Shaffer1
Michael E. Shaffer II
Professor Carlos Osorio
ENG-95-08
15 November 2011
Capital Punishment
Capital Punishment directly deals with the issue of life or death. Occasionally
referred to as the “death penalty”, it is the process of executing people convicted of a
capital crime. Capital punishment most commonly deals with the crime of murder,
worldwide. Because of how cancerous murder is to society, that criminals proven guilty
deserve the most severe punishment. Although people argue that capital punishment is
murder, capital punishment should be mandatory for people who commit murder.
The Fifth Amendment reorganizes capital punishment as well as explains it:
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous
crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in
cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual
service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for
the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be
compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be
deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall
private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
This means that before any citizen has been sentenced to death there is a certain legal
procedure that most be followed, such as a formal arrest, filled charges, and the trial with a
grand jury present(Muhlhausen).
Shaffer2
In the 1972 Supreme Court case of Furman vs. Georgia, the justice of capital
punishment was put to the test. Declaring capital punishment to be cruel and unusual
punishment, according to the eighth amendment the court overturned the death sentence
pasted upon to William Furman, who was a mentally retarded African American whose
trial lasted only one day. This verdict pointed out problems involving capital punishment
that were unable to have immediate solutions. The ruling resulted in a complete
moratorium on executions (BalancedPolitics).
Capital punishment was reinstated only four years after the moratorium. The
Supreme Court declared capital punishment to be constitutional, although they decided
that automatic death penalty laws were too severe, including that a penalty hearing is
mandatory after the trial, in order to declare sentence and punishment. A penalty hearing
