The Philosophy on the Legalization of Drugs Essay Example for Free

The Philosophy on the Legalization of Drugs Essay There are many controversial topics being debated about in the United States. One topic most often debated about is the legalization of drugs. Of course people have their own beliefs and opinions on the subject, but are the arguments discussed about actually valid? Is there enough evidence supporting the premises they claim? These are questions we should ask when observing the arguments people are presenting to defend their beliefs. I believe that drugs should not be legalized for several reasons, but as stated above, different people have different opinions. One of the arguments presented from the people who believe that drugs should be legalized is that the government should not interfere with people’s activities as long as it is not affecting other people’s rights. They state exactly, â€Å"As far as morality is concerned, the decision to use or not use drugs is a personal one that does not directly impinge upon the rights of others, and the government should never forbid activities that do not impinge upon the rights of others. I believe that there are many things wrong with this argument, but the main problem here is that there is no evidence to support the premise, therefore I see it as a false premise. I don’t understand how they can say that drugs doesn’t impinge upon the rights of others when there are drug related crimes happening every day. When people are high on drugs, their minds are altered. Many times while under the influence of an illegal substance, people will commit crimes and put other people’s life in danger. This obviously affects the rights of others because people should not have to be put into danger because of other people’s â€Å"activities†. The legalization of drugs would make it more easily accessible, which in the end would result in more crimes and more people getting hurt. Another argument presented is that everything is dangerous. They state â€Å"Driving on the freeways in L. A. is very dangerous and leads to a good many deaths and injuries; thus, it creates suffering in loved ones, and society as a whole is often called upon to pay for the medical expenses of those injured in accidents. The point is this: if youre going to forbid drugs for the above reason, then you ought to forbid anything which is in the least bit dangerous. † This argument is questionable. Yes, it is true that everything is dangerous, but that is not the part of the argument that is under question. What it is that’s under question in this argument is what they’re saying about forbidding anything that’s dangerous if they’re going to forbid drugs that are dangerous. It is true that everything is dangerous, but drugs are not only dangerous, but they are mind altering. If you go about your day and face dangers, being under the influence of drugs makes your dangers so much higher, because you are not in a stable state of mind. So with this argument we must question the dangers of normal activities versus mind altering activities. The legalization of drugs will definitely result in more danger, and make regular activities dangerous. For example driving, it is illegal for people to drive under the influence, but if people are going to be high all the time, they will most likely not hesitate getting into a car to get to where they need. As they stated, driving is a dangerous activity. The point here is, driving under the influence is an even more dangerous activity. Drugs are not necessities, but in current times, driving is a necessity. We should continue to try and keep people safe by prohibiting the unnecessary dangers.

