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Capital Punishment In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

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An Alabama jury tries a black man for raping a white woman and rules him guilty. By Alabama law, raping has a sentence of death. Raping another human can never acceptable nor justifiable; however, ending that man’s life may also be unacceptable. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom Robinson- an innocent man- was convicted of raping a young Mayella Ewell and was sentenced to his death by his Alabama jury. Lee conveys several disappointments about the verdict through her characters. For instance, Dill broke down crying (Lee 256), and Jem could not be more shocked and saddened (Lee 287). The death penalty has been debated for many decades. In the 1930s, there were more executions than ever before- 167 average per year or around 1670 executions that decade. As of 2016, there were 31 executions which shows a large change on the use of this punishment. People started the Capital Punishment debate in the early 1950s, and it perseveres as a very controversial topic (History of Death Penalty). Capital Punishment is a very permanent solution to problems, and it has several drawbacks- like its improper methods of execution; it is also unethical, immoral, and often discriminatory.
According to the 8th amendment, the government can neither impose excessive taxes or fines on citizens nor can it sentence cruel or unusual punishments. This amendment was based on the English Bill of Rights, and it was originally created to prevent unusual punishments like branding or strangling. At the

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