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Capital punishment:
All viewpoints on the death penalty.

Execution methods, ancient and modern

           

Cross, rifle, hangman's noose, electric chair, and lethal injection table.

The end result for each method is the same for all victims: death. But the
techniqes vary greatly in terms of pain and speed.

About this section:

This section of our website deals with the execution of criminals found guilty of having committed very serious crimes.

This used to be a universal practice in the world and used against individals who have committed serious crimes. However, in recent decades, almost all democracies in the world have abandoned the death penalty. The U.S., Japan, and South Korea are the only exceptions. Of course, many dictatorships and theocracies in the world retain the death penalty as a terror weapon against their own people. Some countries execute people because they are Atheists, gay, or even abandon the state religion in favor of another faith or no organized religion at all.

In North America, as of 2015-MAY-29:

• 20 states in the U.S. and the entire country of Canada have abolished the death penalty.
  
  
• The most recent state was New Hamphsire when its House and Senate voted to override the veto by Governor Chris Sununu (R). The last individual executed on its death row was in 1939 -- 80 years ago.
  
  
• During 2015, the Legislature in Nebraska has voted to abolish the death penalty. Governor Pet Ricketts (R) has vetoed the bill. However, the Legislature overode the veto by a vote of 30 to 19. 30 votes was the minimum required to successfully override a veto. Surprisingly, there was considerable support from conservative lawgivers who objected to the expensive and bureaucratic process needed to execute people, and who felt that ending people's lives is not a proper function of government. Some legislators may have extended their pro-life beliefs concerning abortion access to also reject the concept of the state killing people.
  
  
• Previous to Nebraska's ban, Connecticut and Maryland were the most recent states to eliminate executions. Maryland is the only state south of the Mason-Dixon line to have done so. However, Connecticut's law only relates to people who commit very serious crimes in the future. There are still 11 inmates who were convicted of serious crimes in the past, are on death row, and who may be executed in the future.
  
  
• Californian adults voted in Proposition 34 -- a citizen initiative -- on election day in early 2012-NOV. Voters were able to choose between two options: to preserve capital punishment or to replace it with life imprisonment without any possibility of parole. The final vote was 52.8% in favor of the more expensive option -- retaining the death penalty -- and 47.2% for ending executions. If it had passed, it would have saved the state about $100 million a year.

Like other topics elsewhere in this website, we try to explain objectively all viewpoints. Thus, no matter what your beliefs are, you will certainly see material with which you strongly disagree and other material with which you will agree. If you don't want to see your beliefs challenged you might want to leave this web site, and stick with other information sources that are biased either in a liberal or conservative direction and which matche your own views.

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Topics covered in this section are:

• Introduction:
  • Selected quotations. Overview
    
    
• Facts about the death penalty:
  • Part 1: Death penalty data;
    
    
  • Part 2: Methods. Grounds for execution. Trends in the U.S.
    
    
  • Part 3: Racial bias,
    
    
  • Part 4: Executing the mentally ill. International abolition drives.
    
    
  • Part 5: Executing child criminals: Overview, Countries that execute; the Bible; Opposition.
    
    
  • Part 6: Executing child criminals (Cont'd): Status, Court decisions, Opinion polls.
    
    
  • Executing innocent people
    
    
  • World and U.S. maps showing status of death penalty; countries that have abandoned the death penalty
    
    
  • Executing Saddam Hussein
    
    
  • A brief descriptions of execution methods. Problems with execution by lethal injection
    
    
  • Does execution by lethal injection violate the U.S. Constitution?
    
    
• Status and developments of the death penalty in the U.S.
  • U.S. execution data for the year 2002
    
    
  • Abolition of the death penalty by New Jersey, 2007-DEC: Part 1  Part 2
    
    
• Widening the range of the death penalty beyond murder:
  • Quotes, existing grounds, child molestation and rape
    
    
  • Motivation; executing innocent adults; Louisiana case before the Supreme Court
    
    
• Arguments for and against the death penalty
  • Reasons people give for and against the death penalty
    
    
  • Opposing views on the death penalty. Invalid biblical analysis techniques
    
    
  • Does the death penalty act as a deterrent to homicide?
    
    
  • Public support for, opposition to, and alternatives to the death penalty. State moratoriums
    
    
  • A public debate on the death penalty. Further moral and ethical considerations
    
    
• Religious factors:
  • What the Bible says about the death penalty
    
    • The first recorded murder. The rest of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament)
      
      
    • Specific capital crimes in the Hebrew Scriptures
      
      
      • More capital crimes in the Hebrew Scriptures
        
        
    • Specific capital crimes in the Christian Scriptures (New Testament)
      
      
  • Policies by various religious groups:
    • The early Christian movement
      
      
    • Policies of present-day faith groups
      
      
• Alternatives to the death penalty; church statements; polling data:
  • Part 1: 1989 to 1997.
    
    
  • Part 2: 1997 to 2010.
    
    
• Extraditing accused murderers to the U.S.
  
  
• Current news items: Links on the death penalty to IPS news and the Death Penalty Information Center.
  
  
• Past developments:
  • During 1997,  1998, 1999,
    
    
  • 2000,  2001,  2002,
    
    
  • 2003,  2004,  2005,
    
    
  • 2006,  2007,  2008,
    
    
  • 2009 to early 2012  Late 2012 to the end of 2013 
    
    
  • 2014  
    
    
  • 2015 in the U.S. and rest of the world: Part 1   Part 2  Part 3
    
    
  • 2016: Part 1  Part 2
    
    
  • 2017: Arkansas plans a mass execution of eight inmates on death row: Part 1  Part 2  Part 3
    
    
  • 2018
    
    
  • 2019 to 2021
    
    
• Death penalty websites, essays, and books, promoting different viewpoints
  

You can safely buy the following books about the death penalty from Amazon.com's online bookstore

An innovative T-shirt:

As of 2015-MAY, Amnesty International sells a remarkable unisex T-shirt that shows the U.S. states that still have the death penalty as red stars and those that don't as white stars. The star representing Texas appears to have trailing blood smear, apparently because of the enormous number of executions per capita in that state. The caption says "Abolish the Death Penalty." Amnesty International is working to ensure that more red stars will flip to white. They enclose a stencil with some fabric paint so that you can change red stars to white as additional states abolish capital punishment. See: http://shop.amnestyusa.org/  Amazon.com offers free shipping for Amazon Prime members.

Because this shirt will likely be a conversation-starter, AI has supplied three arguments against the death penalty:

• Two wrongs don't make a right.
• The death penalty system is too flawed to be fixed, and risks innocent lives.
• There are more constructive ways to address violent crime!

To which we would like to add: (Bias alert)

• It is more expensive to execute someone than to keep them in jail for life.
• If asked, most Americans will say that they favor life sentences without any possibility of parole, instead of execution.
• Whether you are executed or not depends greatly on how much money you have to spend in your defense, and your skin color.
• Stopping the death penalty:
  • Is a pro-life position.
  • Is aligned with the Golden Rule, which is for people to do onto others as they would wish others to do onto them in return. Christ commanded that his followers obey the Golden Rule.
  • Keeps more prison guards employed.
  • Helps create a culture in which human personhood is so highly valued that not even the state is allowed to kill people.

One great thing about this T-shirt is that you can proudly wear it if you are a supporter of the death penalty. All you have to do is to erase the word "Abolish."

Other T-shirts, both for and against the death penalty are available on the Cafe Press web site at: http://www.cafepress.com/ They also sell bumper stickers, cups, wall clocks, tote bags, hats, mugs, and buttons