There has been many controversies in the history of the United States, ranging from abortion to gun control, but capital punishment has been one of the most hotly contested issues in recent decades. Capital punishment is the legal infliction of the deathpenalty on persons convicted of a crime (Cox). It is not intended to inflict any physicalpain or any torture; it is only another form of punishment. It is irrevocable because itremoves those punished from society permanently, instead of temporarily imprisoningthem. The usual alternative to the death penalty is life-long imprisonment. Capital punishment is a method of retributive punishment as old as civilizationitself. The death penalty has been imposed throughout history for many crimes, rangingfrom blasphemy and treason to petty theft and murder. Many ancient societies acceptedthe idea that certain crimes deserved capital punishment. Ancient Roman and Mosaic lawendorsed 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 varietyof crimes. The most famous people to be executed are Socrates and Jesus. Only inEngland, during the reigns of King Canute (1016-1035) and William the Conqueror(1066-1087) was the death penalty not used, although the results of interrogation andtorture were often fatal (Kronenwetter 12). Later, Britain reinstated the death penalty andbrought it to its American colonies. Although the death was widely accepted throughoutthe early United States, not everyone approved of it. In the late-eighteen century,opposition to the death penalty gathered enough strength to lead to important restrictionson the use of the death penalty in several northern states, while in the United States,Michigan, Wisconsin, and Rhode Island abandoned the practice altogether (Kronenwetter15). In 1794, Pennsylvania adopted a law to distinguish the degrees of murder and onlyused the death...
