Essay/Term paper: Capital punishment

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Religion

Capital Punishment


"He who sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for in
the image of God was man created."(Genesis 9:6) "Anyone who by violence causes
a death must be put to death."(Exodus 21:12) "But should any person dare to
kill another with deliberate planning, you will take that person even from my
altar to be put to death."(Exodus 21:14)
Capital Punishment can be described as a the punishment of death for a
very bad or heinous crime like murder. Not all states have got capital
punishment, otherwise known as the "Death Penalty." The states which do not have
this type of punishment are Alaska, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine,
Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West
Virginia, and Wisconsin. The remaining states do have some form of capital
punishment ranging from hanging, firing squad, electrocution, gas chamber, and
lethal injection.
If somebody killed someone they would not automatically get the death
penalty, there are several circumstances that a judge, jury, and prosecutioner
must look at to see how bad the crime was. In some states if you kidnap someone,
and do heinous things to them, you could still be eligible for the death penalty.
Each state which carries a death sentence has got their own requirements that a
person must meet to decide whether they get life in prison, or the sentence of
death. Below is each state which carries a death sentence and the requirements
that a person must meet and be convicted of in order to receive the death
sentence.
In Alabama in order to receive the death penalty you must murder during
a kidnapping, robbery, rape, sodomy, burglary, sexual assault, or arson. Also,
someone would get the death penalty if they murdered a peace officer,
correctional officer, public official, or murder under a life sentence. They're
many more but they are kind of useless to my paper. In the state of Arizona,
the only way you could receive the death penalty was if you committed first
degree murder and had one of ten "aggravating" factors associated with the
murder. In Arkansas you must kill someone with arson, kill a law enforcement
officer on purpose, a teacher or school worker, kill a prison worker, a jail
attendant, correctional worker, or someone who is in the military. Also if you
are a hit man, otherwise known as contract murder. In California you must
commit treason, which are acts to try to overthrow the government, homicide by a
prisoner serving a life term, train wrecking, and lastly perjury causing
execution. For Colorado, it is almost the same as Arkansas but it also includes
referees and judges. In Connecticut "murder of a public safety or correctional
officer, murder for pecuniary gain; murder in the case of a felony; murder by a
defendant with a previous conviction for intentional murder; murder while under
a life sentence; murder during kidnapping; illegal sale of cocaine, methadone,
or heroin to a person who dies from using these drugs; murder during first-
degree sexual assault; multiple murders; the defendant committed the offense(s)
with an assault weapon."(AOL1) For the state of Delaware murder with
aggravating circumstances, "including murder of a child victim fourteen years of
age or younger by an individual who was atleast four years older than the
victim,"(AOL1) and the same like killing police officers or other peace people.
In Florida you must "commit felony murder; first-degree murder; sexual battery
on a child under age twelve; destructive devices which result in death, and
capital drug trafficking."(AOL1) In Georgia its about the same with the
exception of hijacking an airplane when someone dies. For the state of
Illinois, if you commit first degree murder with atleast only one of fourteen
aggravating circumstances, you will be sentenced to death. It seems hardest to
get the death penalty in Indiana because you must murder someone and include all
fourteen aggravating circumstances. Kansas is roughly the same as in Colorado
but if you killed two people in the same incident you will most likely get the
death penalty also. In Kentucky, you could possibly get the death penalty
without even killing someone if you kidnap someone and there is an aggravating
factor, also if you murder with only one aggravating factor. In Louisiana, all
you have to do is murder someone or commit treason. In Maryland, "commit first
degree murder, either premeditated or during the commission of a felony."(AOL1)
Mississippi's death penalty is exactly like this: "capital murder includes
murder of a police officer or correctional guard, murder under life sentence,
murder by bomb or explosive, contract murder murder committed during specific
felonies which include (rape, burglary, unnatural intercourse with a child, and
nonconsentual unnatural intercourse); and murder of an elected official. Capital
rape in Mississippi is defined as forcible rape of a child under fourteen years
of age by a person eighteen or older."(AOL1) Missouri just says that you must
