Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Legal Issues Capital Punishment7 Capital Punishment7 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 America’s 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 man’s 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 applying it to our judicial system. In 1972 the Supreme Court decided that as the laws were written they were unconstitutional; therefore, the death penalty was banned. The states now had the responsibility of rewriting their death penalty laws. Many states have now adopted the policy of a two-part trial where the jury determines guilt or innocence and then determines the sentence based on any and all mitigating factors. One chapter in the book (10 pages) is dedicated to the topic of “The arguments for and against” capital punishment. It sites retribution and deterrence as reasons for and cost, racism and the possibility of executing innocent persons as reasons against. The last chapter focuses on the future of capital punishment. The lengthy process that one convicted and sentenced to death must go through in order to be executed and the continuing debate on the reformation of the appeals process. As I began reading this book I promised myself that I would keep an open mind. Judging by the overview of the book, I looked forward to being challenged; with strong facts for or against capital punishment; testimonials from victims families, those falsely convicted, or those that were about to die, all this in order to help shape my opinion on this heated subject. I got none of these from this author. It was clear after the first chapter that the author was not in favor of capital punishment. The book was mainly four stories about people that had clearly committed murder, but did not want to die themselves. The book was shaped so that the reader was led to believe that no matter what method of capital punishment was used none was “humane” enough to be truly effective. After each chapter, based on what I read, I was drawn to the conclusion that the death penalty was inhumane and flawed. This is mainly because I only received on side of the story. As long as the death penalty exists there will debate on it. If you are looking for something to help form your opinion I would not recommend this book. Bibliography: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT by: Robert V. Wolf Publisher: CHELSEA HOUSE PUBLISHERS, 1997; ISBN #: 0-7910-4311-8 Word Count: 679
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