Death_Penalty

Death Penalty The death penalty, also known as capital punishment, is the killing of a person by judicial process as a punishment for an offense. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. For generations the death penalty has been around. Of course over the years, it has gotten more ‘sophisticated” in certain countries, but they all root back to the same thing; death for a crime. The name capital punishment is actually rooted back to the latin term capitalis, literally "regarding the head". Which can prove that one version of punishment was decapitation. The death penalty has been practiced in almost every society around the world. Yet currently in only 58 nations, is it actively practiced, About 95 countries have prohibited the use of the death penalty, while others still allow it yet only use it during certain circumstances. Before watching the movie(s) in class regarding death penalty, I always had mixed feelings of it. One side of me believes an “eye for an eye”. If you kill or completely torment a person I care for, I’m going to want you dead. I would want the person that committed the crime to be vanished from the world. At the same time I would want them to rot in jail and suffer for the rest of their life. Yet, housing an inmate cost tax payers lots of money. Since it does cost a lot of money to house a criminal, it goes back to why I would not mind the death penalty; saves me future money. Now here come my contradicting feelings. Killing a person for a crime is not really setting any example, but rather going to the same level as the criminal. By killing the person who did you/your loved one wrong, all you’re doing is getting revenge. You are not getting that person back or taking back the action the criminal has committed. All it is is a selfish satisfaction. A solution that makes one feel good temporarily, but if you think of it the pain will forever remain. In the movie True Crime, an innocent man was on death row for six years for the murder of a young pregnant woman. In the film the “criminal”, Frank, was going to be killed in only a few hours. The family of the pregnant woman who was killed could not wait till he was killed. As I watched I realized even though the family will have the murder killed, it does not technically justify anything. Typically the crime for a death penalty is the action of killing. When you kill someone, it is permanent. It does not matter if they killed Frank, it will not bring back their beloved Amy, thus making the death penalty pointless. Although I feel that way, I also think the death penalty is acceptable. We’re all human, and when someone messes with something that is yours, you do not back down. You will do what it takes till that other person sees what they’ve done. If they kill your loved ones of course your thoughts will be for them to suffer like your loved one did. Plus, housing inmates for years and years, is crazy expensive. All that money that use to house an inmate can go to something actually worth it. The people, who committed a crime such as death, got themselves into the situation. If they die, so be it. Not many people are going to care to keep a person they do not know alive, and have to pay for them to stay where they are. One nation that actually follows capital punishment strongly is China. China also is very quick when it comes to their death penalty procedure. Unlike the USA, which take years till the person is actually killed; China wastes no time with killing a criminal. At first the law was death sentence with 2 years probation. The people thought the sentence was too light so the government changed it to a quicker death. Yet if the criminal is under the age of 18 at the time of the crime, they cannot be subjected to a death sentence. When someone is put on death row, the way they are killed is either by being shot or injected. The judicial personnel directing the execution will check the identity of the criminal, ask him if he has any last words or letters, and then take the criminal to the executioner for the death sentence. If, before the execution, it is found that there may be an error, the execution will be suspended and the case will be reported to the Supreme People's Court for decision. When an execution is taking place it is announced to the public, but not for the public eye. The courts that cause the death sentence write out reports and notify the family of the criminal. Another interesting fact with Chinas death sentence policies is, foreigners are not exempted from it. Yet they are rare. Usually the foreigners china has executed were involved in smuggling drugs and the most recent was a European that planned to assassinate some of the high ranked communist officials in China. Some of the crimes that are punishable by death in China are as they are in any other and some of which are not punishable in any other county. Some acts are theft of cultural relics and the killing of pandas. Corruption, robbery, and smuggling gold, silver or other precious metals are also amongst the almost 70 crimes that are eligible for the death penalty in China. The death penalty is an issue that raises many opinions. It is one of the world’s oldest forms of dealing with a crime and probably will forever remain in parts of the world. I believe it is somewhat necessary, yet sometimes holds no purpose morally.