commit first degree murder. In Montana you must kill someone on purpose, kidnap
a person and they die or someone trying to help them dies, try to break someone
out of prison who has killed someone already. For Nebraska, just kill someone
on purpose. In Nevada you have to kill someone with atleast nine aggravating
factors. New Hampshire is about the same as Colorado. In New Jersey, if you
kill someone or know someone is going to be killed, also contract murder. In
New Mexico, kill someone or commit murder with felony circumstances. For North
Carolina, just commit first degree felony murder. Ohio states "aggravated
murder, including assassination; contract murder; murder during escape; murder
while in a correctional facility; murder after conviction for a prior purposeful
killing or prior attempted murder; murder of a peace officer; murder arising
from specific felonies(rape, kidnapping, arson, robbery, burglary); murder of a
witness to prevent testimony in a criminal proceeding or in retaliation."(AOL1)
Oklahoma is the same except it adds that murder when the victim is a child who
has been maimed, tortured, or injured. Oregon says that all you have to do is
commit aggravated murder. In Pennsylvania and South Carolina just commit murder
and have an aggravating circumstance. In South Dakota, you would get the death
penalty if you committed first degree murder or kidnapped someone and did
permanent physical injury to them. In Tennessee you would get the death
sentence if you killed someone while you were committing a felony. Texas which
executes the most people has a whole list of offenses which someone could get
the death penalty for they are "murder of a public safety officer, fireman, or
correctional employee; murder during the commission of specified felonies like
kidnapping, burglary, robbery, aggravated rape, or arson; murder for
remuneration [means gain], multiple murders, murder during prison escape, murder
by a Stateprison inmate who is serving a life sentence for any of five offenses;
murder of an individual under six years of age."(AOL1) In Utah, if you
committed murder or you were a prisoner and committed aggravated assault while
under a life sentence. Virginia has got capital punishment for crimes like
murdering someone while involved in felonies like abduction, armed robbery, rape,
and forcible sodomy, also for contract murder, murder of a cop or killing
someone under twelve years of age. In Washington you get the death penalty if
you commit premeditated murder. In Wyoming you get the punishment of death if
you commit "premeditated murder; felony murder in the perpetration [attempts] of
sexual assaults, arson, robbery, burglary escape, resisting arrest, kidnapping,
or abuse of a child under sixteen years of age."(AOL1)
There are many different forms of capital punishment used today
throughout the United States, they are hanging, firing squad, electrocution, gas
chamber, and a lethal injection. When someone is hanged today they are killed
execution style by strangling or snapping the neck by a suspended noose. When
someone is executed in front of a firing squad, they are put attached to a pole
in the ground and expert shooters shoot at him and aim to explode his heart.
When someone is sentenced to die in the electric chair, they have to wear a
leather mask to cover their face not because they aren't to see what is going to
happen to them but to keep their eyeballs from popping across the room. When
someone is electrocuted their body temperature reaches one hundred thirty eight
degrees farenheight.(AOL2) When someone is electrocuted they will experience a
heaping chest, foaming mouth, bloody sweat, burning skin and hair, and their
eyeballs pop out of their face.(AOL2) At first the electric chair was used as
an alternative to hanging. The way of executing someone through lethal
injection is when a doctor comes in and mixes a solution which poisons the body
and makes all the person's organs fail. It is described by inmates as the
"ultimate high."(AOL2) In the gas chamber, a prisoner is put in a type of room
where the fumes can't escape and a lethal gas is released into the air and the
person who is strapped in a chair is killed eventually by the fumes. Its kind
of like how the Nazis gassed the Jews, but the Jews didn't do anything to
deserve the punishment.
Each state which has got a form or forms of capital punishment has their
own way of executing someone. Lethal injection is used today in Arizona,
Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana,
Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New
Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota,
Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.(AOL1) Hanging is used in Delaware,
Montana, New Hampshire, and Washington.(AOL1) Electrocution is used in Alabama,
Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Nebraska, Ohio,
South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.(AOL1) The gas chamber is used in
states like Arizona, California, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina,
and Wyoming.(AOL1) Utah is the only state which uses a firing squad.(AOL1)