As such, it is unlikely to change in light of knowledge or information about the death penalty and its administration" (Vollum & Buffington-Vollum, p. 30). Furthermore, "those who scored higher on value-expressive attitudes were less accepting of information critical of the death penalty and, in turn, less likely to change their views in light of the information presented." Thus, the widespread support of the death penalty in the face of ample evidence suggesting both its functional inefficacy and unjust application is explained by the fact that much support for the death penalty is shaped by values and beliefs wholly separate from evidence or data, and as such those beliefs are largely immutable in the face of such evidence.
Thus far the death penalty has only been considered in general as it relates to people's support for it. As has been shown, not only does the death penalty lack any kind…...

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Works Cited

Choe, J. (2010). Another look at the deterrent effect of death penalty. Journal of Advanced

Research in Law and Economics, 1(1), 12-15.

Miller, MK, & Miller, DR. (2008). Religious characteristics and the death penalty. Law and Human Behavior, 32(2), 113-23.

Lynch, M, & Haney, C. (2004). Discrimination and instructional comprehension: guided discretion, racial bias, and the death penalty. Law and Human Behavior, 24(3), 337-351.

Death Penalty is the most severe forms of punishment that can be accorded to a criminal who has committed a crime and deserves to be punished. The brief history of death penalty shows that this is nothing new, because it was something that was practiced right from the eighteenth century BC, in Babylon, and thereafter in Athens, and in ome, and in Great Britain. The death penalty methods of punishments were actually brought in from Great Britain to the United States of America, and there were any number of methods of execution, like for example guillotine, burning at a stake, or impalement. There are many numbers of people who either support death penalty or are against it, and there are quite a few arguments in support of both. However, what one decides ultimately rests on the individual and his cultural background and his religious and moral ethics, but the death…...

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References

Appeals. 5 October, 2001. Retrieved From

  Accessed on 24 March, 2005http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/Appeals.htm 

Capital Punishment, Three good reasons for supporting the death penalty. Retrieved From

  Accessed on 24 March, 2005http://www.biblebelievers.com/jmelton/punish.html 

Death Penalty Is Fair
The Death Penalty Is a Fair Punishment for Murder

Arguements have been raised concerning death penalty for a long time now. A lot of people consider death penalty as an immoral, or an unreasonable punishment. (Messerli, 2007) Despite the fact that the death sentences were a constant element of society in the past, which actually initiated from lynching and ended in the modern capital punishment and is still applicable in some states the topic of death penalty is one amongst the most fretfully discussed topics in public. The topic of Capital punishment accompanies several legal, communal and ethical concerns. (Lifton and Mitchell, 2007)

Lots of people are against death penalty. They argue that it is against humanity and immoral and is there any a crime (or series of crimes) so terrible the offender deserves to depart his life? 33 states in America say yes, rest of them answer no.…...

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References

Lifton, R, J., and Mitchell, G., (2002) Who Owns Death? Capital Punishment, the American Conscience, and the End of Executions, Harper Perennial, 200- 250.

Mandery, E, J., (2011) Capital Punishment: A Balanced Examination, Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2 edition, 550- 578.

McCord, D., and Latzer, B., (2010) Death Penalty Cases, Leading U.S. Supreme Court Cases on Capital Punishment, Butterworth-Heinemann; 3 edition, 400- 410.

Messerli, J., (2007) "Should The Death Penalty Be Banned as a Form of Punishment " Balanced Politics . 1.

Death Penalty
All indications are that capital offenses are on the rise and the response to this phenomenon has been a cry to impose capital punishment as retribution. Certainly the issue is one of the most hotly debated in the world today; both for consideration of its humaneness as well as efficacy as a deterrent. For the purposes of this assignment we will examine the issue from both sides with the intent of persuading the reader of the necessity of the death penalty.

The United States legal system currently allows for executions; although not all states practice capital punishment. It is a charged moral issue that regularly invokes heated debates both for and against the death penalty. Since the inception of executions, ethicists have used religion, emotion and practicality as the basis for their arguments. Since 1976 when capital punishment was reinstated in the United States one of the reigning views is…...

