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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. Of course, most dictatorships and theocracies in the world retain the death penalty as a terror weapon.

In North America, as of 2013-MAY-03:

• 17 states and the country of Canada have abolished the death penalty.
  
  
• The Connecticut legislature voted to abolish the death penalty except for the 11 inmates currently on death row. The bill was signed into law during 2012-APR. This became the fifth state in five years to abolish executions.
  
  
• On 2013-MAY-02. Maryland became the 19th state and the first state south of the Mason-Dixon line to abolish the death penalty. The law goes into effect on OCT-01.
  
  
• 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
    
    
  • 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:
  • 1997,  1998, 1999,
    
    
  • 2000,  2001,  2002,
    
    
  • 2003,  2004,  2005,
    
    
  • 2006,  2007,  2008,
    
    
  • 2009 to early 2012  Late 2012 to 2013
    
    
• Death penalty websites, essays, and books, promoting all viewpoints
  

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

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An innovative T-shirt:

As of 2010-DEC, Amnesty International is selling a T-shirt showing 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.
• Most Americans favor life sentences without any possibility of parole, instead of execution.
• Whether you are executed or not depends a lot on how much money you have to spend in your defense, and your skin color.
• Stopping the death penalty:
  • Is a pro-life position.
  • 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 buy some red paint. It might also help to eliminate the word "Abolish."

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Copyright © 1995 to 2013 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally published: 1995-JUN-8
Last updated 2013-MAY-03
Author: Bruce A Robinson

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