Capital Punishment Should Be Illegal - 1536 Words

Capital punishment is the planned taking of a legally convicted persons life. Convicted persons are put to death under certain guidelines; such as age, and the crime that was committed. Certain laws such as the â€Å"Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996† (Supreme Court Rulings), â€Å"New Terrorism Crimes and Penalties† (Death Penalty Statutes), and Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (Death Penalty Laws) ensure that only those who are convicted of either acts of terror, homicides, and other life endangering crimes are put to death. These laws and newer technologies reduce the fear that many opponents of the death penalty have, that being false conviction. Contrary to that fear, the chance of false conviction are few to none. Despite this,†¦show more content†¦However the crimes which were punishable by death during the 10th century, would be considered now as petty crimes. The ways of early Britain would directly influence the blossoming nation of the United States of America, as the death penalty would become widely accepted and used throughout colonial American society and beyond (History). Prior to the civil war there was more opposition towards the death penalty, but attention focused towards the anti-slavery movement when the war began in 1861. In 1865 when the Civil War ended new technologies began to develop which introduced radical changes to death penalty execution styles and methods. One of which was the electric chair, invented by two scientists, and students of Thomas Edison; Harold P. Brown and Arthur Kennelly (From the Statements). The chair would produce different measures of voltages, which would first stop brain activity, rendering the person unconscious before proceeding volts caused organ failure to ensure death. Over the years, new methods for capital punishment were introduced in the early 1900’s including the use of cyanide gas in 1924, as the state of Nevada sought a more humane way of executing its inmates (History). The fallacy that the death penalty is a vehicle for revenge is quite common and there has been much opposition to it in the United States recently, siding with the ideas of early Americans in the Antebellum period prior to the