The Price For Death Penalty Essays - Capital Punishment, Penology

The Price For Death Penalty Costs of the Death Penalty. James Wheeler 3/6/00 Government 400.3 The Costs of the Death Penalty in the United States Capital punishment has existed in the US since colonial times. Since then, more than 13,000 people have been legally executed. Today, there are only twelve states which do not have the death penalty: Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin, as well as Washington D.C. The locations of these states are important because they illustrate the lack of ideological homogeneity usually associated with geographical regions of the US. The methods of execution are as varied as their locations. The word capital in capital punishment refers to a persons head, as, historically, execution was performed by cutting off the head. Today, there are generally five methods of execution used in the US. Hanging, the gas chamber, lethal injection, the electric chair and the firing squad are all used, some notably less than others. I n 1930, the Bureau of Justice Statistics began keeping stats on capital punishment nationwide. From 1930 until 1967, 3859 people were executed in the US, 3334 for murder (www. uaa). Thats an average of almost 105 people per year, three out of five of which were executed in the South. By 1967, all but ten states had laws for capital punishment. Nationally, strong pressure was steadily placed on the federal government by those opposed to capital punishment which resulted in an unofficial moratorium on executions until 1976. Officially, the Supreme Court ruled capital punishment unconstitutional in 1972. In Furman v. Georgia,408 U.S. 238 (1972), a 5-4 Supreme Court decision ruled that CP laws in their present form were arbitrary and capricious and constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment as well as due process of the Fourteenth Amendment (www.aclu). In its decision, the Court voted that the death penalty statutes were vague and ambiguous, providing little guidance to juries in deciding whether to apply the death penalty. This caused states which still wanted the death penalty to revise their legislation to satisfy the Supreme Courts objection to the arbitrary nature of execution. State governments tried two new strategies to be more specific and direct in death penalty trials: guided discretion and the mandatory death penalty. In Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153 (1976) among others, the Supreme Court gave sentencing courts the right to impose sentences of death for specific crimes and allowed a two-stage (bifurcated) trial (www.cpa). In the first stage, the guilt or innocence of the defendant is established, while in the second stage, the jury or the judge (depending on the state) determines the sentence. Mandatory death penalty for specific crimes, on the other hand, was deemed unconstitutional because of cases such as Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280 (1976). These rulings lead to the modification of each states statutes regarding the death penalty (www.uaa). The moratorium ended and executions resumed in January 1977. Capital punishment remains, as it ahs always been, controversial and heavily debated on both philosophical (moral) grounds as well as on a strictly financial basis. Both sides, however, seem to be able to crunch the numbers and make their arguments in a way which supports their claims. Today, one of the major points of debate about the death penalty is that of cost. Some of those who support the death penalty defend it as a cost-effective alternative to life in prison. Those who oppose capital punishment conversely say that it costs a significant amount more to kill someone than to incarcerate them for life. What tends to occur is that advocates of the death penalty focus the debate on post trial costs, particularly incarceration, while opponents focus on the trial cost itself. Time Magazine (as of 12/95) found that, nationwide, the average cell cost is $24,000 per year and the avera ge maximum-security cell cost is $75,000 per year (www.prodeathpenalty). Illustrating how statistics are made to fit the agendas, the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), a leading anti- death penalty organization, claims that, in Texas, a state known for its liberal use of the death penalty, it would cost three times as much to execute