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References

Blecker, R., Kirchmeier, J., Erlbaum, W., Drehle, D.V. And Fagan, J. (2003). Rethinking the Death Penalty: Can We Define Who Deserves Death? - 24 Pace Law Review 107.

Gross, S.R. (2000). Still Unfair, Still Arbitrary - But Do We Care? Keynote Address, 26 Ohio Northern University Law Review 517.

Martin, E.F. (2000). Tessie Hutchinson and the American System of Capital Punishment" 59 Maryland Law Review 553.

Radelet, M., et. al. (2006). 7 Univ. Of Colorado Law Review 549.

Death Penalty as Retribution
The Retributive Nature of the Death Penalty

The peaceful fabric of society is torn whenever a crime is committed. In the case of murder, the suffering of the victim's loved ones can be unbearable and last for a lifetime. The destructive ripple effect of these tragedies cannot be compensated for in any way, not even by the capture, conviction, and execution of the killer. However, many states still rely on the death penalty as a form of retribution for capital murder, but if the wrong committed cannot be corrected or compensated for, then what value does the death penalty serve?

One argument in favor of the death penalty is that it allows the government to exact retribution by taking the life of the killer (Budziszewski). Retribution, known by some as 'an eye for an eye' and 'just deserts' form of retaliation, attempts to reestablish social order by forcing the…...

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Works Cited

Budziszewski, J. "Capital Punishment: The Case for Justice." Orthodoxy Today 145 (2004): 39-45. Web. 2 Apr. 2013.

DealthPenaltyInfo.org. "Death Penalty for Offenses other than Murder." Death Penalty Information Center. 2013. Web. 2 Apr. 2013.

Fagan, Jeffrey A. "Capital Punishment: Deterrent Effects & Capital Costs." Columbia Law School, Columbia University. 2013. Web. 3 Apr. 2013.

Gerber, Monica M. And Jackson, Jonathan. "Retribution as Revenge and Retribution as Just Deserts." Social Justice Research 26 (2013): 61-80. Print.

Death Penalty
An on-going Debate on Ethics and Morality

The debate on whether the death penalty, or capital punishment, should be utilized in the United States is best seen in the varied laws that exist within each state. For this reason, many states, most of which are in the northern parts of the country are against capital punishment, while many southern states support this kind of a law. The U.S. map is quite divided and many have joined the on-going debate on whether or not the U.S. should utilize this form of punishment. Despite the fact that most industrialized, westernized countries have rid themselves of the death penalty, and despite the fact that many argue cruelty and lack of civilized due process in utilizing such punishment, many of those who uphold the death penalty claim that it does work, especially in deterring criminals. The three articles presented below were thus retrieved in…...

The debate over the death penalty remains and the Supreme Court will most likely be asked decide such cases for years to come.
Summary and Conclusion

The purpose of this discussion was to examine several landmark Supreme Court cases and explain the evolution of capital punishment jurisprudence from 1972 to the present. The research focused on the cases of Furman v Georgia, Woodson v. North Carolina, Gregg v Georgia, McCleskey v Kemp, Ford v Wainwright, Atkins v Virginia and oper v Simmons. The research demonstrates a gradual evolution in the manner in which the Supreme Court views cases involving the death penalty.

In cases such as Furman v Georgia the arbitrary nature of the case was taken into account. The fact that the murder was not premeditated seemed to also be taken into account. The facts of the case seem to indicate that Furman went to rob someone and that murder was…...

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References

Atkins v Virginia (2002).

