Capital Punishment
            
             Capital punishment is the lawful infliction of the death penalty and since ancient times it has been used to punish a wide variety of offenses. The Bible prescribes death for murder and many other crimes such as kidnapping and witchcraft. Major felonies carry the death penalty and some of these felonies are treason, murder, larceny, burglary, rape, and arson. In the 1800's however, England enacted many new capital offenses, and hundreds of persons were being sentenced to death each year. In the United States prior to the Civil War the death penalty was imposed on slaves for many crimes, but the penalty for others were less severe. Today, in 37 of the 50 states you can be sentenced to death if found guilty of a crime worthy of the death penalty. The United States is the only western democratic nation that has not banned the practice of capital punishment (Levine 160). Capital punishment is not answer to crime. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; o!
             nly light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction" (mccsc.edu). Due to lack of a fair trial, innocence on death row, and the myth that it saves citizens money, the death penalty should be abolished. The US constitution states, "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense." The US system is very good about keeping this right for every accused criminal. Although, there ...