Capital Punishment

In the past, people have invariably felt that if they had


been wronged in some way, it was his or her right to take


vengeance on the person that had wronged them.   This mentality


still exists, even today, but in a lesser form because the law


has now outlined a person's rights and developed punishments that


conform to those rights, yet allow for the retribution for their


crime.   However, some feel that those laws and punishments are


too lax and criminals of today take advantage of them, ie.


organized crime, knowing very well that the punishments for their


crime, whether it be murder, theft, or any other number of


criminal activities, will be so negligible that it may be well


worth their risk.








    Although in the past, the number of crimes that were


subjected to capital punishment, defined simply as the death


penalty for a crime, were outrageous.   Amendments were made to


reflect the changes in the society's views on the morality of


capital punishment.   That resulted in the narrowing down of the


list of one hundred crimes to twelve, punishable by the death


penalty in 1833, and in 1869 it was cut down yet again to just


three: treason, rape, and murder because of violent nature of


these crimes.   These crimes, even today, are still viewed as


violent and should be punished with the highest degree of


discipline available to achieve justice.








    After much public pressure, capital punishment was suspended


on a trial run in 1967.   This proved to be ineffective, because


even though the law stipulated that crimes such as treason or the


murder of law enforcement agents, were still to be subjected to


the death penalty, the federal cabinet continued to commute those


criminals from death to...