22 June, 2008  http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=va&vol=1000395&invol=1 

Gregg v Georgia, 428 U.S. 153 (1976) 22 June, 2008  http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=U.S.&vol=428&invol=153 

Ford v Wainwright. 477 U.S. 399 (1986) 22 June, 2008  http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=U.S.&vol=477&invol=399

However, sociologists argue that the retributive justice theory suffers due to the lack of appreciation of circumstantial causes involved in the commission of crime. y counting 'free will' as the only factor involved in a crime the deontological thinking lacks in the comprehensive analysis of criminal behavior. For instance the disproportionate number of crimes by the economically disadvantaged African-Americans when compared to Caucasians is a clear instance for external factors that could influence the behavior of a person. In the words of philosopher Thomas. a. Mappes, "Pure retributive thinking seems to presuppose a radical sense of human freedom and its correlate, a radical sense of personal responsibility and accountability for one's actions." [Laurence]
Moral Evaluation

A moral community is based on the principle where each and every member of the community has equal rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." [Kenneth Cauthen] Under these circumstances if one person willfully…...

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Bibliography

1) Amnesty International (2009)' More Executions in Japan as other countries Reject the Death penalty', Accessed Feb 20th 2010, Available at,  http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/more-executions-japan-other-countries-reject-death-penalty-20090731 

2) Amnesty International, 'The Death Penalty in Canada: Twenty Years of Abolition', Accessed Feb 20th 2010, available at,  http://www.amnesty.ca/deathpenalty/canada.php 

3) Bureau of Justice Statistics (2009), 'Executions: Key Facts at a Glance', Accessed Feb 20th 2010, Available at,  http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/tables/exetab.htm 

4) B.A Robinson (1995), ' Capital Punishment: Death Penalty Data', Accessed Feb 20th 2010, Updated Dec 07, 2009, Available at,  http://www.religioustolerance.org/execut3.htm

It would seem that many criminals would find this more amusing than frightening. They do not take their chances of being caught and subjected to capital punishment seriously enough to be frightened by the penalty like many assume they will be (van den Haag, 2001).
According to some who believe in God and feel that capital punishment is acceptable under the scriptures, there is one main point, which is that "This is not an issue that may be measured accurately in terms of statistics. No one can ever know how many potential murderers have refrained from taking human life due to their fear of prosecution, conviction, and ultimate execution" (Jackson, 2003). It is also questioned during this same argument, though, by those who conclude that capital punishment is not a deterrent to violent crime, whether they should also be able to conclude that prison is not a deterrent either, since…...

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Bibliography

Bayat, Mufti Z. (1999) Capital punishment a deterrent to serious crime. Jumiatul Ulama.  http://www.jamiat.org.za/c_punishment.htm 

Reforms required in capital punishment. (2002) the Christian Century.

Cook, Kimberly J. (1999) Against Capital Punishment. Social Forces.

Ikramullah, Mir M. (2003) Capital punishment: deterrent to crime?. The Spectrum Press.

Studies consistently and generally show that, all factors held constant, the race of the accused is a critical variable in determining who will be sentenced to death. lack citizens are, thus, subjected to double discrimination. From initial charging decisions to plea bargaining to sentencing by the jury, lack defendants receive harsh treatment and, as victims, their lives are given less value than whites. Most juries still consist of all white members in many places (Freedman).
Freedman (1997) adds that most capital defendants cannot afford a suitable attorney and so the court must appoint a counsel. Major studies found that the quality of defense representation in capital murder trials is in general far lower than in felony cases. This area is highly specialized. The State must offer attractive pay to competent counsels on the one hand and there many poor people needing them on the other. When the poor person must…...

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Bibliography

American Demographics. The Death Penalty - American Attitudes. Media Central, Inc.: PRIMEDIA Company, November 1, 2001

Easterbrook, Gregg. The Myth of Fingerprints. Florida: New Republic, July 21, 2003

Freedman, Eric. The Case Against the Death Penalty. USA today: Society for the Advancement of Education, March 1997

Goldberg, Steven. SoWhat if the Death Penalty Deters? National Review: National Review, Inc., June 30, 1989

"
This article puts forward the notion that when analyzing the "...relationships between minority groups and mainstream populations," the issue of whether the use of "formal control is applied fairly and consistently between these different groups" is a pivotal place to begin (Ruddell, et al., 2004). It is pivotal because "injustice" not only can have "a corrosive effect" on the perception of the fairness (or unfairness) of the criminal justice system; it may actually "contribute to increased crime."

