Capital punishment: Encyclopedia - Capital punishment

Capital punishment

Capital punishment, also referred to as the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted felon as a punishment for a crime (often called a capital offence or a capital crime). Historically the judicial execution of criminals and political opponents was a phenomenon of nearly all societies and it was often used as a means to suppress political enemies. It was also seen as the ultimate deterrent to crime. The majority of democratic countries in Europe and Latin America have abolished capital punishment over the last fifty years, but the United States and most of the democracies in Asia (Japan, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore) retain it.

Crimes that carry (or have carried) the death penalty vary greatly from treason and murder to theft. In militaries around the world, courts-martial have sentenced capital punishments also for cowardice, desertion, insubordination and mutiny.

Capital punishment - Terminology

The term "capital" derives from the Latin caput, literally meaning "head".^[1] Thus, capital punishment is the penalty for a crime so severe that it 'deserves' death, either by decapitation or otherwise.

Prisoners who have been sentenced to death are usually kept segregated from prisoners who have not been sentenced to death in a part of the prison known as "death row" pending their execution.

Capital punishment - Methods of execution

Methods of execution have varied over time, and include:

• Asphyxiation (or strangulation), such as by Garrotte
• Blood eagle (possibly a myth)
• Boiling to death
• Burning, especially for religious heretics and witches on the stake
• Brazen bull
• Breaking on the Wheel
• Burial (alive, also known as the pit)
• Crucifixion
• Crushing by a weight, abruptly or as a slow ordeal - see also animals
• Decapitation, or beheading (as by sword, axe or guillotine)
• Disembowelment
• Dismemberment
• Disruption (a form of dismemberment)
• Drawing and quartering (Considered by many to be the most "cruel" of punishments)
• Drowning
• Electric chair
• Explosives
• Flaying (skinning)
• Fustuarium - see also for not always lethal successors
• Gassing
• Hanging
• Impalement
• Lethal injection
• Iron Maiden
• Keelhauling (not always lethal) and walking the plank (if not fictitious)
• Pressing
• Poisoning
• Sawing
• Scaphism and similar methods mentioned there
• Shooting can be performed either
  • by Firing squad
  • by a single shooter (such as the neck shot, often performed on a kneeling prisoner, as in present PR China in significant numbers)
  • (especially collectively) by cannon or machine gun
• Snake pit
• Starvation and Dehydration
• Stoning
• Various animal-related methods
  • Tearing apart by horses, e.g. Ancient China (using five horses) or "quartering," with four horses, and in The Song of Roland
  • Attack/devouring by animals, such as dogs or wolves, as in Ancient Rome and the Biblical lion's den, by rodents (such as rats), by carnivorous fish (such as piranhas or sharks), by crabs or by insects (such as ants)
  • Poisonous bites from scorpions, snakes, spiders etcetera
  • Crushing by elephant or trampling by a herd or by horsemen, as practiced by the Mongolian hordes

Capital punishment - Scope of use

Some jurisdictions still practicing capital punishment restrict its use to a small number of criminal offences, principally murder, treason and equated mortal sins such as apostasy. Historically—and still today under certain systems of law—the death penalty was applied to a wider range of offences, including robbery or theft and kidnapping. It has also been frequently used by the military for crimes including looting, insubordination, and mutiny. Armies based on conscription have used death penalty as means of motivation (see coercion) and keeping discipline.

Capital punishment - History

Traditionally capital punishment has been a method to deliver human sacrifices to deities. For example the judicial hanging was originally a sacrificial rite to Odin. Scandinavian pagan religions demanded human sacrifices not only by hanging, but also by drowning the convict into marsh; also Kalevala contains a chapter where Väinämöinen sentences the fatherless Son of Marjatta to be drowned into marsh. The purpose of capital punishment can also be seen as means to placate wrathful deities and divert their anger and hatred away from the people and towards the victim. Some Pagan religions also used burning the condemned at the stake; the last recorded such sacrificial burning occurred in Lithuania 1389.

