Barbaric PunishmentDuring the past three decades the issue of capital punishment has been very controversial inside the United States. During 1972 the US Supreme Court decided that the death penalty was unconstitutional because it was a form of “cruel and unusual punishment”. However, this decision did not last long; in July 1975 the Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment did not violate any parts of the Constitution. Executions as they had before 1972 resumed again. Since then 180 prisoners have been executed. The United States Supreme Court should abolish the death penalty because it is a form of “cruel and unusual punishment”. Under our current U.S. Constitution prisoners of the government cannot be subjected to any kind of punishment which is cruel and unusual. However all the forms of capital punishment that the government uses are questionable as to whether or not they are legal according to the Constitution. Forms of capital punishment that are still used in the United States include hanging, firing squad, electrocution, gas chamber, and lethal injection and all methods of executing are barbaric. According to many police officers or chiefs who have to witness the death penalty, capital punishment should be abolished because they are sick of having to watch the sufferings of those executed. The death penalty should be abolished because it is a barbaric form of punishment which should not be allowed in the United States which is supposed to be one of the most civilized nations in the world. It should also be abolished because it defies the U.S. Constitution, which most Americans hold sacred. In addition to this, death penalty doesn’t obtain its goal because it doesn’t deter crime. [The Internet] Task IV. Find out arguments the author uses against the death penalty. Task III. Read the following text to be ready to discuss the problem of capital punishment. Capital Punishment Supporters of capital punishment believe that death is a just punishment for certain serious crimes. Many also believe that it deters others from committing such crimes. Opponents argue that execution is cruel and uncivilized. Capital punishment involves not only the pain of dying (e.g. James Autry took ten minutes to die of lethal injection in Texas, 1984) but also the mental anguish of waiting, sometimes for years, to know if and when the sentence will be carried out. Opponents also argue that there is no evidence that it deters people from committing murder any more than imprisonment does. A further argument is that, should a mistake be made, it is too late to rectify it once the execution has taken place. As the debate about capital punishment continues, the phenomenon of death row (people sentenced but still alive) increases. In 1991, no one was executed in Japan, but three people were sentenced to death, bringing the total number on death row to fifty. Sakae Menda lived under sentence of death for thirty-three years before obtaining a retrial and being found not guilty. The debate also involves the question of what punishment is for. Is the main aim to deter? This was certainly the case in 18th century England when the penalty for theft was supposed to frighten people from stealing and compensate for inabilities to detect and catch thieves. Is it revenge or retribution? Is it to keep criminals out of society? Or is it to reform and rehabilitate them? [2].
Comprehension
1. What are the arguments for capital punishment? 2. What are the arguments against capital punishment? 3. What do you personally think of capital punishment?
Speaking Task I. Match the court sentence in the left column with the punishment in the right one.
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