Purpose of Sunday School

Purpose of Sunday School Respected Achen, parents, children, and my friends. Jesus Christ, the greatest teacher of all, loved children dearly. In Matthew Chapter 18 verse 6, Jesus said for whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Today, December 5th, our church is celebrating Sunday school day, and its the perfect time to stop and reflect on the true importance of Sunday school/ in the lives of the children of our congregation,/ the future of our church. Whether we acknowledge it or not, todays world can be a very dangerous place, with sin and bad influences surrounding us/ almost everywhere we go. In this world, Sunday school acts as a safe place where children can create strong ties and friendships/ with their peers/ and with Jesus Christ. Beyond this role, Sunday school has Five Key responsibilities that it fulfills in our children, and well look at each of these responsibilities separately today. The first and simplest task of Sunday school is/ to teach the Bible to our children. We learn about Gods love as we hear its stories and parables. When most people are asked, What is the most important thing children learn in Sunday school? the answer is often the Bible. In Sunday school, children develop a Christian understanding of the purposes of Scripture. Through these experiences with the Bible in Sunday school, they learn to recognize Gods call to them. The second task of Sunday school is to help us accept Gods grace. Knowing facts from the Bible is not enough. In fact, many non-Christians know more about the Bible than some of us who are Christians. Therefore, knowledge of the Bible doesnt create Christians. What impels a person to become a Christian is the belief that the words of the Bible are Gods message to us. It is the recognition that Gods love shown through Jesus Christ is real. It is the acceptance of Gods saving grace offered through Jesus Christ that enables one to become the person God created him or her to be. Thirdly, Sunday school helps us grow in Christian faith. Christian faith becomes a reality when the lessons of the Bible and our personal experiences of Gods love inspire us to love God and to trust Gods guidance, as we make decisions about our lives each day. Christians want to learn more about Jesus teachings and discover the gifts of God that come through the Holy Spirit. Christians also want to turn their full attention to learning more about what it means to live as a person of faith. They arent satisfied simply knowing the Bible and believing in God; instead Christians want to grow in their understanding of Gods purposes. They want their relationship with God to grow deeper day by day and year by year. The fourth responsibility that Sunday School holds is to guide our children to become mature members of a Christian community. Sunday school teaches us that the ability to grow in relationship to God is possible only in fellowship with other Christians. Although Christians value time alone in prayer and communion with God, we also welcome times to praise God and give thanks for Gods gracious love/ in worship and prayer with one another. Through the bond of Christian relationship that develops, Christians strengthen one another so that they are able to carry their experience of Gods presence and love/ into the activities of their everyday lives. Last and certainly not least, the ultimate task that Sunday school strives to meet is to help its students answer Gods Call to Christian living. Living a Christian life does not come automatically. It comes through study, worship, and learning together. When people learn to follow the example of Jesus Christ, they become Christian examples, revealing the love of God through their own actions at home, at work, at play, or anywhere they may be. Sunday school builds a yearning to follow the example of Jesus, which leads Christians to recognize the needs of others and to seek ways to serve in Gods name. However, Sunday school should not be the end of our religious education. Sunday school is only the beginning for children and youth in their lifelong process of learning, growing, and serving in Christ. Christian education is a never-ending process that is enabled in Christian community, as Christians continue to study, worship, and serve together. The lessons of Christian education make it possible for us to practice love and to live as children of God. How well we learn those lessons day by day will determine what kind of church we are Sunday by Sunday. Ultimately, fostering and nourishing our Sunday school is a sacred responsibility. To give our religious education less than our best would be unfaithful to the life God has called us to live and to the world God has called us to serve. If there is ever a generation somewhere, sometime, that does not know the power of Gods love, it will be because some generation did not continue to teach and learn. The greatest gift that our church has to offer to the children is the strong faith that has been passed down through the generations, so lets take this day to appreciate just how important Sunday school is for the future of our congregation.

the machine that one the war Essay examples -- essays research papers

In the next couple of paragraph’s, I am going to be explaining the themes of irony and conflict in the short story, The Machine That Won the War, by Isaac Asimov. The setting of The Machine That Won the War is the future of the earth, and a great war had just been won against the enemy race. Two men, Swift and Henderson, are the main characters, and are debating over who really won the war for earth. They are discussing whether or not it was the giant strategy computer known as Multivac, or the men in charge of making the maneuvers and programming the computer. The author Isaac Asimov is using description and argument as his modes of discourse for the story. In the story, Henderson who is an excitable man, explained that the fact that Multivac was nothing more than a large machine, only capable of doing what it was programmed of doing. Henderson explained that some of Multivac’s data might have been unreliable. The great computer was capable of creating a direct battle which earth forces could be used to attack their enemies. However, with Henderson imputing faulty data, this caused some of the battle plans to be unreliable. Henderson’s internal conflict between himself losing his job and wanting to keep it made him jingle with the programming until it seemed right. Quote from The Machine That Won the War, on page 201. â€Å"Since the war is won, I’ll tell you what I did. I corrected the data.† â€Å"How?† asked Swift. â€Å"Intuition, I presume, I juggled them till they looked righ...

