For instance, in 1970 there were 161 reported violent crimes per 100,000 people by 1998, the Figure had jumped to 758 per 100,000 -- a rise of over 350 %. More and more people today are starting to think that something is terribly wrong when a modern, civilized nation must confront statistics like these. The American public is demanding an end to this violence, and surveys show that they believe swift and harsh punishment is the most appropriate and effective means to these ends. The death penalty, or as it is sometimes being called " capital punishment " is the hardest punishment that could be received when a person is convicted of a capital offense. Until recently it did not exist in New York State but after a new governor, George Pataki was elected he managed to bring it back. Since September 1, 1994 the death penalty law was in effect. And even though, as far as I know, there is no strong statistical evidence that the death penalty lowers the murder rate, many people were very happy with that decision. What they probably though was that some people would not commit a murder, rape or another violent crime if they would know that they could get on a death row for that ". However, my personal opinion is that the death penalty has to be justified on its own goodness, rather than by some pragmatic result it brings about. The governor and legislature of New York State evidently agree with this contention, for they enacted a death penalty law in the face of falling rates for murder and other serious crimes. Currently there are two opinions about the death penalty law. First opinion is that the existence of such a law helps keep the crime rates down. The opposite one is about a fact that killing people should not be done by anybody, including state and federal law enforcement system. Let us take a closer look on both of those opinions. Bringing the death penalty law back to life was a part of Gov.
