Capital punishment is the legal infliction of the death penalty on persons convicted of a crime.(Cox 12) It is not intended to inflict any physical pain or any torture; however, it is a severe form of corporal punishment. It is unchangeable because it removes those punished from society permanently, instead of the alternative of life-long imprisonment. The death penalty has been imposed throughout history for many crimes, ranging from blasphemy and treason to petty theft and murder. Although the death penalty was widely accepted throughout the early United States, not everyone approved of it.

In the late-eighteen century, resistance to the death penalty gathered enough strength to lead to important restrictions on the use of the death penalty in several northern states, while Michigan, Wisconsin, and Rhode Island abandoned the practice altogether. (Kronenwetter 15) In 1794, Pennsylvania adopted a law to distinguish the degrees of murder, and only used the death penalty for premeditated first-degree murder. In 1846, Louisiana abolished the mandatory death penalty and authorized the option of sentencing a capital offender to life imprisonment rather than to death. Amendments were made

According to Isaac Ehrlich's study, published on April 16, 1976, eight murders are frightened for each execution that is carried out in the United States of America Ehrlich goes on to say, "If one execution of a guilty capital murderer deters the murder of one innocent life, the execution is justified." To most supporters of the death penalty, like Ehrlich, if even one life is saved, for countless executions of the guilty, it is a good reason for the death penalty. The theory that society engages in murder when executing the guilty, is considered invalid by most supporters, including Ehrlich. Ehrlich feels that execution of convicted offenders expresses the great value society places on innocent life. (Vienneau 21-22)

Abolitionists also say condemning a person to death removes any possibility of rehabilitation. Abolitionists are confident in the life-sentence presenting the possibility of rehabilitating the convict. Abolitionists have further argued that deterrence is little more than an assumption, that most murders cannot be rationally frightened by any penalty, including death. Most retentionists (people for capital punishment) argue that none of the statistical evidence proves that capital punishment does not discourage potential criminals. There is absolutely no way prove, with any certainty, how many would-be murderers were in fact deterred from killing. (Carrington 82).

Retentionists point out that the murder rate in any given state depends on many things besides whether or not that state has capital punishment. “Retentionists also cite such factors as the percentage of urban residents in the state, the level of economic prosperity, and the social and racial makeup of the population.” The people for the death penalty also defend the death penalty base on other arguments, relying primarily on the need to protect society from killers who are considered high risks for killing again. They believe that “life-sentence” is a myth because of overcrowding in the prisons and today prison terms are not enough. Many people are allowed out early on parole and resulting in criminals just serving one third of their prison terms and being released back into society. This type of quick release cannot discourage others strongly enough from repeating the same offense that the criminals already have. Thus, they believe that incapacitation is not solely meant as deterrence but is meant to maximize public safety by remove any possibility of a convict murderer to murder again. Retentionists argue that the high costs associated with the death penalty are due to "the lengthy time and the high expense result from innumerable appeals, many over 'technicalities' which have little or nothing to do with the question of guilt or innocence, and do little more than jam up the nation's court system. If these 'frivolous' appeals were eliminated, the procedure would neither take so long nor cost so much." (Kronenwetter 29-32).

In the United States, the death penalty is currently authorized in one of five ways: firing squad, hanging, gas chamber, electrocution, and lethal injection. These methods of execution compared to those of the past are not meant for torture, but meant for the punishment to fit the crime. Throughout history, governments have been extremely inventive in devising ways to execute people. Executions inflicted in the past are now regarded today as ghastly, barbaric, and unthinkable and are forbidden by law almost everywhere. Common historical methods of execution included: stoning, crucifixion, burning, breaking on the wheel, drawing and quartering, peine forte et dure, garroting, beheading or decapitation, shooting and hanging. These types of punishments today are considered cruel and unusual because we are becoming increasingly humane, individual rights, and due process of justice are held in high

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