The rationale behind Ruddell's study is partly sociological and partly philosophical: when ethnic minority groups "increase in number and size, they also contest the status quo," and become a "threat." As the minority group grows, so do perceived threats to the economic and social structure of the majority increase, and hence "minority communities are likely to be policed more aggressively," Ruddell continues. As a result more arrests take place in these communities - and…...

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Works Cited

Adams, Lucy. (2005). Death by Discretion: Who Decides Who Lives and Dies in the United

States of America? American Journal of Criminal Law, 32(3), 381-401.

American Civil Liberties Union. (2006). National Death Penalty Fact Sheet / Race and the Death Penalty. Retrieved July 2, 2006, at  http://www.aclu.org/capital/facts/10593res20050216.html .

Barkan, Steven E., & Cohn, Steven F. (2005). On Reducing White Support for the Death

Coming across cases in which people were charged with crimes that did not commit and as a result risked being executed, people in Maryland appear to be unsupportive toward capital punishment, as they recognize that one cannot be brought back from the dead. (ill Maryland follow Illinois's lead and abolish the death penalty?).
ith death penalty being presently a part of legal systems from around the world, it is particularly important for people to acknowledge the wrongness, risk, and destructive nature of the procedure. It is almost impossible to believe that modern society and some of the world's greatest powers continue to uphold such practices.

orks cited:

Geraghty, Thomas F. "Trying to Understand America's Death Penalty System and hy e Still Have it," Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 94.1 (2003)

Haines, Herbert H. Against Capital Punishment the Anti-Death Penalty Movement in America, 1972-1994 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996)

Langan, John. "Capital Punishment,"…...

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Works cited:

Geraghty, Thomas F. "Trying to Understand America's Death Penalty System and Why We Still Have it," Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 94.1 (2003)

Haines, Herbert H. Against Capital Punishment the Anti-Death Penalty Movement in America, 1972-1994 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996)

Langan, John. "Capital Punishment," Theological Studies 54.1 (1993)

Steiker, Carol S. "No, Capital Punishment Is Not Morally Required: Deterrence, Deontology, and the Death Penalty," Stanford Law Review 58.3 (2005)

Death Penalty for Juvenile Offenders
Supreme Court by a majority decision on March 1, 2005 in oper v. Simmons held that death penalty for juveniles was "cruel and unusual" and as such the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution forbid the execution of offenders who were under the age of 18 when their crimes were committed. The action reversed the death sentences of 72 convicted murderers in the U.S. who had committed their crimes as juveniles. While the Supreme Court decision has pleased the anti-death penalty advocates, it has not put to rest the debate about death penalty for juvenile offenders. In this paper I shall examine some of the arguments for and against the death penalty for juveniles and the implications of enforcing or doing away with juvenile death penalty.

Arguments for Juvenile Death Penalty

A Murder is a Murder:

The advocates for juvenile death penalty argue that a murder committed…...

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References

"Death penalty for minors: Cruel and unusual." (September 27, 2004). American Medical News. Retrieved on May 14, 2005 from   did=884#amn 'Recent Public Opinion on the Juvenile Death Penalty." (n.d.) Death Penalty and Information Center.  http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=27& ; did=883http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=38& ;

Richey, Warren. (March 2, 2005) "Juvenile death penalty abolished." Christian Science Monitor.

Retrieved on May 14, 2005 from  http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0302/p01s01-usju.html 

Wallis, Claudia and Kristina Dell. (May 10, 2004). "What Makes Teens Tick." Time magazine. Retrieved on May 14, 2005 from

Functional Theory Approach to Death penalty

The functional theory approach to the death penalty is the longest standing explanation for why the death penalty works. Simply put, the death penalty serves a function. The functionalist theoretical approach suggest that death penalty serves a certain function, that is, deterring crime (Weisberg, 2003; Gamson, 1988). This may also be referred to as manifest function. Unfortunately this theory is somewhat debunk, as there is little hard evidence supporting the notion that the death penalty successfully deters crime. In this case a functionalist may in turn look for latent functions the death penalty might serve including revenge or victim appeasement (Weisberg, 2003). Functionalists support strong condemnatory action because weak or less severe penalties may suggest that the underlying conduct "is not genuinely worth condemnation" (Weisberg, 467).

