The introduction into this book is well written and promises to take you on an intellectual and levelheaded historical account of Capital Punishment throughout American history. It delves into the possible reasons that our society is both fearful and fascinated with the subject of the death penalty and as the overview states the reader can decide for himself or herself whether the death penalty should have a continuing place in Americas criminal justice system.The book begins with a dilemma based on a case where a man committed murder in two states, one that has the death penalty (Oklahoma) and one that does not (New York). He is convicted in both states, but which one should get to carry out the sentence, the one that prosecuted him first, New York. Eventually he was turned over to Oklahoma, because the incoming governor of New York also believed in the death penalty. He was executed at 11:45 p.m. on March 19, 1995.The next few chapters go into the history of capital punishment beginning with what modern man would consider barbaric means of executing those guilty of crimes against society or the ruling body. Examples are having a mans head stepped on by an elephant, dipping people into vats of boiling oil, or quartering a human body. As we became more civilized we resorted to such acts as hanging, using a firing squad, the electric chair, the gas chamber and finally lethal injection. The latter two are still in use today with lethal injection being the most humane. As long as there has been the death penalty there have been abolitionists. The man credited with starting the movement was Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence; he felt that there should be reform not retribution. Cruel and unusual punishment are words from the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution. Those four words have caused many debates since their enactment. The Supreme Court has the responsibility of interpreting their meaning and appl...
