Capital Punishment among Teenagers

I.Introduction /Rationale
This research report is about the capital punishment among teenagers. To Inform teenagers to
avoid of making crimes, it shows how teenagers affected by doing the crimes and how they are
punish. As a society, we recognize that children, those under 18 years old, can not and do not
function as adults. That is why the law takes special steps to protect children from the
consequences of their actions and often seeks to ameliorate the harm cause when children make
wrong choices by giving them a second chance. The law prohibits people under eighteen from
voting, serving in the military and on juries, but in some states, they can be executed for crimes
they committed before they reach adulthood. The United States Supreme Court prohibits
execution for crimes committed at the age of fifteen or younger. Nineteen states have laws
permitting the execution of persons who committed crimes at sixteen or seventeen. The concern
of the death penalty not only pertains to social problems, but also to biblical aspects as well.
Walter Berns states many passages from the Bible that support the death penalty, but after careful
research he determines that the passages can be interpreted in many different ways. Capital
punishment a legal infliction of death as a penalty for violating the law. Throughout history
people have been put to death for various wrongdoings, methods of execution as that of medieval
times to present have included such practices as crucifixion, stoning, drowning, burning at the
stake, impaling, and beheading. Today's capital punishment is typically accomplished by lethal
gas or injection, electrocution, hanging or shooting (Uniform Crime Reports). My position in
capital punishment is against it because of several inaccuracies, which may cause an innocent
persons life. Capital punishment also doubles in cost in the execution, the trial, and in time. The
death penalty is the most controversial penal practice in the modern world. Other harsh, physical
forms of criminal punishment referred to as corporal punishment have generally been eliminated
in modern times as uncivilized. In majority of countries contemporary methods of punishments
such as imprisonment or fines no longer involve the inflection of pain. Although imprisonment
and fines are universally recognized as necessary to the control of crime, the nations of the world
are split on the issue of capital punishment. "About eighty nations have abolished the death
penalty and an almost equal number of nations retain it

The real problem with the death penalty in America today isn't a mystery. The real problem is
that we all know what the problems are but cannot or will not muster the political will and moral
courage to fix them. So while it is laudable that President Obama took the time to say he
is deeply troubled by the botched execution in Oklahoma early this weekit beats saying
nothing at allhis solution, commissioning a new study from his attorney general, is mostly a
waste of time. This is especially true since the study the Justice Department has announced it will
undertake"a relatively narrow review," Peter Baker reported in The New York Timeswill
focus only on lethal-injection procedures instead of structural flaws. But the problems with lethal
injections today are both well-documented and indisputable: The procedures are shrouded in
secrecy and thus prone to error, as we saw last week when Oklahoma all but tortured Clayton
Lockett to death. But the broader problems with capital punishment are well-known, too. The
application of the death penalty is racially disparate, geographically arbitrary, and based upon the
economic status of capital defendants. Nearly 40 years after the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated
the death penalty, the capital regime is a mess. Ten days ago, Stephen Bright, president of the
Southern Center for Human Rights, laid it all out in a speech at the United Nations.
Simmons's lawyers argue that adolescents are not as morally culpable as adults and therefore
should not be subject to the death penalty. They claim that this view reflects worldwide
"changing standards of decency," a trend that has been recognized in many U.S. courts. Today,
31 states and the federal government have banned the juvenile death penalty. The latest to do so,
Wyoming and South Dakota, considered brain development research in their decisions. Putting a
17-year-old to death for capital crimes is cruel and unusual punishment, according to this
reasoning. "What was cruel and unusual when the Constitution was written is different from
today. We don't put people in stockades now," says Stephen Harper, a lawyer with the Juvenile
Justice Center of the American Bar Association (ABA), which also signed an amicus curiae brief.
"These standards mark the progress of a civilized society."The defense is focusing on the
"culpability of juveniles and whether their brains are as capable of impulse control, decisionmaking, and reasoning as adult brains are," says law professor Steven Drizin of Northwestern
University in Chicago. And some brain researchers answer with a resounding "no." The brain's
frontal lobe, which exercises restraint over impulsive behavior, "doesn't begin to mature until 17
years of age," says neuroscientist Ruben Gur of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
"The very part of the brain that is judged by the legal system process comes on board late."But
other researchers hesitate to apply scientists' opinions to settle moral and legal questions.
Although brain research should probably take a part in policy debate, it's damaging to use
science to support essentially moral stances, says neuroscientist Paul Thompson of the University
of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Capital punishment is being applied to deter crimes that involve homicides and to punish the
criminals who commit such crimes. Capital Punishment is not carrying out their intentions in a
positive form. On the contrary, Capital Punishment is putting many criminals to rest in ways in
which many consider to be an atrocity. Society understands that criminals have to be punished
for their crimes, but should they be punished by such crucial means that occasionally give a
negative impact to the public. This document will relate to, how the system of capital punishment
gives the wrong idea to the public, why evidence shows that deterrence doesn't have a huge role
in homicide crimes now in days, how does the system of capital punishment give a negative
concept on certain points, how discrimination also applies in the system of capital punishment,
how does the system of capital punishment, in a certain way, breaks the rights of humans. The
system of capital punishment gives the wrong idea to the public including the young minds of
children. Justice occasionally asks for homicide crimes to be paid for by death, using the phrase
"paid for, which gives two ideas. One, paying with his or her life as if the criminal is debt with
the law stating that it is acceptable to murder a person if the person is in debt with someone.
Two, showing a sign of revenge as in saying: "I'll make you suffer for that(Hugo 272). Capital
Punishment provides, to the eye of the public including children, an idea that revenge is not an
evil or terrible action. This idea goes against the morals that parents and society has given to
children and to themselves as well. This picture of revenge can cause any person in society to kill
another person because of revenge.
Britain influenced America's use of the death penalty more than any other country. When
European settlers came to the new world, they brought the practice of capital punishment. The
first recorded execution in the new colonies was that of Captain George Kendall in the
Jamestown colony of Virginia in 1608.

