Should the Death Penalty Be Abolished?

Abstract
The long lasting debate about the death penalty may be an issue that is never truly decided. The death penalty laws have been established as far back as the eighteenth century B.C. in the Code of King Hammurabi in Babylon. (Intro to the death penalty) As the population in the United States continues to grow, we as a society must decide what to do with the growth of career criminals. We must decide as a society if we are any better for taking a life or abolishing the death penalty and come up with a better plan for the future.

Abolishing the Death Penalty

The death penalty has outlived its stay here in the United States. Although the death penalty, has been around since 1800 B.C. We are now far more civilized than those who felt that death was the best punishment are. Our country was greatly influenced by Britain in the fact that when they settled here in the United States, they brought the "practice of capital punishment with them." (Intro to death penalty laws) Although it should be kept in mind, that many of these laws regarding the death penalty at that time in history were based upon religious beliefs. For instance if you did not believe in the "true god" you could be put to death. (Randa, 1997)

As time has progressed into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, people took a step back to look at the use of the death penalty. Is it being misused was the main concern. In the 1960's people began seeing the death penalty as "cruel and unusual punishment." In the case of Trop v. Dulles (356 U.S. 86), it was decided that this case was important, because it marked a "standard of decency". This marked the progress of a maturing society. (Intro to death penalty laws) It was also noted that because of this new standard of decency in its relation to the eighth amendment, we should "no longer tolerate the death penalty". (Bohm, 1999)