|
|
When turning on the television to watch the daily news more than likely you will be bombarded with reports of brutal murders and other vicious acts committed. It is a rarity to view the news without hearing of such inhumane actions. Murder, rape, robbery, and other violent crimes have now been implemented into our society and the rate of crime is rapidly increasing. Since the first European settlers arrived in America, the death penalty has been accepted as just punishment for various offenses. The English Penal Code, which applied to the British colonies, listed fourteen capital offenses, but actual practice varied from colony to colony. In the Massachusetts Bay Colony, thirteen crimes warranted the death penalty: idolatry, witchcraft, blasphemy, rape, statutory rape, kidnapping, perjury in a trial involving a possible death sentence, rebellion, murder, assault in sudden anger, adultery, and sodomy. So how should the perpetrators of these violent crimes be punished? Some people may suggest incarceration, parole, or the death penalty. The death penalty raises many issues of morality, taxpayer’s funds, and other issues. In eighteenth-century England, some two hundred crimes were punishable by death including pick pocketing and petty theft. The excesses of executions from the eighteenth century and the first European settlers in America have been greatly reduced and reserved for more heinous offenses such as murder. The earliest recorded lawful execution in the United States was in 1622 for the crime of theft committed by Daniel Frank, colony of Virginia. There have been over 20,000 people lawfully put to death in the United States and is still on the rise. Death row can obtain over 900 persons in thirty states at a time, which raises the issue of the taxpayer’s money. The cost to execute a prisoner comes out of the taxpayer’s pockets and raises many arguments. Many people mistakenly believe that it is less costly to execute a murderer than to keep him in prison for life. Although at one time capital punishment was inexpensive, we are no longer able to walk the condemned prisoner s to their awaiting gallows. There are many costs to be considered including the financial expenses and the wear and tear on our courts and prisons. The trial process is more time consuming and more expensive in a capital punishment case. Ordinarily criminal cases, including murder cases, are resolved by guilty pleas and without the expense of a trial, eighty-five or ninety percent are determined that way. Unlike criminal cases, all capital cases require jury trials, which are longer, more complex, and more expensive than those in other cases, including other murder cases. Navell states, “Concern about costs seems petty when issues affecting life or death are at stake .
|
