Capital Punishment
   Capital Punishment, legal infliction of death as a penalty for
   the stake, impaling, and beheading. Today capital punishment is
   The death penalty is the most controversial penal practice in the
   nations of the world are split on the issue of capital punishment.
   About 80 nations have abolished the death penalty and an almost equal
   and a majority of U.S. states provide for the death penalty, and from
   II. The Death Penalty Debate
   The practice of capital punishment is as old as government itself. For
   unjust, including capital punishment. The controversy and debate over
   whether governments should utilize the death penalty continue today.
   The first significant movement to abolish the death penalty began
   campaign against capital punishment. Other individuals who campaigned
   Critics of capital punishment contend that it is brutal and degrading,
   for terrible crimes. Those who advocate the death penalty assert that
   advocates and opponents of the death penalty dispute the proper
   Opponents of capital punishment see the death penalty as a human rights
   capital punishment as an issue of criminal justice policy. Because of
   not only about what is the right answer on capital punishment, but
   about what type of question is being asked when the death penalty
   Early opponents of capital punishment objected to its brutality.
   capital punishment was not reserved solely for the most serious crimes.
   not gratuitous. Second, death penalty supporters sought to remove some
   modern opponents of capital punishment contend that sterilized and
   opponents of the death penalty have found very little common ground.
   Opponents of capital punishment assert that it is degrading to the
   to abolish the death penalty have stressed the significance of
   However, supporters of capital punishment see nothing wrong with
   Early opponents of capital punishment also argued that inflicting death
   Supporters of capital punishment countered that the ultimate penalty of
   penalty supporters contended that capital punishment self-evidently
   Supporters and opponents of capital punishment still debate its
   capital punishment. They have also compared homicide rates in places
   with and without the death penalty. The great majority of these
   capital punishment or executions does not visibly influence the rate of
   Opponents of capital punishment maintain that these studies refute the
   argument that the death penalty deters crime. Many capital punishment
   part of the debate. However, supporters of the death penalty dispute
   Capital punishment advocates note that because the death penalty is
   capital punishment on such crimes may not be apparent in data on
   death penalty cannot not be proven or disproven with any certainty.
   A unique facet of the modern debate about capital punishment is the
   characterization of the death penalty as a human rights issue, rather
   opposition to the death penalty is seen as a reaction to the political
   punishment. The postwar movement to end capital punishment, beginning
   The human rights focus on the death penalty has continued, especially
   democratic have been eager to abolish the death penalty, which they
   a number of former Communist nations abolished capital punishment
   Africa formed in 1994 quickly outlawed a death penalty many associated
   For most of recorded history, capital punishment was available to every
   A. Early Efforts Against the Death Penalty
   including Turkey and Japan, the death penalty remains legal but the
   Although many jurisdictions limited imposition of the death penalty, no
   government had formally abolished capital punishment until Michigan did
   of the death penalty in Western Europe. Some of the nations involved in
   the war saw abolition of capital punishment as a way to disassociate
   abolished the death penalty in 1947 and the Federal Republic of Germany
   study capital punishment in 1950 and abolished the death penalty in
   1965. (Northern Ireland did not abolish capital punishment until 1973.)
   affiliated with the British Empire, eliminated capital punishment. For
   death penalty in 1976. New Zealand held its last execution in 1957 and
   outlawed capital punishment between 1987 and 1990. Throughout the
   former Communist countries, abolition of the death penalty was a
   policy-making. Eliminating the death penalty was one of many ways the
   were almost evenly divided with respect to capital punishment. As of
   crimes. Another 13 countries authorized capital punishment only for
   In 2000, 87 nations authorized the death penalty for some crimes.
   Typically, capital punishment is reserved for individuals who commit
   However, some governments authorize capital punishment for nonviolent
   Although the number of nations with and without capital punishment is
   capital punishment, nor do most countries in South America. Asian
   countries and Islamic nations tend to practice capital punishment. The
   majority of countries in Africa also authorize the death penalty.
   In general, industrial democracies have abolished the death penalty,
   and Japan, retain the death penalty. A number of newly industrialized
   Asian nations, such as South Korea, also practice capital punishment.
   The worldwide trend toward abolition of capital punishment will likely
   death penalty have shown no tendency to reverse this policy, and
   capital punishment. Only major political instability could be expected
   nations that have retained capital punishment, pressure to reduce or
   eliminate the death penalty appears to be increasing. China and the
   IV. Capital Punishment in the United States
   Many public opinion polls indicate that capital punishment enjoys
   whether a high level of support actually exists for the death penalty.
   They note that public-approval ratings of capital punishment as a
   of government (see  Federalism). Federal law provides the death penalty
   of the federal government. Capital punishment in the United States,
   penalties. This basic arrangement holds for the death penalty as well.
   Both law and practice regarding the death penalty vary widely in the 50
   states. Twelve states do not have a death penalty. The most serious
   states also authorize capital punishment for the nonlethal offenses of
   B. Capital Punishment and the Constitution
   a minor role in setting policy toward the death penalty. The majority
   of states provided capital punishment and executions were common until
   the late 1950s. Some states abolished capital punishment at their own
   states had no death penalty, and the number of executions in those
   states that retained capital punishment laws had drifted downward from
   By the mid-1960s, a growing debate over abolition of capital punishment
   the death penalty initiated a series of lawsuits contending that the
   death penalty as administered in the United States violated several
   state death penalty statute, because all of the states that retained
   capital punishment in 1972 used a standardless system, in which the
   Following the Furman decision, states quickly passed new death penalty
   restricted the types of murder for which the death penalty could be
   systems of guided discretion in death penalty cases. The first
   The current U.S. system of capital punishment differs from that of the
   obeyed in death penalty cases. For example, the Supreme Court has ruled
   Court rejected an attempt to impose the death penalty on an individual
   result in a death are eligible for the death penalty. Contemporary laws
   that authorize capital punishment for individuals who commit offenses
   Since reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, more than 600
   allowed capital punishment in 1999, only 29 had actually conducted an
   Between reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976 and the end of 1998,
   years exists between a state death penalty and an actual execution. The
   capital punishment. In recent years the Congress of the United States
   federal courts to hear appeals in death penalty cases. Critics of this
   utilize capital punishment to refrain from conducting executions until
   death penalty cases are administered fairly and impartially. One of the
   but increases the likelihood of significant error. For death penalty
   Critics of capital punishment in the United States object to perceived
   Those who believe the states administer the death penalty in a racially
   Americans on death row. Critics of the application of the death penalty
   imposed for murders of whites. Supporters of capital punishment
   Legal challenges to imposition of the death penalty based on
   to Gun Control, Capital Punishment and the American Agenda and other
   "Capital Punishment," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2000