What is Punishable?

Top Four Crimes for Capital Punishment

Today, thousands of inmates in prison are on death row for crimes that are so extreme and unimaginable. These inmates have received the ultimate punishment of death called capital punishment. 

What is capital punishment? Capital punishment is the authorized killing of an inmate for a capital crime they have committed. You might ask, how does someone receive capital punishment? Here we will count down the Top Four Crimes for capital punishment.

4. Mental Issues

Figure 1: An illustration representing a
mentally unstable inmate

In the United States today, inmates who have committed some of the worst crimes can be excused from receiving capital punishment if they are mentally unstable. In other words, a lot of inmates go under a mental examination to see if they are mentally unstable after they commit a capital crime. If an inmate is not mentally stable, they are excused from receiving capital punishment because it is ruled by the government that it is unconstitutional for an inmate with mental issues to receive such a punishment. The inmate was not in a normal mental state when they committed their crime. Although the United States excuses inmates from capital punishment because of mental issues, other countries still continue forward with capital punishment. Although most countries are able to stop capital punishment against those who are mentally unstable, some fail to identify disabilities in many crime cases (1). In Japan, many people have been executed even after a mental instability was found (1). 

3. Treason, Drug Trafficking, Aircraft Hijacking

Treason, drug trafficking, and aircraft hijackings are just one of many crimes on the same scale of receiving capital punishment (2). These crimes are punishable by death if they are extreme cases, resulting in someone's death. Some of these crimes are considered capital crimes. A capital crime is a crime usually against ones own country resulting in capital punishment. These crimes are only one of many that could end with capital punishment whether the criminal has committed murder or not.

2. Rape of a child

Figure 2: Inmate, Patrick O' Kennedy

In some states, if the case involving the rape of a child is extreme enough, capital punishment can be considered as the ultimate consequence (2). Capital punishment for the rape of an adult is considered to be too extreme and unconstitutional (2). Because a child is a minor, it makes the crime far more justifiable for the death penalty, especially if the crime is done more than once. In figure 2, a man named, Patrick O' Kennedy, in Louisiana committed the awful crime on his 8 year old stepdaughter and coached her to lie to police and blame two innocent boys that lived in the neighborhood as suspects in the crime (4). The rape of a child is not a common crime for capital punishment so it is rare if a case reaches the level where capital punishment is considered. Kennedy is one of two inmates on death row for committing a crime that does not involve murder.

1. Murder

At number one, murder is the top and most common crime for a criminal to receive capital punishment. The death of another person is considered one of the ultimate crimes and most justifying for capital punishment (2). Every single person on death row today has committed the act of murder except two. Not every murderer receives capital punishment, in other words, most inmates receive a life sentence in prison (3). Capital punishment exists for some of the worst murders. Murderers that receive capital punishment usually have committed a first degree murder. A first degree murder is a murder that has been planned out beforehand and usually done in a brutal way (3). In extreme murder cases, capital punishment is considered as one of the ways of harsh punishment for these criminals.

References

(1) Amnesty International. (2017). Death Penalty. Retrieved from https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/death-penalty/

(2) Crimes Punishable by the Death Penalty. (2017). Retrieved from https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/crimes-punishable-death-penalty

(3) Punishment for Murder. (n.d.). Retrieved May 03, 2017, from http://www.crimemuseum.org/crime-   library/punishment-for-murder/

(4) Vogue, A. D. (2008). Death Penalty for Child Rape? Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/SCOTUS/story?id=4650696