Interest groups dealing with Capital Punishment
             Interest groups lobbying hard in Congress play an important role in determining how our society views the term 'capital punishment.' Most people come to know the term capital punishment as the death penalty. Here is a little background information on what the underlying principle is behind this type of execution for criminals. It first got established in 18th century BC down in Babylonia. This tribe had punished those by death from about 25 different crimes. The death sentences were enforced upon by drowning, crucifixion, stoning or by burning the offender alive. By the turn of the 16th century, some of the more common methods of execution ranged from boiling, stake burning, hanging and beheading. Times have changed though and much of society has turned against this form of cruel punishment. There are human rights group fighting day in and day out to abolish this principle. The more common methods presently are by lethal injection, gas chamber and electrocution. The issue surround capital punishment will be mainly focused here in the United States. Not all states agree in using capital punishment. Hawaii, Alaska, Minnesota and Michigan are some states that refuse to incorporate the death penalty in their legislature. It seems like many more interest groups are against the death penalty rather than for it. There is an internet site which showed a few of the groups who were anti-death penalty. (www.deathpenaltyinfo.com)
             Amnesty International was established in 1961 by an English lawyer. Peter Benenson initially opposed capital punishment for reason that a person should never be tortured or executed because of their extreme religious or outside opinions against the government. By 1971, they took a stance whereas opposing any type of sentence towards death. In 1989, they organized a worldwide campaign to stop this cruel and unusual punishment and teamed up ...