Difference between revisions of "Capital punishment"

Revision as of 00:18, August 18, 2008

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-'''Capital punishment''', also known as the death penalty, refers to the custom of executing prisoners who are convicted of certain crimes. Such crimes are known as capital crimes, and tend to be grave crimes against persons or governments (such as [[premeditation|premeditated]] [[murder]], [[rape]] or [[treason]]).
+Death Penalty=Genocide of Black People=Conservapedia!!!!
-== In the world today ==
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-Of the main developed countries, only the [[United States]] and [[Japan]] use formalized capital punishment, though many developed countries give law enforcement greater authority to kill than allowed by the [[United States]]. For emerging countries, [[China]] uses the death penalty and in the non-developed world it is practiced in most Shari'a states (those whose legal systems are based on [[Muslim]] legal philosophy), as well as many others.<ref name="EU">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>
-According to officially released governmental figures, the [[liberal]] [[human rights]] organization  [[Amnesty International]] estimates that Singapore has the highest execution rate in the world, at 13.65 hangings per 1,000,000 residents.  Saudi Arabia has the second-highest rate, at 4.65 per 1,000,000. [[Human Rights Watch]], another prominent liberal organization, does not have any recent figures.
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-Based on 2004 figures, China is the world leader in total number of executions with an estimated 3,400. Following China is Iran with 159 and Vietnam with an estimated 64 executions. The United States executed the 5th greatest number of people in the world with a total of 52. <ref>''The Economist Pocket World in Figures 2008 Edition'' 2007, p. 99. London: Profile Books. ISBN 978-1846680908</ref>
-=== United States ===
-Capital punishment in the United States is handled on a state-by-state basis; twelve states' laws do not allow for executions at all. Capital punishment is also used by the federal government and the military.
-[[Pennsylvania]] has hundreds of people on death row, though only three inmates have been executed since the reinstatement of capital punishment laws, and all three essentially "volunteered" by dropping their appeals. In [[Texas]], one man has been on death row for 31 years.<ref>http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-deathrow28jan28,1,1271967.story?coll=la-headlines-nation</ref>
-Appeals and stays of execution can create a backlog on death rows in many states.
-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 age 30+ males who are Caucasian and [[Republican]].<ref>ABC News/Washington Post poll: [http://abcnews.go.com/images/Politics/1015a3DeathPenalty.pdf Death Penalty]</ref>
-Some studies conducted since the start of the new millennium have consistently shown a deterrence factor in the United States based on use of the death penalty.  It has been calculated that each person executed saves the lives of anywhere from 3 to 18 innocent people.<ref>Studies: Death penalty discourages crime  http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,280215,00.html</ref> However - other studies have shown as a whole, "death-penalty states" typically have higher murder rates than states that have outlawed capital punishment.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?&did=1705#STATES%20WITH%20THE%20DEATH%20PENALTY%20V.%20STATES%20WITHOUT|format=HTML|work=Death Penalty Information Center|language=English|title=Deterrence|accessdate=2007-08-21}}</ref>
-===Morality===
-It has sometimes been question why 65% of Americans believe putting someone to death for a crime is acceptable (see above), when 76.5% (159 million) of Americans identify themselves as [[Christian]] <ref>http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_prac2.htm</ref>.  This has led to the suggestion by some that this is [[hypocrisy]], and that [[Christian]] Americans should not advocate the death penalty, as to do so is against the code of the Bible, and immoral <ref>http://www.itsyourtimes.com/?q=node/3524</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. 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]], [[Mississippi]], and [[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.
-===Canada===
-[[Canada]] does not employ capital punishment, and it has not been a possible sentence in Canadian civilian courts since 1976.
-Canada long employed capital punishment as a punishment for [[murder]] or [[treason]], typically executing prisoners by [[long drop hanging|long drop]] [[hanging]] in the case of civilians, and by [[firing squad]] in the case of soldiers or other military. (In particular, 25 soldiers were executed for various crimes during [[World War I]].) Canada had several notorious executioners, particularly [[Arthur B. English]], also known as "Arthur Ellis", after whom [[Arthur Ellis Awards|a Canadian literary award]] for mystery writing is named.
