Many people support the death penalty, and a lot of them use the
             defense that comes from the Bible: an eye for eye, and a limb for a limb. I on
             the otherhand believe otherwise. Punishment by death, in my opinion, is a
             very barbaric way of penalization . In the world, it is known that at least
             2500 prisoners are executed in at least 37 different countries, on an annual
             basis. There will be various statistics, opinions, history, and background
             information discussed through out the residuum of this thesis.
             The history of the death penalty, dates back to the days of Hammurabi
             and his code to the days of the present. The methods nowadays are certainly
             different, but the objective and goal has remained the same. The earliest
             known date of any form of organized capital punishment was in 1750 B.C.,
             with Hammurabi and his code. The Bible prescribed death for more than 30
             different crimes, including: murder, treason, theft, arson, and rape, to name a
             few. In the Medieval Times, treason ( grand and petty ) murder, larceny,
             rape, and arson were all crimes recognized as punishable by death. During
             the reigns of King Canute and William the Conqueror, it was not used at all.
             By 1800, though, more than 200 crimes were construed as punishable
             by death, but most were commuted by a royal pardon. In the American
             Colonies, in the years before the Revolution, it was commonly for a wide
             variety of offenses. Near the end of the 18th century, though, efforts to
             abolish it arose in Europe. It was led mainly by the Quakers, who believed in
             non-violence all together. Then when influential documents arose, it
             prompted and inspired the great French philosopher, Voltaire, to oppose it
             At the present there are many fundamental questions raised pertaining
             to the fact that with the death penalty intact and fully operational, isn't the
             government condoning killing. Also, isn't the government b...