Free Essays on Group Dynamics

The Wu Tang clan is a nine-member hip-hop group that formed in 1992. Since 1992 the group has gone on to find success as a group and as solo artist. The Wu Tang Clan is easily one of the most influential hip-hop groups of all time. The group has taken aspects from every area such as kung fu to religion and blended them into a unique brand of music that is many times imitated but never duplicated. What makes the group able to blend such a wide variety of topics into its music is the diversity and ability of its members. The group consists of the Rza, Genius, Method Man, Inspectah Deck, U God, Old Dirty Bastard, Masta Killah, Reakwon and Ghost Face Killah. Each member brings their own style to the group, which in the end allows the group to have a wide variety that encompasses all areas that needs to be touch within a true musical performance. The group can cover many areas when doing a song unlike other groups that can only do one musical style. All the members of the group are innate , strong songwriters who spark and complement each other. What is a group? The definition of a group is two or more interdependent individuals who influence one another through social interaction. According to this definition the Wu Tang Clan would be considered a group. To say that the Wu Tang Clan is a group based on just that definition would be incomplete; the group demonstrates many other characteristics of a group. First off, the group shows a great deal of interaction. Interaction is when group members do things to and with other. To break it down even more interactions can be broken down into tasks or socioemotional. In task interaction the group must interact to accomplish a goal. The Wu Tang Clan demonstrates task interaction when the group comes together to make a group album. This would be considered a task interaction because the group is working together on one goal, which is to make an album. Socioemotional tasks are much more interpersonal.... Free Essays on Group Dynamics Free Essays on Group Dynamics The Wu Tang clan is a nine-member hip-hop group that formed in 1992. Since 1992 the group has gone on to find success as a group and as solo artist. The Wu Tang Clan is easily one of the most influential hip-hop groups of all time. The group has taken aspects from every area such as kung fu to religion and blended them into a unique brand of music that is many times imitated but never duplicated. What makes the group able to blend such a wide variety of topics into its music is the diversity and ability of its members. The group consists of the Rza, Genius, Method Man, Inspectah Deck, U God, Old Dirty Bastard, Masta Killah, Reakwon and Ghost Face Killah. Each member brings their own style to the group, which in the end allows the group to have a wide variety that encompasses all areas that needs to be touch within a true musical performance. The group can cover many areas when doing a song unlike other groups that can only do one musical style. All the members of the group are innate , strong songwriters who spark and complement each other. What is a group? The definition of a group is two or more interdependent individuals who influence one another through social interaction. According to this definition the Wu Tang Clan would be considered a group. To say that the Wu Tang Clan is a group based on just that definition would be incomplete; the group demonstrates many other characteristics of a group. First off, the group shows a great deal of interaction. Interaction is when group members do things to and with other. To break it down even more interactions can be broken down into tasks or socioemotional. In task interaction the group must interact to accomplish a goal. The Wu Tang Clan demonstrates task interaction when the group comes together to make a group album. This would be considered a task interaction because the group is working together on one goal, which is to make an album. Socioemotional tasks are much more interpersonal....

Toyota Motor Corporation -with the reference to the key principles and Essay

Toyota Motor Corporation -with the reference to the key principles and approaches of business ethics, critically evaluate its performance - Essay Example (Company Description, April 2009) Ethics stands for a discipline which provides a framework for considering what is good or bad in relation to basic principles of morality (Baker D., 2009). Whereas business ethics on the other hand stands for right and wrong in context of the business world along with its principles and practices (Baker D., 2009). A business entity does not function in segregation from the society; in fact it is an integral part of the social environment. Therefore ethics play an important role in its relations to the other stake holders from the society, like customers, suppliers, workers, government, etc. It is being alleged in automotive circles especially in context of the US market that Toyota pays its workers much less than what the Big Three of US auto i.e. Chrysler, Ford and General Motors pay their workers. This is an area of contention for Toyota. An organization like Toyota has a considerable part of its operations in manufacturing. In this era of global warming and climate change, environment friendliness of a company’s manufacturing processes also fall within the realm of its core values and basic ethical philosophy. How the company is performing can be found out by relating it in context of different ethical theories. Moral theories on are segmented into three basic types: teleological theories, deontological theories and virtue-based theories. The basic premise of this theory is that ethical behavior is goal oriented. This approach says that entities are in dilemma while choosing a particular course of action in terms of achieving a goal. Morality lies in the chosen action’s negative or positive properties. If an action is chosen which has negative connotations, the theory then points it out to be amoral and when the opposite or positive connotation is prevalent, the theory points it out as moral. It is the consequence of the actions or approaches chosen , which is termed important teleological theories.