Star Trek :: essays research papers

"Star Trek": A Chronicle Space... the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship "Enterprise." Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds... to seek out new life and new civilizations... to boldly go where no one has gone before... The above blurb has been used to introduce the television show Star Trek: The Next Generation. The show's run has elapsed that of it's predecessor, the original Star Trek. The original spawned six movies and endless conventions, and both have given way to action figures for children, national clubs, and other various paraphernalia. This is the chronicle to end all chronicles: the full analysis and timeline of one of the most popular television programs in contemporary American history. Americans are fascinated with the possibility of intelligent life somewhere else in the universe; this has been displayed in books and plays and movies too numerous to mention, not to mention the accounts of "everyday people" who say that they have encountered aliens and unidentified flying objects (UFOs). This fascination became so great that in the late 1970s, President Carter decided to launch an investigation within NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) to uncover the mystery of UFOs and intelligent life in the universe. Science fiction plays upon this obsession. The great science fiction writers have sent our imaginations into overload with scores of stories to tell. The two most popular futuristic science fiction stories, Star Trek and Star Wars, both have similar characteristics. Both involve many different species of life (our nearest equivalent would be "races"). The Ferengi, Vulcans, humans, Betazoids, Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, androids, and Bjorans are in the Star Trek series (which includes the original television series, the six movies, the NextGeneration television series, and the television series Deep Space Nine), while the Star Wars movie trilogy includes humans, Wookies, Jawas, Ewoks, droids, Tusken Raiders, and a host of various other strange and exotic looking lifeforms. Each species has its own heritage, customs, beliefs, and socioeconomic status. I am sure that each science fiction storyline has it's own unusual breed of lifeform, but this paper will examine only a particular science fiction storyline which has mushroomed into a cultural obsession. I choose not to focus on the works of Ray Bradbury and the like; I'm sure that they are superb writers. (A fantastic example is Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder," which is the probable predecessor to all of today's hype surrounding the film Jurassic Park and the children's character Barney the dinosaur.) However, I've never heard of a Ray Bradbury convention, or action figures based on characters he's created. Star Trek appeared in the right place at the right time.

Aesthetic Experience and Verbal Art :: Argumentative Philosophy Argument Papers

Aesthetic Experience and Verbal Art It is a common assumption that there is an art which can be defined as literary or verbal. Yet, this definition relies mainly on linguistic criteria. Can literary art also be accounted for philosophically? In this paper I intend to offer such an account. Starting from the Hegelian conception of language and of the aesthetic experience, I shall argue that literary, and more specifically poetic, discourse can be defined as the verbal completion of an aesthetic experience, and that this distinctive feature marks off literary discourse from other types of discourse such as scientific and philosophical discourse. In Hegel's view language is concomitant with self-conscious-ness. (1) The birth of language is to be situated in the transition in the growth of the subject's identity from the conscious moment to the self-conscious moment. To a conscious subject, reality offers itself as an object (Gegenstand) and the world reflects the categorizing activity of the intellect (understanding, Verstand). In the self-conscious subject the world is internalized with the effect that it becomes a presentation (Vorstellung, pictorial concept) of the subject's conceptualization of the world. This presentation is realized in verbal signs. Indeed, the dyadic structure of the sign (signifier/signified) exhibits a minimal degree of materiality together with a maximal degree of signification (meaning). The material aspect of the sign is completely subordinated to the meaning it conveys. To Hegel therefore the verbal sign is a kind of 'objective correlative' to the internalized conceptualization of the world accom plished by the self-conscious subject. In and through language the self-conscious subject expresses its internalized and thus highly subjective perception of the world in an objective verbal presentation. In the transition (Aufhebung, sublation) from consciousness to self-consciousness, i.e. from understanding (Verstand) to insight (Vernunft, reason), there is a momentary equilibrium in which the world yields its opaque materiality and the mind (Vernunft, reason) has not yet fully internalized the object. The empirical world discloses itself in the light of the mind and the latter conforms itself to the former. This sensuous appearance or semblance of meaning (das sinnliche Scheinen der Idee) is the very core of the aesthetic consciousness or experience. In the aesthetic experience the subject does as yet not intend to understand (i.e. the function of the intellect (Verstand)) nor does it want to conceptualize the empirical reality (i.e. the function of reason). In other words: in the aesthetic contemplation there is a momentary harmony between the subjective and the objective aspect of comprehension, between sensuous and rational perception, between rationalization and insight.