In medieval Europe, the method of execution depended on the social class of the condemned. The nobility were usually executed in as painless and honorable a method as possible, generally with either sword or an axe (which occasionally failed gruesomely). Those in the working class, serfs, peasants, and possibly the bourgeoisie were usually executed publicly, by a more gruesome and painful method, typically by hanging or the wheel. In Scandinavia, the noblemen were beheaded with sword and commoners with axe. Specific crimes sometimes warranted specific methods of execution: suspected witchcraft, religious heresy, atheism, or homosexuality were typically punished by burning at the stake. Unsuccessful regicides generally merited a horrible death. A wide range of offences could be punished by death, including robbery and theft, even if nobody was physically harmed in the action.

Such methods of execution continued into the modern era. In 1757 in France, Robert-François Damiens suffered a horrible but customary execution for his attempted regicide against King Louis XV. His hand, holding the weapon used in the regicide attempt, was burnt, and his body was wounded in several places. Then, molten lead and other hot liquids were poured on the wounds. He was then drawn and quartered, and what remained of his body was burnt at the stake. Inhumane methods of execution and class inequalities were abolished during the French Revolution, which imposed the guillotine, seen as a painless and instantaneous method of execution, for all. However, during The Terror, other forms of execution, such as massed cannon fire and mass drownings, were also used.

In early New England, public executions were a very solemn and sorrowful occasion, sometimes attended by large crowds, who also listened to a gospel message and remarks by local preachers and politicians. The Connecticut Courant records one such public execution on December 1, 1803, saying, "The assembly conducted through the whole in a very orderly and solemn manner, so much so, as to occasion an observing gentleman acquainted with other countries as well as this, to say that such an assembly, so decent and solemn, could not be collected anywhere but in New England."

Although the death penalty was briefly banned in China between 747 and 759, the first country in the world to officially and permanently abolish the death penalty was the then-independent Granducato di Toscana (Tuscany). The Grand Duke Leopold II of Habsburg, famous enlightened monarch and future Emperor of Austria, was strongly influenced by the book of the Italian Cesare Beccaria Dei Delitti e Delle Pene ("On Crimes and Punishments"), published in 1764. In this book Beccaria aimed to demonstrate not only the injustice, but even the futility from the point of view of social welfare, of torture and the death penalty. On 30 November 1786, after having de facto blocked capital executions (the last was in 1769), Leopold promulgated the Reform of the penal code that abolished the death penalty and ordered to destroy all the instruments for capital execution in his land. In 2000 Tuscany's regional authorities instituted an annual holiday on 30 November to commemorate the event.

Portugal abolished the death penalty in 1867; the last execution took place in 1846. In 1949, Federal Republic of Germany and Costa Rica became the first countries to ban the capital punishment in their constitutions.

In the United States, the state of Michigan was the first state to abolish the death penalty, on March 1, 1847. The 150-year ban on capital punishment has never been repealed, and as such the state is considered to be the first democracy in recorded history to have eliminated capital punishment. Currently, 12 states and the District of Columbia ban capital punishment.

Capital punishment - Military

Military organizations have sometimes employed capital punishment. In the past, cowardice, absence without leave, desertion, insubordination, looting, shirking under enemy fire and disobeying orders were often crimes punishable by death. The method of execution since firearms came into common use has almost invariably been firing squad. Today most armies no longer utilize capital punishment, and those armies which still retain the death penalty apply it only to the most serious crimes, such as treason or murder.

Capital punishment - Around the present world

   Abolished for all crimes

   Abolished, except for crimes committed under certain circumstances (e.g. crimes committed in wartime)

   Abolished in practice

   Legal form of punishment

Most democratic countries in the Americas and Europe have abolished the death penalty, while most democratic countries in Asia retain it. In all, 89 countries have abolished the death penalty, another 28 have not executed anyone in the last ten years, and 9 maintain the death penalty only for "exceptional crimes" (such as war crimes). Altogether, 74 countries retain it, including Japan, the United States, and a number of countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and the Caribbean. As of 2005, the constitutions of 42 countries prohibit capital punishment.

In most countries that have capital punishment, it is used to punish only murder or war-related crimes. But in some countries, like the People's Republic of China, it is used to punish some non-violent crimes, like drug and business-related crimes. It is used widely in Asia for drug-related crimes, including in Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Vietnam.

