Murder! Rape! Terrorism! Most consider the people that commit these heinous crimes, but some say these people deserve a second chance. The Debate over the merits of capital punishment has endured for years, and continues to be an extremely complicated issue. Adversaries of capital punishment point to the Marshalls and the Millgards, while proponents point to the Dahmers and Gacys. Capital punishment is the legal infliction of the death penalty on persons convicted of a crime (Cox). It is not intended to inflict any physical pain or any torture; it is only another form of punishment. It is irrevocable because it removes those punished from society permanently, instead of temporarily imprisoning them. The usual alternative to the death penalty is life-long imprisonment.Capital punishment is a method of retributive punishment as old as civilization itself. The death penalty has been imposed throughout history for many crimes, ranging from blasphemy and treason to petty theft and murder. Many ancient societies accepted the idea that certain crimes deserved capital punishment. Ancient Roman and Mosaic law endorsed the notion of retaliation; they believed in the rule of "an eye for an eye." Similarly, the ancient Egyptians, Assyrians, and Greeks all executed citizens for a variety of crimes. The most famous people to be executed are Socrates and Jesus. Only in England, during the reigns of King Canute and William the Conqueror was the death penalty not used, although the results of interrogation and torture were often fatal. In looking back to previous societies that relied upon the death penalty, such as ancient Athens and the Roman Empire, one realizes the effectiveness of this sentence and its usefulness as a tool for deterring crime (Pro Death Penalty 3). Although there is no punishment that can entirely eliminate violent crime, a more stringent use of the death penalty would significantly help. Those who are for the death penalty argue...
