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Historically, execution has served as a significant form of punishment for deviance from social norms and criminal behavior. Cap

admin2010-06-18  71
问题    Historically, execution has served as a significant form of punishment for deviance from social norms and criminal behavior. Capital punishment is no longer in use in Great Britain, but King Henry VIII executed an estimated 72,000 thieves and vagabonds during his long reign. When the American colonists came from England in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, they brought some of, but not all, the English laws concerning punishment for capital crimes.
   For centuries, the death penalty was used in North America for murder, alleged witchcraft, and a few other crimes. Little thought was given to its justification; capital punishment was assumed to be morally and religiously justified. The first critical challenge to this practice came in 1821 when a study of the Louisiana criminal code recommended repeal of the death penalty. This suggestion was not adopted in Louisiana, but, ironically, it led to abolition of capital punishment in several South American countries.
   In 1834, Pennsylvania became the first American state to end its use of executions. Although certain states followed Pennsylvania’s lead, the history of the death penalty in the United States over the last 100 years has been rather uneven. As some states abolish capital punishment, others reinstate it. Currently, 37 states, the military, and federal statutes provide for execution for selected crimes.
   The debate over the death penalty has traditionally focused on its appropriateness as a form of punishment and its value in deterring criminals. Viewed from the functionalist perspective of Emile Durkheim, sanctioning of deviant acts helps to reinforce the standards of proper behavior within a society. In this light, supporters of capital punishment insist that fear of execution will prevent at least some criminals from committing serious offenses. Moreover, in their view, the death penalty is justified even if it does not serve as a deterrent, because such criminals deserve to die for their crimes.
   By contrast, opponents of capital punishment have long attacked it as "legalized murder". For example, in the last weeks of his term as governor of New Mexico in 1986, Toney Anaya commuted the death sentences of all five men awaiting execution in the state. Anaya called the death penalty "inhumane, immoral, and anti-God" and added that "my personal beliefs do not allow me to permit the execution of an individual in the name of the state."
   Opponents of the death penalty point out that a 1985 report identified 343 Americans wrongly convicted of offenses punishable by death since 1900, 25 of whom were actually executed. For example, in 1979 a black man was sentenced to death for the murder of a 4 year-old white girl. He received a stay only days before his scheduled execution when the victim’s mother implicated another person; the man’s conviction was subsequently overturned. Critics argue that the possibility of error in the criminal justice system in itself makes capital punishment morally offensive. They also insist that the death penalty violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against "cruel and unusual punishment." Thus far, they have failed to persuade the Supreme Court that their constitutional argument is valid.
   In 1976, in the case of Gregg vs. Georgia, the Court held that executions can be appropriate so long as they do not involve needless pain or suffering and are not grossly out of proportion to the severity of the crime. This ruling and others were especially significant, since no executions had taken place since 1967. In part, this reflected a lull in the criminal justice system as officials waited to see how the Supreme Court would assess the constitutionality of the death penalty.  In the aftermath of the Court’s decisions, one execution took place amidst national publicity in 1977 and another in 1979.  Executions became more common in the early 1980s; in 1987, there were 25. Moreover, there were more inmates on "death row" in 1987 than at any other time in American history.
The case of Gregg vs. Georgia in 1976 ______.
选项 A、resulted in a sharp decrease of executions ever since
B、led to a number of erroneous executions
C、showed that the Supreme Court was authoritative on death penalty
D、caused a constitutional argument over the morality of death penalty
答案C
解析
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