[Guillotine]]

==Further reading==
*[http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55990 Christian sentenced to death for blasphemy], By Michael Ireland, ''WorldNetDaily,com'', June 2, 2007.

==References==
<references/>
[[category:politics]]
[[category:law]]