According to Amnesty International's annual report on official judicial execution, in 2004 there were 3,797 executions in 25 countries. Nine of every ten executions took place in the People's Republic of China (PRC) which carried out at least 3,400 executions. From 1990 to 2003, there were an average of 2,242 executions per year, reported Amnesty. The PRC has executed at least 20,000 people from 1990 to 2001, with 1,781 people executed from April to July 2001 in a "Strike Hard" crime crackdown. The higher total in 2004 resulted from a change in Amnesty's method of estimating executions in China. Both methodologies are suspected of under-estimating.

The twelve countries with the most executions in 2004:

According to the United Nations Secretary General's quinquennial report on capital punishment, the highest per capita use of capital punishment from 1994 to 1999 was in Singapore: 13.57 executions per million population. The death penalty is meted out for what are considered the most serious offences. Of the 138 persons sentenced from 1999 to 2003, 110 were convicted of drug-related offences, the rest of murder and arms-related offences. Executions by hanging occur on Friday mornings in Changi prison, and are seldom publicized.

In the United States, the issue of capital punishment is largely left up to the individual states; the federal government reserves the right to perform executions, but does so extremely rarely. Twelve states have legally abolished the death penalty. Some have reformed the policies, by declaring a moratorium on its use, such as Illinois under Governor George H. Ryan. The most comprehensive source lists less than 15,000 people executed in the United States or its colonial predecessors between 1608 and 1991. [2] More accurate statistics list 4,661 executions in the United States from 1930 to 2002 with about two-thirds of them occurring in the first twenty years.[3] Additionally the U.S. Army executed 160 soldiers between 1930 and 1967. The last U.S. Navy execution took place in 1849.

Capital punishment - Juvenile capital punishment

Only six countries practice the death penalty for juveniles, that is, criminals aged under 18 years at the time of their crime. In the 1980s and 1990s, most executions for juvenile crime took place in the United States, although, due to the slow process of appeals, no one under age 19 has been executed in recent years. [4] [5] In 2005, the US Supreme Court ruled in Roper v. Simmons that the death penalty cannot be applied to persons who were under age 18 at the time of commission of the crime. That decision resulted in 72 convicted murderers being taken off death row. In the US and ancestor bodies politic since 1642, an estimated 364 juvenile offenders have been executed by states and the federal government. Although the People's Republic of China accounts for the vast majority of executions in the world, it does not allow for the executions of those under 18. [6] Execution of those aged under age 18 has occurred in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, and Iran since 1990. [7]

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which among other things forbids capital punishment for juveniles, has been signed and ratified by all countries except the USA and Somalia (Somalia at the present time is unable to ratify).[8]

Capital punishment - International organisations

A number of international conventions prohibit the death penalty, most notably the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Sixth Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights. However, such conventions bind only those that are party to them; customary international law does not prohibit the death penalty.

Several international organizations have made the abolition of the death penalty a requirement of membership, most notably the European Union (EU) and the Council of Europe. The EU and the Council of Europe are willing to accept a moratorium as an interim measure. Thus, while Russia is a member of the Council of Europe, and practices the death penalty in law, it has not made use of it since becoming a member of the Council. Another example is Latvia which entered a moratorium in 1996. Latvia retains the death penalty in extraordinary circumstances (as does non-EU-member Albania), and is the only EU member not to have ratified the 13th Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights (which prohibits the death penalty in all circumstances). Latvia's parliament has, however, signed the 13th Protocol. As a EU member Latvia has pledged to abolish the death penalty, and bringing it back to active use could, under articles 6 and 7 of the Treaty of Nice, mean losing voting rights in the European Union. [9]

Turkey has recently, as a move towards EU membership, undergone a reform of its legal system. Previously there was a de facto moratorium on death penalty in Turkey as the last execution took place in 1984. The death penalty was removed from peacetime law as in August 2002, and in May 2004 Turkey amended its constitution in order to remove capital punishment in all circumstances. As a result, Europe is a continent free of the death penalty in practice (all states having ratified the Sixth Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights), with the sole exception of Belarus, which is not a member of the Council of Europe. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has been lobbying for Council of Europe observer states who practice the death penalty, namely the US and Japan, to abolish it or lose their observer status.

