capital punishment as a failed ideology
... Since the winter of 1936, the debate over capital punishment has swayed from great public support to meager numbers of proponents. ... Since this first capital punishment poll, there have been many others. A poll in 1966 indicated an all-time low in capital punishment approval ratings when support fell to 42 percent. Since then, support of capital punishment in the United States has grown an average of more than one percentage point a year. Surprisingly, in no year in which capital punishment polls were conducted, has a majority of Americans opposed the death penalty. ... Public support for the death penalty has remained high; however, by government standards, capital punishment is regarded as cruel and unusual. The 8th Amendment to the Constitution provides protection from such punishment declared cruel and unusual. ... All of these things would definitely appear cruel and unusual to people today, the list of overly harsh punishments was expanded in 1947, after the electric chair failed to work twice in capital punishment executions. It was banned from use and declared another form of cruel and unusual punishment. Therefore, it should be visible that with the expanding definition of cruel and unusual punishment and the evolving standards of decency that capital punishment by its very nature is cruel and unusual punishment and should be forbidden. Society as a whole, has always felt a need to play judge over each of its members which demonstrated by the employment of capital punishment dating back to the Middle Ages. ... Capital punishment has no place in a society where government protects the people from any unnecessary harm and morality proves capital punishment unjustifiable and wrong. Proponents of the death penalty have always insisted that capital punishment is a stronghold of our society in protecting the people, and have often based their arguments on providing for the good of society. ... Opponents of capital punishment suggest that the death penalty does not deter crime. However, Allen, in his article Capital Punishment: Your Protection and Mine, states that there is no definitive proof that the death penalty is not a deterrent and therefore, capital punishment does deter crime.