Capital Punisment

change as well as parole boards, and people often forget the past. Those

things can cause life imprisonment to fade away. No matter how small the

chance, there is always a chance the murderer will strike again as long as

In England, Germany and France, a man knows that if he has

committed a murder, every person will be his enemy, and make sure that he

will get at least life in prison, if not the death penalty (Moore 19).

In a Utah State Prison, Gary Gilmore faced a firing squad. In the state of Utah there had been 55 murders during 1976. After his death in 1977, there were 44 murders, that is a 20 percent decrease (Lowe 1-6).

Back in the 1920’s and 1930’s at least 120 murderers were executed every year in the U.S., sometimes the number was as high as 200. England used and still uses the death penalty more frequently then we do. At the time, their overall murder rate was smaller than any of our major cities. England has abolished capital punishment about 30 years ago and the murder rate has doubled then and 75 English citizens have been murdered by released killers. Now, in New York State,

“Among killers of whites in Florida, blacks are five times more likely to be sentenced to death,” states Truman. This discrimination was also evidence, but in a less “pronounced” form in Texas, Ohio, and Georgia. A society that reserves the death penalty for the killers of whites but not blacks, treats blacks as if they were of less worth than whites (Reiman 38).

Fifty-two-percent of the people who responded, state that they would favor abolishing capital punishment if the convicted could be sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years. Juries return death penalty verdicts in less than 25% of first-degree murder. “The great reluctance to impose the death penalty in particular cases provides strong evidence that the peoples willingness to approve capital punishment in the “abstract” is not necessarily an accurate measure of their willingness to put it into practice.

Recent public poles show that Americans are in favor of capital punishment by more than a three to one margin. “Whereas a 1966 Harris Survey found 47% of the public opposed to capital punishment, 38% in favor of it, and 15% unsure, the Gallup Poll 1986 reported 70% in favor of the death penalty, 22% opposed it and 8% were und

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