See also

• Capital punishment in Belarus
• Capital punishment in Canada
• Capital punishment in the People's Republic of China
• Capital punishment in Denmark
• Capital punishment in France
• Capital punishment in Germany
• Capital punishment in India
• Capital punishment in New Zealand
• Capital punishment in Singapore
• Capital punishment in the United Kingdom
• Capital punishment in the United States
• Capital punishment in Japan

Capital punishment - Views and opinions concerning the death penalty

Support for the death penalty varies widely, and it can be a highly contentious political issue, particularly in democracies that use it. A decreasing majority of adults in the United States appear to support its continuance (though like most political issues, the numbers vary widely depending on the phrasing of the question asked), but a highly vocal, organised minority of people in that country do not, and non-governmental organisations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch lobby against it globally. In many parts of Asia where it is maintained including Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia the death penalty appears to have large amounts of public support, and there is little public movement to abolish it.

In countries where it has been abolished, debate is sometimes revived by particularly brutal murders, though few countries have brought it back after abolition. However, some opinion polls in Europe and Canada suggest that the death penalty has similar support there to the United States. Others show that the support of the death penalty dropped significantly in the years after the abolition in Western European countries while in most former communist countries there is still a majority for the reintroduction. A recent poll in Italy showed only 23% of respondents in favour of the death penalty.[10] In many countries that have abolished it, it is a matter of policy that the government will oppose its use in any country. This is generally based on the idea that the capital punishment is inherently wrong and can never be justified, which is frequently the reason given for maintaining an abolishment of capital punishment. However, controversially, on some specific occasions a government may choose to ignore this policy; for example the Australian government has refused to condemn, and in fact has on occasion even seemed to offer tacit support of, the use of capital punishment against those involved in the Bali bombing.

There is an ongoing debate as to whether capital punishment reduces crime rates; ideally, potential offenders would be too scared of the punishment to commit the crime. The counterargument is that it doesn't affect the crime rate, because potential criminals think that they won't be caught, so they do not care about punishment until it is too late.

There are even studies that have concluded that the death penalty appears to encourage murder. However, like many questions in the social sciences, actual research data on this question can be (and is) interpreted very differently by people with differing predispositions towards capital punishment. In any event, the actual effectiveness (or lack thereof) is largely irrelevant to many who feel strongly about the debate, as their views are based on other factors.

Capital punishment - Secular arguments for and against the death penalty

There are two major debates on the death penalty. Utilitarian arguments are about the cost and the benefit of the death penalty to society. The Justice argument is concerned with the question about whether retribution (vengeance) can be regarded as just.

• Prevention and deterrence

• Economic

• Miscarriage of Justice

• Retribution and Vengeance

Because the death penalty debate, in the end, often boils down to death penalty being wrong or right with nothing in between, some suggest to leave the choice to the family of the victims or the individuals in the form of living will where people could indicate to the court if they wish to seek the death penalty in case he or she is murdered.

Capital punishment - Arguments against

Some of the major arguments used by those opposed to the death penalty include:

• The death penalty is not a deterrent; those who are against the death penalty claim that recent studies in the US do not support the view that capital punishment acts as a deterrent. [13]. It is also argued that anyone who would be deterred by the death penalty would already have been deterred by life in prison, and people that are not deterred by that would not be stopped by any punishment. This argument is typically supported by claims that those states that have implemented the death penalty recently have not had a reduction of violent crime. A stronger variant of this argument suggests that criminals who believe they will face the death penalty are more likely to use violence or murder to avoid capture, and that therefore the death penalty might theoretically even increase the rate of violent crime. [14].
• The death penalty is unnecessary. This view, espoused by Pope John Paul II, an outspoken critic of capital punishment, holds that modern prisons are secure enough to reliably protect society from further harm by death row prisoners, whereas in centuries past, life imprisonment may not have been feasible. Therefore, the death penalty serves no purpose to society and violates the sanctity of human life.
• Criminal proceedings are fallible. Some people facing the death penalty have been exonerated, sometimes only minutes before their scheduled execution. Others have been executed before evidence clearing them is discovered. While criminal trials not involving the death penalty can also involve mistakes, there is at least the opportunity for those mistakes to be corrected. This has been particularly relevant in cases where new forensic methods (such as DNA) have become available. Since 1973, 122 people in 25 US states have been released from death row with evidence of their innocence. The Houston Chronicle reported on November 19, 2005 that a man named Ruben Cantu may have been innocent of the crime for which he was executed in Texas in 1993. [15]
• Death penalty as armed forces' disciplinarian means usually has the opposite effect than desired, eroding the morale of the troops rather than improving it, and striking a wedge between the commissioned and enlisted servicemen as the latter are likely to consider shooting their own as murder. In extreme cases death penalty may lead to fragging incidents.
• Capital punishment usually costs more money than life in prison due to the extra costs of the courts such as mis-trials, appeals, and extra supervisions. Additionally, many (if not a majority) of death sentences are overturned on appeal. So the cost is incurred, regardless of the result. [16]
• In the US, over 95% of defendants cannot afford legal representation and end up being represented by court-appointed attorneys whose credentials are sometimes questioned.
• It denies the possibility of rehabilitation. Some hold that a judicial system should have the role of educating and reforming those found guilty of crimes. If one is executed he will never have been educated and made a better person. A Christian variant of this argument would be that no one can place themselves beyond salvation, so society should never give up hope of rehabilitation.
• Some argue that, in the US, the race of the person to be executed can affect the likelihood that they receive a death sentence. Death-penalty proponents counter this by pointing out that most murders where the killer and victim are of the same race tend to be "crimes of passion" while inter-racial murders are usually "felony murders"; that is, murders which were perpetrated during the commission of some other felony (most commonly either armed robbery or rape), the point being that juries are more likely to impose the death penalty in cases where the offender has killed a total stranger than in those where some deep-seated, personal revenge motive may be present. A recent study showed that just 44% of Black Americans support the death penalty. [17]
• Capital punishment has been used politically to silence dissidents, minority religions and activists. A major exponent of this is the People's Republic of China from which there are many reports of the death penalty being used for politically motivated ends. [18]
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• In most Western nations, retribution, or any benefit to the victims, is not stated as a purpose of the criminal justice system.
• Some executions are botched, lethal injection in the US having the highest rate according to Amnesty International. This is often due to the fact that qualified medical professionals are prohibited from taking part. Even those who die instantly may suffer prolonged mental anguish leading up to the execution. Other procedures, including the electric chair, cyanide gas chamber and hanging are rarely fast or effective processes and are not designed to minimize pain and suffering.
• Some argue that the death penalty is a violation of human rights primarily Article 3 and Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Some assert that it violates the "natural rights" laid out by 17th-century English philosopher John Locke who set out many of the foundations of American law. The American Declaration of Independence also includes the "right to life" as the first listed of the natural rights. While those against capital punishment might claim this as an irrevocable right, proponents may claim that, as protection from abuse is the basis of such rights, that the right was forfeit by the seriousness of the crimes.
• An International Gallup poll undertaken in 2000 found that 60% of western Europeans opposed the death penalty. In France, a TNS Sofres poll revealed that twenty years after abolition of capital punishment, 49% of respondents opposed reintroduction of the policy compared with 44% who wanted to reinstate capital punishment. In 2000, a poll in Germany found the percentage of West Germans in favor of capital punishment at just 23% the lowest level in Europe. Just 37% of East Germans favored capital punishment in 2000. (Financial Times, August 22, 2003) A recent US study found that 41% of the public voted in favor of capital punishment, whilst a higher percentage of 44% voted against the death penalty when voters were offered alternative sentences. The most popular alternative to capital punishment being "life without parole" and some form of restitution to the families of victims. [19] In the United States it is argued that most other developed nations have eliminated the death penalty.
• The death penalty has led to the death row phenomenon, severe psychological distress among prisoners on death row.