Social Conflict Theory and the Death Penalty

Social conflict theory typically connects deviant behaviors with power. It suggests that within society…...

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References

Aguirre, A. & Baker, D. (1993). "Racial prejudice and the death penalty: A research note." Social Justice, 20(1-2): 150

Blumer, H. (1969). Symbolic interactionism: Perspective and method. Enblewood Cliffs:

Prentice Hall.

Galiher, J.M. & Galiher, J.F. (2001). "A commonsense theory of deterrence and the ideology of science: The New York State death penalty debate." Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 1: 307.

Death Penalty
Whether or not the death penalty should be utilized as a punishment for serious crimes is a contentious issue, one that is hotly debated throughout the world. In the past few decades the number of nations that sentence criminals to the death penalty has dramatically decreased, as more than two thirds of countries in the world have abolished the use of the death penalty in practice or law (Amnesty International, 2010). The increase in countries choosing to abolish the death penalty is for good reason, as the arguments against its use are numerous and are based in reliable research and logic. The following discussion will highlight three facets of the powerful argument against the use of the death penalty. These three key points include: the fact that the death penalty is ineffective in efforts of crime prevention; the death penalty is immoral; and the majority of Americans do not…...

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References

Imanbekova. "Does the death penalty really deter criminals?" University Wire 25 June 2007. Retrieved November 24, 2010 from HighBeam Research.

Amnesty International. "Death Penalty" 2010. Retrieved November 24, 2010 from  http://www.amnesty.org/en/death-penalty/numbers .

"Poll Shows Growing Support for Alternatives to the Death Penalty; Capital Punishment Ranked Lowest Among Budget Priorities." PR Newswire 16 November 2010. Retrieved November 24, 2010 from HighBeam Research.

Capital punishment remains one of the most controversial topics in criminal law.  The ethics of the death penalty are complicated.  Many people believe that the death penalty is simply unethical under any circumstances, while others argue that the death penalty is not only ethical, but that it is unethical not to execute certain killers.  The law provides guidance about when it can be applied, but laws vary from country-to-country and, within the United States, there is even tremendous variation in state laws about the death penalty.  Therefore, any essay about the death penalty is expected....

While people often lump the American colonies together, there were significant differences between the New England colonies, Middle colonies, and Southern colonies. These differences were not only geographical, but also based in who had the grants for the colonies, their favor in the British government, and who eventually settled in the lands. These differences initially impacted how successful the American colonies were and how prosperous they would become. They eventually impacted industrialization and, in many ways, could be cited as one of the root causes of the eventual American Civil War and even some of....

Forensic psychology refers to applying psychology to legal issues.  Forensic psychology can be applied to civil and criminal legal cases but is most commonly associated with criminal cases.

Ten possible essay topics / titles for forensic psychology are:

1. Future Dangerousness: Can Forensic Psychologists Assess Future Risk
2. Beyond Criminal Profiling: How Forensic Psychologists Help Law Enforcement
3. Legally Crazy Versus Mentally Ill
4. Victim Profiling: What Makes Some People Targets
5. The Psychology of Policing
6. Best Interests of the Child: How Forensic Psychologists Can Help in Child Custody Cases
7. Inherently Unreliable: The Problem with Eyewitness Testimony
8. Undeveloped Brains: Why Juveniles Should Not Be in the....

1. Should social media platforms be held responsible for monitoring and removing hate speech?
2. Is the death penalty an effective deterrent for violent crime?
3. Should college athletes be paid for their performance?
4. Are stricter gun control laws necessary to reduce gun violence?
5. Should the government provide free healthcare for all citizens?
6. Is climate change a result of human activity?
7. Should the minimum wage be increased to a livable wage?
8. Is affirmative action still necessary in today's society?
9. Should standardized testing be the primary measure of student achievement?
10. Is privacy in the digital age a fundamental human right?
11. Should the use....