Capital punishment has ever been a highly-discussed and controversy topic. In spite of the trend of abolishment it is still part of the laws in many Arabian, Communist and Fascist countries - and of course in most states of the USA. There, paradoxically, it was dealt with in many popular movies against it, like Dead man walking, The Green Mile or last The Life of David Gale. Death penalty has been carried out ever since in human history: Starting in the Stone Age, it developed terrible ways which got typical for the Middle Ages - remember torture, quartering, impaling or the burning of witches" - and it was even executed during the French Revolution, the cradle of legal human rights, by using the guillotine, not to forget about the horrors of the Holocaust. Today, the traits of capital punishment are said to be more human: criminals die on the electric chair, in the gas chamber, on the gallows or by poisoning. .
The discussion about it just started at the end of the 18th and showed success in the 19th century. In modern times especially Amnesty international acted as pioneer and protagonist fighting for human rights and the abolishment. Nevertheless most arguments were exchanged and refute or compensate each other, mostly by comparing theory and statistics: while the supporter consider capital punishment to be cheaper for the state as money for long and expensive imprisonments with psychological care is saved, the opponents argue on the base of data which show that even more money is spent on official testimonials and lengthy proceedings. Likewise do the backers believe that this way to die is human and painless, whereas there are many cases where the procedures had no effect and the people had to suffer from unexpected agony until they died. Additionally, in theory deterrence is meant to avert the danger of repeat offenders, such as murderer, rappers or paedophiles set free founded on wrong assessments.