Capital punishment - Arguments for

• Retribution — In modern democracies, most murders do not get the death penalty. The court only imposes death penalty in case of multiple homicides or unusually horrendous murder. In such cases, the proponent of death penalty argue that it is the closest and arguably the only acceptable form of justice.
• Deterrence — Many econometric studies have shown a negative relationship between the death penalty and murder rates [20]. In most survey when those who support death penalty were asked the reason(s) for his or her support, retribution is listed as the main reason while deterrence comes next. (See above section for reference to statistics)
• Means of maintaining discipline in the armed forces. This can be best summarized by statement of Leon Trotsky: An army cannot be built without reprisals. Masses of men cannot be led to death unless the army command has the death penalty in its arsenal. So long as those malicious tailless apes that are so proud of their technical achievements — the animals that we call men — will build armies and wage wars, the command will always be obliged to place the soldiers between the possible death in the front and the inevitable one in the rear.
• Prevention — it prevents offenders from ever returning to society (life sentences hold out the possibility, however remote, of eventual release), thereby preventing them from committing further crimes.
• It shows how seriously society looks at the most heinous crimes. People who have committed the most heinous crimes (typically murder) have no right to life. The death penalty shows the greatest respect for the ordinary man's, and especially the victim's, inviolable value.
• It provides "closure" for victims' families.
• It is less cruel than prolonged imprisonment, especially under the conditions that might be popularly demanded for heinous criminals. Depending on the State, prisoners spend about six to twelve years on death row.
• It provides extra leverage for the prosecutor to deal for important testimony and information.
• It enjoys popular support (in countries where this applies).
• Life imprisonment is very expensive.

Just as the virtuous deserve reward proportionate to their good deeds, so too the vicious deserve punishment proportionate to their bad deeds. One might even hold, with Kant, that respect is shown to the criminal as someone who has chosen a particular path in life by visiting the appropriate punishment on the criminal.

• Criminals may be led to rethink and reconcile their lives by the pressing expectation of death.
• It upholds the rule of law, because it discourages vigilantism on the part of the victim's family or friends (in the form of lynching or retaliatory murder). If not controlled, such actions can lead to extremely destructive vendettas or blood feuds.
• Without the death penalty, a person already serving a life sentence may have no reason not to kill in prison.
• If the death penalty were abolished, a criminal would have little or no reason not to kill potential witnesses during the commission of a robbery (assuming that robbery would earn the criminal a life sentence or a very lengthy prison sentence).
• By waiving the threat of a death penalty, individuals can be encouraged to plead guilty, accomplices can be encouraged to testify against their co-conspirators, and criminals can be encouraged to lead investigators to the bodies of victims. The threat of the death penalty can be a powerful mechanism for greasing the wheels of justice.

Capital punishment - Religious attitudes towards the death penalty

The first of the Five Precepts (Panca-sila) is to abstain from destruction of life. Chapter 10 of the Dhammapada states "Everyone fears punishment; everyone fears death, just as you do. Therefore do not kill or cause to kill. Everyone fears punishment; everyone loves life, as you do. Therefore do not kill or cause to kill." Chapter 26, the final chapter of the Dhammapada states "Him I call a brahmin who has put aside weapons and renounced violence toward all creatures. He neither kills nor helps others to kill." This is interpreted by many Buddhists (especially in the West) as an injunction against supporting any legal measure which might lead to the death penalty.

However, as is often the case with the interpretation of scripture, there is dispute on this matter. Thailand where Buddhism is the official religion, practices the death penalty. Other countries where the majority of the population are Buddhist (such as Sri Lanka, Japan, Korea and Taiwan) also retain the death penalty. Moreover, almost throughout history, countries where Buddhism was the official religion (most of the Far East and Indochina) practiced the death penalty. One exception is when in Japan Emperor Saga abolished death penalty in 818, which lasted until 1165, although in private manors executions in retaliation to other events continued to be conducted.

The first precept of Buddhism focuses mainly on direct participation in the destruction of life. This is one reason that the Buddha made a distinction between killing animals and eating meat, and refused to introduce vegetarianism into monastic practice (see Vegetarian section of Buddhism). In Jataka, which tell stories of the past lives of the Buddha, Boddisatva (a previous incarnation of the Buddha) actually kills someone to save another person's life, though because of this action, he was no longer able to achieve enlightenment in that particular life. Therefore, few (if any) Buddhist groups issue blanket decrees against Buddhists being soldiers, police officers or farmers (which in Buddhism is classified as a profession involved in destruction of life), and some argue that the death penalty is permissible in certain circumstances. In general, Buddhist groups in secular countries such as Japan, Korea and Taiwan tend to take anti-death penalty stance while those in Thailand, Sri Lanka and Bhutan where Buddhism has strong political influence, the opposite is true.

Almost all Buddhist groups oppose the use of the death penalty as a means of retribution.

