Capital Punishment

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where the criminal was
sentenced to death.

In America, only thirty-seven states authorize the death penalty. In
most of those thirty-seven states, murder is the only capital crime. The
Supreme Court requires that two conditions must be met in order for a specific
murder to warrant the death penalty (Nardo 32). The first condition is that it
must be first degree murder, which is the deliberate and premeditated taking of
life. The second is that one or more aggravating circumstances must be present.
Aggravating Circumstances refer to those aspects of a crime that increase its
severity. An example of an aggravating circumstance would be torture in
conjunction with a murder. ("Capital Punishment" 32).

Every society has faced the problem of what to do with its most
troublesome criminals. Many people in the past have argued whether or not
Capital Punishment is justified and necessary.

Most societies now believe that a criminal should receive punishment
proportional to the ...

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