IV. Discussion

Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is a government sanctioned

practice whereby a person is put to death by the state as a punishment for a crime.
The sentence that someone be punished in such a manner is referred to as a death
sentence, whereas the act of carrying out the sentence is known as an execution. Crimes
that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The
term capital is derived from the Latin capitalis ("of the head", referring to execution by
beheading). Fifty-eight countries retain capital punishment, 102 countries have
completely abolished it de jure for all crimes, six have abolished it for ordinary crimes
(while maintaining it for special circumstances such as war crimes), and 32 are

abolitionist in practice. Capital punishment is a matter of active controversy in various

countries and states, and positions can vary within a single political ideology or cultural
region. In the European Union, Article 2 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the
European Union prohibits the use of capital punishment. [3] Also, the Council of Europe,
which has 47 member states, prohibits the use of the death penalty by its members.

Death penalty for juveniles should not be allowed.There are those people in the United
States believe we, as a nation, should be tough on crimes and that if someone commits
murder or rape, they should be executed regardless of their age. Killing juveniles is not
only uncivilized, it is also morally wrong, it discriminates based on race and gender and
does not serve as a deterrent in reducing crimes. A juveniles brain is not fully developed
like an adult and therefore he/she cannot comprehend the severity and the repercussions
of his/her actions. They tend to be impulse driven, highly reactive and many have
problems thinking ahead. Due to the fact that juveniles can be easily swayed by peer
pressure, they tend not to heed the consequences. Scientific research shows that
juveniles are underdeveloped and immature, particularly in the areas of the brain that
dictate reason, impulse control and decision-making The majority of juveniles that are
sitting on death row have a history of being physically and mentally abused along with
undiagnosed but treatable psychiatric disorders. They include Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder and many learning disabilities. A study conduct by a
legal group found that A high percentage of juveniles on death row have suffered from
mental abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, drug addiction and severe poverty A next
reason is that due to the fact that juveniles are not fully mature they tend to have a
difficultly handling pressure and can be easily swayed by authorities into confessing to a
crime that they did not commit during an interrogation

Crime is everywhere. Wherever we look, we find criminals and crime. Criminals have
become a part of our daily lives. Does this mean we let them be the darkness of our
society? No, definitely not. Eliminating crime and criminals is our duty, and we cannot
ignore it. Getting the rightly accused to a just punishment is very important. Some
criminals commit a crime because they have no other option to survive, but some do it for
fun. I do not advocate death penalty for everybody. A person, who stole bread from a
grocery store, definitely does not deserve death penalty. However, a serial killer, who
kills people for fun or for his personal gain, definitely deserves death penalty. Death
penalty should continue in order to eliminate the garbage of our society. Not everybody
deserves to die, but some people definitely do. I support death penalty because of several
reasons. Firstly, I believe that death penalty serves as a deterrent and helps in reducing
crime. Secondly, it is true that death penalty is irreversible, but it is hard to kill a wrongly
convicted person due to the several chances given to the convicted to prove his

innocence. Thirdly, death penalty assures safety of the society by eliminating these
criminals. Finally, I believe in "lex tallionis" - a life for a life.

Executing a person kills him before the time of their natural death. Some Christians
believe that God places people on Earth for a purpose. If we kill them prematurely, then
we may be thwarting God's will.

V. Conclusion/Recommendation
Capital punishment feeds the cycle of violence in society by pandering to a lust for revenge. It
brutalizes us and deadens our sensitivities to the precious nature of every single human life."
Most Rev. David B. Thompson, Bishop of Charleston, S.C., December, 1998. I believe that
killing, is killing and it is wrong. No one should ever have the right to take another persons life.
But in todays society, the government presumes that those who commit horrible crimes should be
executed. There are many reasons why I strongly support the abolishment of capital punishment
including, my religious beliefs, the cost of execution, and the fact that capital punishment in the
United States is flawed and furthermore unconstitutional. As a Catholic I feel that only God
should judge us. The supreme court should not have the option to decide weather we live or die.
Pope John Paul II once said that the death penalty is both cruel and unnecessary. "Modern
society has the means of protecting itself, without definitively denying criminals the chance to
reform." I also respect my values of respecting life, all kinds of life. Even though those that are
facing death row have committed terrible crimes and killed innocent we should not execute
them. I think locking them up for the rest of their life is punishment enough. We should make
them feel remorseful for their actions.

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT AMONG

TEENAGERS

A Research Paper
Presented to:
Ms. Ethel Luz E. Medado
St. Michaels College
Iligan City
In fulfillment of the
Requirements in
English 1
By:
Vergara, Allen Andrei M.

XI-Our Lady of Guadalupe

October 2016