-While Canada's use of capital punishment was inherited from the legal system of the [[United Kingdom]], opposition to capital punishment began to arise in the late 1950s, and came to a head in 1959, when [[Steven Truscott]], a 14-year-old boy, was convicted of murder, with a recommendation from the [[jury]] for mercy. The judge passed down a sentence of execution by hanging, then the only legal punishment for murder in Canada.
-While Truscott's death sentence would later be commuted in 1960, his case galvanized public opinion, and in 1961 Canada reclassified capital murder, defining it as a murder that involved [[premeditation]], murder during the commission of a violent crime, or the murder of a [[police officer]] or [[prison guard]]. This marked the beginning of the decline of capital punishment in Canada, as the last executions would be in [[December]], 1962. The government of Canada routinely [[commutation|commuted]] any death sentence passed thereafter (indeed, the [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal Party]] made opposition to capital punishment a part of their [[platform (politics)|platform]]).
-In 1976, this [[de facto]] state of affairs became law, when the [[Parliament (Canada)|Canadian Parliament]] abolished the use of capital punishment under the [[Criminal Code (Canada)|Criminal Code]]. Executions were still permitted under the [[National Defense Act (Canada)|National Defense Act]] until 1998, when they were similarly abolished.
-Currently, Canada's [[Supreme Court of Canada|Supreme Court]] does not allow the [[extradition]] of criminals who may be executed for their crimes.
-===Saudi Arabia===
-Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islam under which those convicted of murder, drug trafficking, rape and armed robbery are executed in public with a sword. As of November 25, 2007, Saudi Arabia has beheaded 136 people, 38 people in 2006 and 83 people in 2005. <ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,312768,00.html Saudi Arabia Marks 136th Beheading of 2007], Associated Press, [[Fox News Channel|Fox News]], November 25, 2007</ref>
-===European Union===
-The death penalty has been abolished in all 27 [[European Union]] member states, and 47 out of the 50 countries in [[Europe]] (only [[Belarus]] and [[Kazakhstan]] still practise it, and [[Russia]] has had an effective moratorium since 1996).<ref>http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ACT50/001/2007/en/ACT500012007en.html Document - List of abolitionist and retentionist countries (1 January 2007)</ref> The EU has long been against capital punishment, and campaigns for its abolition worldwide. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, legally adopted in the Treaty of Lisbon, bans execution in all member states, and abolition is a condition of acceding to the EU.<ref name="EU" /> EU law also bans detainee transfers in cases where the receiving party may seek the death penalty.
-==Religious views of capital punishment==
-===Christianity===
-==== Biblical View ====
-The [[Old Testament]] of the [[Bible]] has several passages that recommend the death penalty for different offenses.
-According to the Old Testament, these are the offenses which merit the [[death penalty]]:
-# [[Murder]] ([[Exodus]] 21:12, 21:15)
-# Kidnapping to sell into slavery ([[Exodus]] 21:16)
-# Cursing Parents ([[Exodus]] 21:17)
-# Bestiality ([[Leviticus]] 20:15)
-# Desecrating the [[Sabbath]] ([[Exodus]] 31:15)
-# [[Adultery]] ([[Leviticus]] 20:10, [[Leviticus]] 19:20)
-# Sacrificing children to Molech ([[Leviticus]] 20:2)
-# [[Blasphemy]] ([[Leviticus]] 24:16)
-# Incest ([[Leviticus]] 20:11, but see [[Genesis]] 19:33, 19:35, 4:17)
-# [[Homosexual]] intercourse ([[Leviticus]] 18:22, 20:13)
-# [[Witchcraft]] ([[Exodus]] 22:18, [[Leviticus]] 20:27)
-# False [[Prophecy]] ([[Deuteronomy]] 13:5)
-# Worshiping a false god ([[Deuteronomy]] 13:6-10)
-# Sex with a woman betrothed to another ([[Deuteronomy]] 22:25)
-# False witness in a capital crime ([[Deuteronomy]] 19:16-20)
-# Daughter of a priest becoming a prostitute ([[Leviticus]] 21:9)
-# Juvenile delinquency ([[Deuteronomy]] 21:18-21)
-# Sacrificing to false gods ([[Exodus]] 22:20)
-# Un[[chastity]] ([[Deuteronomy]] 22:21-24)
-# Rebellious Sons ([[Deuteronomy]]  21:18-21)
-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>
-==== Catechism of the Catholic Church====
-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.
-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.
-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.'<ref>[John Paul II, Evangelium vitae 56.]http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P7Z.HTM</ref>
-== See also ==
-*[[Culture of life]]
-*[[Guillotine]]
-*[[Hanging]]
-*[[Lethal injection]]
-==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==
-{{reflist|2}}
-[[category:politics]]
-[[category:law]]

Difference between revisions of "Capital punishment"

Revision as of 00:18, August 18, 2008

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