The death penalty also known as capital punishment, is the extreme penalty for crime. The death penalty involves the execution of a criminal for certain offenses. In the past, execution of criminals for a wide variety of offenses has been carried out by many different methods. Some of these methods include hanging, drowning, stoning, and beheading. During the middle ages in Europe, hanging was used for persons of low status and decapitation was used for members of the upper classes. Witches and heretics were burned at the stake. Drawing and quartering, one of the worst methods of execution, was also used in England. This included partly strangling the victim and then disemboweling them while they were still alive, then the body was hacked into 4 pieces (Capital Punishment 601). Although these methods were used in the past, modern executions are usually carried out by different means. Modern executions are usually done by means of electrocution, the gas chamber, or a lethal injection of a drug. In some places, execution by hanging and firing squads is still used (Capital Punishment 600). Crimes in which execution has been used as the punishment has varied greatly over the centuries. During the 7th Century BC in Greece, nearly all crimes were punished by death. Although, the use of capital punishment in modern times has declined remarkably and the death penalty is inflicted for only the most serious of crimes such as murder or treason (Capital Punishment 601). Among countries around the world, nearly all European and Pacific Area states, along with Canada have abolished capital punishment. Most states in Latin America have also abolished the death penalty under most circumstances. The United States, Guatemala, most of the Caribbean and the majority of the democracies in Asia and Africa retain it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/death_penalty).
The purpose of the capital punishment system is to indict the defendants and try them for capital crimes. Then convict the guilty and sentence them to death and allow them to appeal the death sentence with hopes of getting the guilty verdict overturned or either having the death sentence reduced to a prison term. In the event that all of their appeals are unsuccessful, the defendant will be put to death (Fridell 10). This process often takes at least a decade or more to complete. It also involves a great amount of people along the way. Prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, juries, and witnesses all play important rolls in the process. Governors, parole boards, families of the victims and perpetrators, reporters, pollsters, lawmakers, supreme court justices, human rights groups, wardens, prison guards, spiritual advisors, and executioners also play parts in the process (Fridell 11). The capital punishment process begins with indictment, when a prosecutor decides to seek the death penalty in a certain case. The process ends with the prisoner's life being ended by a team of executioners, if it goes that far (Fridell 25).Throughout the process, from the indictment of the perpetrator to the execution, the ideal is to be fair and impartial. The prosecutor, usually a district attorney, is responsible for determining whether a particular crime is serious enough to warrant the death penalty and if the evidence is sufficient enough to convince the jury that the defendant should be sentenced to death. Prosecutors are required to seek the death penalty for only the most horrible murders, only the worst of the worst, so that only a select few actually lead to death penalty trials. These are chosen as the result of a careful process of elimination. According to Bob Wilson, a district attorney of Dekarb County, Georgia, of 250 murder cases he processed during an eleven year period, only fifteen actually resulted in death sentences. When a prosecutor is determining whether a case warrants capital punishment, they rely on a set of death-eligibility guidelines (Fridell 26). These guidelines are usually based on four factors. These factors include actus reus, meus rea, aggravation, and mitigation. These four guidelines include determining whether there is proof beyond a reasonable doubt, intent to cause the death, aggravating factors, and factors such as mental retardation or early childhood abuse. After these factors are considered the prosecutor must decide between seeking the death penalty or a prison sentence (Fridell 27). The task of the defense is to give the perpetrator the best chance possible of being found innocent, or, if that fails, a prison sentence avoiding the death penalty. Every defendant is entitled to a fair and impartial trail, however money plays an important role in determining fairness and impartiality. Most of the people accused of capital crimes are poor and cannot afford a good defense counsel. Some states spend millions of dollars each year to provide experienced teams of lawyers and investigators to defendants in death penalty trails. Other states don't (Fridell 28). The jury members of a capital case have to be U.S. Citizens and they are selected by prosecutors and defense attorneys from a pool of potential jurors. The potential jurors must be death qualified. This means that they must state that they would be willing to call for the death penalty if circumstances warranted it. Anyone who would automatically vote against a death sentence cannot serve in the jury (Fridell 29). Capital cases consist of two phases, a guilt phase and a penalty phase. The guilt phase determines guilt and the penalty phase decides between a death sentence and a prison sentence. The same jury is used in both phases (Fridell 30). In the penalty phase, the jury considers the aggravating factors which would lead to a death sentence, and mitigating factors which would lead to a prison sentence. The judge will then follow their decision (Fridell 31). The appeals phase begins once the death sentence is handed down. In their appeal, the prisoner will claim that there were mistakes made during the trial which lead to an unfair determination of the death sentence (Fridell 32). After all of the appeals have been denied, the prisoner can still be granted clemency. This means that the governor can lower the sentence to life in prison in the name of mercy (Fridell 33). If this fails, the prisoner will then be executed by one of the means previously mentioned.
The next big debate of the death penalty is between the supporters and the opponents of the death penalty. Both sides have strong arguments. Supporters believe that capital punishment is necessary and a just punishment for the worst and most violent crimes. Opponents believe that capital punishment is unnecessary and unjust, and that instead of capital punishment the most violent criminals should be sentenced to a prison sentence of life (Fridell 61). Supporters insist that it is an effective way of deterring violent crime by striking fear into the hearts and minds of potential murderers (Fridell 62). Supporters say that a prison sentence does not guarantee that a criminal will not kill again and that only execution can do that. A life sentence isn't always a life sentence (Fridell 64). Opponents say that the death penalty has lost its power to deter crime due to only a small fraction of prisoners on death row actually being executed in any one year. Supporters disagree and insist that lack of enforcement does not mean lack of effectiveness (Fridell 67). Supporters say that there is strong evidence that capital punishment deters crime. Statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice show a clear correlation between the crime rate and execution rate (Fridell 68).
Opponents of the death penalty insist that capital punishment does not deter crime. They say that the kinds of people who commit murder aren't going to be intimidated by the death penalty. They say that the people who commit capital crimes do not have a conscience and that they do not rationally weigh their options before committing the crime. To these people, the threat of capital punishment is no threat at all (Fridell 71). The death penalty is not necessary according to opponents and a sentence of life without the possibility of parole can do just as much to deter crime as capital punishment (Fridell 72). Opponents also say that the lack of enforcement is another good reason to abolish capital punishment. The death penalty is so rarely enforced that it has lost any power it once had to deter violent crime (Fridell 73). If capital punishment really was a significant deterrent to crime, states with the death penalty should have a lower murder rate than states without the death penalty, opponents say. But this is not the case, states without the death penalty have had consistently lower murder rates (http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org). They also claim that if it was a deterrent to murder, then the nations which have abolished it would see murder rates rise, but this did not happen either (Fridell 75).
In conclusion, I believe that capital punishment is the most effective way to deter and deal with violent criminals and their actions. Statistics have shown that the crime rate and execution rate are correlated. I think this shows that it is in fact effective and it does work.