Christians are divided on the issue of capital punishment - some are in favour, some are against it under all circumstances. Firstly, there is a tendency for Christian opinions to match those of the countries they live in; many Christians based outside the USA are against capital punishment, while some Christians of largely American denominations are in favor of it. Often overlooked is the fact that virtually all of the mainline Christian churches in the United states have maintained official positions against the death penalty since the 1950s and early 1960s. [See http://www.pfadp.org People of Faith Against the Death Penalty] Secondly, various Christian groups, including members of the Catholic Church, tend to oppose it while most conservative Protestant groups support it—exceptions to this rule include the Amish and Mennonites as they oppose the death penalty.

Pope John Paul II described capital punishment as part of a "culture of death". Many Roman Catholics, especially in America, tended to agree with his view, which is a clear testament to his influence over the Roman Catholic Church of his time. However, the Church as a whole is not completely opposed to the death penalty under all circumstances as a matter of doctrine; rather, John Paul II, as an individual, was opposed to it. The official church teaching however, is that capital punishment can be necessary at times when a society does not have the means to keep its citizens safe from criminals. Catholics are called to oppose the death penalty if the condemned can be successfully kept behind bars to protect society. If, however, the condemned poses a threat to the well-being of society and is not likely to be able to be kept behind bars then capital punishment is permissible. However, this last exception in the modern day world seems extremely rare.

Those in favor of capital punishment often point to passages in the Old Testament that advocate the death penalty such as Genesis 9 which states, "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man." Those against tend to select their passages from the New Testament that advocate love, forgiveness, and mercy. In Matthew 5:38-39, Jesus says, "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also…"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven."

In John 8, a story is told of a woman who was caught in the act of adultery. The Old Testament Law demanded that she be put to death by stoning; Jesus saves her life by requiring that the first stone be cast by someone who has never sinned, and rather than take that role himself, simply tells the woman not to transgress again. (It should be noted that the passage in question is absent from some early manuscripts, which may indicate that it is a later addition to the text.)

Another verse quoted often by supporters of capital punishment is Romans 13:4, "...But if you do evil, be afraid; for [the governing authority] does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil." - supporters point to the fact that a sword is a instrument used for killing, not scourging.

Interpreting the Bible as a story of man's redemption through repentance to Christ, some Christians argue that by executing a murderer we are cutting short his life and taking away his opportunity to repent. Some conservative Christian groups who believe in a literal Hell argue that all who die without repentance automatically go there, and point out that many serial killers, including Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy, became born again Christians in prison. The less forgiving might observe that the families of their victims are unlikely to be comforted by the prospect of these men entering heaven.

Christianity is based on the teachings of Christ. Therefore advocating the Old Testament over the New Testament has been argued against by groups such as Quakers and some non-Christian critics to show inconsistency in the views of pro capital punishment Christians.

The Jewish view of all laws in the Bible is based on the reading of the Bible as seen through Judaism's corpus of oral law. These oral laws were first recorded around 200 CE in the Mishnah and later around 600 CE in the Babylonian Talmud.

The laws make it clear that the death penalty was only used in very rare cases. The Mishnah states that "A Sanhedrin that puts a man to death once in seven years is called destructive. Rabbi Eliezer ben Azariah says: a Sanhedrin that puts a man to death even once in 70 years. Rabbi Akiba and Rabbi Tarfon say: Had we been in the Sanhedrin none would ever have been put to death" (Mishnah, Makkot 1:10).

Rabbinic law developed a detailed system of checks and balances to make sure that the penalty could only be carried out:

• if there were two witnesses to the crime
• if the witnesses verbally warned the person that they were liable for the death penalty
• if that person then acknowledged that he/she was warned, yet then went ahead and committed the sin regardless.
• Further, an individual was not allowed to testify against him/herself.

As such, the death penalty was effectively legislated out of existence. Today, the State of Israel only uses the death penalty for extraordinary crimes. The last – and only – execution in Israel took place in 1962 against convicted Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann.

In Orthodox Judaism, it is held that in theory the death penalty is a correct and just punishment for some crimes. However in practice the application of such a punishment can only be carried out by humans whose system of justice is nearly perfect, a situation which has not existed for some time.

Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan writes: "In practice, however, these punishments were almost never invoked, and existed mainly as a deterrent and to indicate the seriousness of the sins for which they were prescribed. The rules of evidence and other safeguards that the Torah provides to protect the accused made it all but impossible to actually invoke these penalties…the system of judicial punishments could become brutal and barbaric unless administered in an atmosphere of the highest morality and piety. When these standards declined among the Jewish people, the Sanhedrin...voluntarily abolished this system of penalties." (Kaplan, Handbook of Jewish Thought, Volume II, pp. 170-71)

Rabbi Yosef Edelstein, Director of the Savannah Kollel, writes:

In Conservative Judaism, the Rabbinical Assembly's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards approved a 1960 responsa by Rabbi Ben Zion Bokser on capital punishment. It states, in part:

Islamic scholars state that whilst the Qur'an professes the basic principle that everyone has the right to life, this principle allows for an exception when a court of law demands it. Their precept is "Do not kill a Soul which Allah has made sacred except through the due process of law." This exception authorizes the administration of capital punishment when Islamic law dictates. This is the line taken by most if not all countries where Islam is the state religion or the principal religion (e.g. throughout the Arab world, Indonesia, Malaysia etc.).

Islamic scholars also point out that Sharia (Qur'anic law) contains many safeguards to prevent miscarriage of justice. Sharia also has a clear injunction that strict equivalence must be observed; therefore if a woman kills a man, or a man kills a woman, or a slave kills a free person, or a free person kills a slave, capital punishment cannot be applied. One notable characteristic of Sharia is that the family of a murder victim can pardon the murderer. In Islam, the victim and/or the victim's family are the judges for all crimes; they decide what the punishment shall be under the supervision of a person who knows the Qur'an.

Hinduism preaches ahimsa (non-violence), but also teaches that the soul cannot be killed and death is limited only to the physical body. The soul is reborn into another body upon death (until Moksha), akin to a human changing clothes.

The religious, civil and criminal law of Hindus is encoded in the Dharmasastras and the Arthasastra. The Dharmasastras describe many crimes and their punishments and calls for the death penalty in several instances.

There are also aspects of Hindu teaching which can be invoked to prevent the use of the death penalty. The Mahabharata contains passages arguing against the use of the death penalty in all cases. An example is a dialogue between King Dyumatsena and his son Prince Satyavan (section 257 of the Santiparva) where a number of men are brought out for execution at the King's command.

Capital punishment - In arts and entertainment

Capital punishment - Literature

In the short story by Edgar Allen Poe, The Black Cat, the narrator is writing the day before he is put to death.

In The Stranger (L'Etranger) by Albert Camus, the main character is sentenced to death for shooting and killing an Arab on the beach.

In The Chamber by John Grisham, a young lawyer tries to save a klansman on death row who is awaiting his execution in the gas chamber.

In An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce, the main character is sentenced to be hanged, but escapes back to his home. Near the end of his journey, it is shown that his entire escape sequence was a vision in the seconds before the rope breaks his neck. There have been at least three film adaptations.

Capital punishment - Art

The electric chair was used to promote the electric industry in the early days of its inception and was by 1971 an icon of Americana. Andy Warhol famously depicted the electric chair in his 1971 screenprint series. The image was repeatedly printed in a range of colors including pink, blue and yellow. Warhol's art often demonstrated a preoccupation with death, and dealt directly with the commercialisation of violence and the ease with which modern technology had made killing possible.

Andres Serrano's portrait entitled "Piss Christ" (a photograph of a small plastic crucifix submerged in a glass of the artist's urine) examines the hypocrisy that he believes many supposed Christians exhibit when they attempt to justify the death penalty by citing sacred Christian scripture; for example the use of "an eye for an eye" over Christ's teaching (from the Sermon on the Mount) of "turning the other cheek."

Capital punishment - Film

Capital punishment has been the basis of many motion pictures including Dead Man Walking based on the book by Sister Helen Prejean, The Green Mile, and The Life of David Gale.

Capital punishment - TV

• On the television drama The West Wing episode called "Take This Sabbath Day", President Bartlet and his senior staff face the moral and political struggle associated with the death penalty.
• The TV Show Prison Break is about a man trying to save his brother from the death penalty.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Capital punishment", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki