Five years after the inhumane execution of the Clutter family, the callous perpetrators, Perry Smith and Richard Hitchcock were executed for the heinous crime. Due to their many appeals, Hitchcock and Smith managed to defer their ultimately inevitable demise for several years. The appeals were filed on the behalf of Hitchcock, claiming that the trial was biased, as well as the jury and the judge. Each appeal led to the same conclusion, that the trail was unbiased. On April 14, 1965, Both Perpetrators were executed by hanging.
Homicides are unlike many others, since one’s intentions are discrete as soon as they have a reason to murder. Threatened obligations are innumerable due to the character's personality and their way of thinking into certain circumstances, although a distinct detail can affect the situation. When little to none consequences have any impact to the “murderer” who caused victim's injury, or death, they are responsible regardless of what their intentions are. For instance, a distressed officer, U.S. Marshal Edward Mars, pleaded to end his miserable life due to the pain he was suffering from the shrapnel. Everyone in the camp suggests the cruel deed.
Society is a structure that besieges every individual. Its daunting presence is inescapable. In Eric Larson’s novel, The Devil In The White City, the stories of two strangers living in close proximity to each other are presented. Both men had goals they dedicated themselves to and challenges they had to conquer, yet the two couldn’t be more disparate. The first man, Burnham was the head architect of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, and the second, H.H. Holmes, was an atrocious serial killer.
Framing Truths How do we know what is true? How do we know if a man sentenced to death was truly a murderer? A question echoed by thousands of people revolting against the death penalty as the story of Todd Willingham made it to the headlines. In The New Yorker, under the title of Trial by Fire, came the terrifying enigma: “Did Texas execute an innocent man?” followed by a thorough listing of the evidence that was used to convict Willingham of setting his house on fire and resulting in the death of his three children, and how they were later disproved. There is a great misconception about the source of controversy in issues like these.
Picture a plane in the mid-1950s. Its passengers a few adults spread amongst a crowd of young children between the ages of 6-12. The plane is struck while flying through the midst of a war, causing it to crash. It 's expected that people die and live, but pertaining to the Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, only a group of boys ages 6-12 survive. But, imagine it is girls who survived?
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, and the debate about its abolition is the largest point of the essay written by Steve Earle, titled "A Death in Texas”. This form of punishment should be abolished for 3 reasons; First, It does not seem to have a direct effect on deterring murder rates, It has negative effects on society, and is inconsistent with American ideals. To begin, the death penalty is unnecessary since it is ineffective at deterring rates of murder. In fact, 88% of the country's top criminologists do not believe the death penalty acts as a deterrent to homicide, according to the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. In opposition, supporters may argue that it may indeed help to deter murder rates as they have
Igor Primoratz sets forth an argument that to ensure justice in the legal system the utilization of capital punishment is necessary. According to Primoratz there is no punishment of any equivalence to that of murder, whereas for less severe crimes fines and prison time is reasonable. Primoratz argument consists of three defences to common feedback to the action of capital punishment. The one that was most appealing to me being whether it violates the right to life. To this he responds that when the took the life of another human they lost this right; as these right are only given to those who respect the rights of others.
Most people think that murder is something that would never happen to themselves or anyone they know. They think of murder as a very serious and awful event that is not a common thing in life. Ernest J. Gaines takes a different perspective and makes murder a common part of life in his book, A Gathering of Old Men. In A Gathering of Old Men, Ernest J. Gaines desensitizes readers to murder to expose racial tensions in the South through characters talking about their murdered relatives, characters discussing murder, and characters being murdered.
Argument against the abolishment of death penalty Over the years death penalty has been a consequence of the criminal acts around the world. It existed in various forms, depending on the cultural background of the society, and is still successfully implemented as a punitive measure in the countries of Central America, Asia and Africa. The debates around the issue between the supporters and the abolitionists continue for decades with no end in sight. In these volatile times of uncertainty and indetermination the world community is questioning whether the death penalty is a historically entrenched act of justice or an intolerable violation of human rights.
Imagine if you or one of your siblings decided to murder your parents for financial gain and went through with it. The Menendez brothers were faced with the fact that they could be tried and convicted for exactly that. With the false evidence the brothers created to plead self defense, the conviction was going to be a lot harder than expected. It took 2 trials to finally sentence them to life in different prisons without the possibility parole. Lyle and Erik Menendez were found guilty of murdering their parents for 14 million dollars of inheritance money.
Insanity Defense The insanity defense has the notion that some individuals are mentally disturbed that they are unable to understand their actions and it would be a violation to hold them responsible. Smith states that the insanity defense is a plea used by the defense to show lack of mental potential of a person when committing a crime. (Smith, 2012)