Death Penalty

5 Pages 1313 Words

Death Penalty

Many Americans are astonished by the U.S.’s high murder rates and lack of abolition of the death penalty when in comparison with other countries. The U.S. is very far behind when it comes to abolishing the death penalty. Capital punishment caught my attention because I always see people in the news protesting against it, so I decided that I wanted to learn a little more about it.
Over time the death penalty has evolved in many different countries. Stoning to death, a practice of the Jews, was one of the first recorded methods of punishment. Crucifixion was one of the most brutal and painful ways of capital punishment. Romans practiced it during New Testament times. The death penalty was later publicly inflicted by the guillotine in France, Belgium, Denmark, Hanover, and two cantons of Switzerland. Today, the death penalty has become much more private and technologically advanced with the invention of the electric chair and lethal injection.
Unusually, the U.S. is behind the rest of the world in one aspect, which is the abolition of the death penalty. More than half the countries of the world have abolished practicing the death penalty. Statistics say that more than two countries on average a year have abolished the death penalty in law since 1976. Worldwide abolition is not a myth and it is in the near future. Europe has designed a European Union which is a capital punishment free zone. Internationally, the death penalty will soon become a criminal punishment of the past.
When the U.S.’s reputation of sophistication is considered, many Americans are astonished at the murder rates of the U.S. The U.S. murder rate is about six times higher than any other industrialized country. Crime rates in the U.S. have dropped considerably over the past 20 years except for the murder rate. Even though the U.S. practices the death penalty, it’s murder rates are still higher than the murder rates of countrie...