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Capital punishment:
All viewpoints on the death penalty

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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 North America. 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.

In North America, as of 2012-APR-26:

• 16 states and Canada have abolished the death penalty.
  
  
• The Connecticut legislature has voted to abolish the death penalty except for the 11 inmates currently on death row. The bill is expected to become law.
  
  
• Californian adults will vote in a citizen initiative on election day in 2012-NOV whether to replace the death penalty with life imprisonment without any possibility of parole.

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.

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
    
    
  • The execution of Saddam Hussein
    
    
  • 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
    
    
• 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.
    
    
• 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:
  • 1997,  1998, 1999,
    
    
  • 2000,  2001,  2002,
    
    
  • 2003,  2004,  2005,
    
    
  • 2006,  2007,  2008,
    
    
  • 2009 to 2012  2012-NOV'
    
    
• Death penalty websites, essays, and books, promoting all viewpoints
  

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

If you see a generic Amazon display below, please click on your browser's refresh button.

As of 2010-DEC, Amnesty International is selling an innovative T-shirt. It shows the U.S. states that still have the death penalty as red stars and those that don't as white stars. 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/

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

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

The 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 buy some red paint.

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Copyright © 1995 to 2012 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally published: 1995-JUN-8
Last updated 2012-APR-26
Author: Bruce A Robinson

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