San Francisco Bay Consulting

San Francisco Bay Consulting (SF Bay Consulting), as described in the Harvard Business School case by Baker and Monsler (1995), is a leading business consultancy and litigation support group following the goal of providing â€Å"practical application of economic theory to business problems† (p. 1). In order to manipulate and analyze data, high-end software and computers are used to serve clients’ needs.The company faces serious internal problems regarding the relationship between their consultants and the computer services (CS) staff because of disagreements concerning the transfer pricing system, which is applied to alleviate the procurement and payment of computer resources. The major challenges for this system are the heavy price drops for computer hardware and the broadness of the researchers demands.The management of SF Bay Consulting forbids their employees to purchase their own computer hardware and software which leads to frustration among the consultants, espec ially in the case when the CS department refuses to buy and supply certain hardware and software requested by the consultants. The worst scenario occurred when transfer prices produced charges to clients’ bills that exceeded the current market price for the computer as it has happened with the SUN workstation.Donald Learner, Chief Financial Officer of SF Bay Consulting, now sees himself in charge to find a solution to the current problems that is able to satisfy both, the consultants as well as the CS employees. For this purpose, he has identified three options: a) Stick to the current system, b) make CS a profit center, or c) run CS as an expense center. Due to the fact that the current situation at SF Bay Consulting is going to escalade if it is further made use of, option a) is not recommendable and a different solution has to be found.Otherwise the working environment will be seriously affected in the long run and thus efficiency of the company might decrease to an undesi rable level. Option b), to make CS a profit center, would lead to the situation that consultants themselves are allowed to purchase any hardware or software they like and thus focus on problems, others as they are supposed to do. However, this option would lead to the freedom for researchers to purchase the equipment they would like to work with and might free them of their frustrations.Since IT specialists are running the CS department their core competency is not to focus on earning a profit within a competitive environment. While focusing on equipment procurement would distract researchers, the argument of distraction also holds true for the computer experts, which have to refocus and be in charge not only for maintenance but also running a business in a competitive manner. On the other hand this could lead to a more competitive price management that could cause lower costs for the two internal groups.Notwithstanding, Learner and Alex Whalen (founder, president, & CEO of SF Bay C onsulting) both agree that computer purchasing decisions should stay within CS to secure a certain level of compatibility among hardware and software and to avoid maintenance problems. Lastly, option three, to run CS as an expense center, would eliminate internal billing and lead to group profit generated from client charges greater than the CS overhead costs.Even though, there is a possibility of researchers ignoring the costs they provoke with a great deal of requests for CS, this problem might be minor due to the fact that they are not as frustrated as before and thereby reaching a higher level of overall satisfaction. In order to make all employees more sensitive for working efficiently an elaborated group-profit-related bonus system could be introduced at SF Bay Consulting.However, the impact of the bonus system for CS employees has to secure a balance between profit orientation and reasonable investments into hardware and software. Moreover, if all employees generate one overa ll profit together, there will not be any internal competition but a jointed overall goal. In conclusion, choosing option c), to run CS as an expense center is the right recommendation for SF Bay Consulting in order to solve its internal problems.

Capital Punishment: Death Penalty Essay

The word â€Å"Death† itself scares a lot of people, but to get death penalty as one of their punishments sounds really terrifying and grows lots of questions and opinions. Death Penalty has been one of the most controversial social matters, since the early colonization period, in the United States. Whether it serves as a justified form of capital punishment or takes innocent peoples life, death penalty has continually produced a steaming debate. Death Penalty has a long history, starting the eighteen century B.C., when the first death penalty was established during the Babylon era (Center, History of the Death Penalty, 2012). But, death penalty was already carried out during the early fourteenth century and the seventh century. During this time period, death penalty was the answer to all the crimes committed. Several methods of death penalty during the early century were beating to death, execution, burning alive, drowning and etc. (Center, History of the Death Penalty, 2012) . It was the most usual form of punishment that had no laws or regulations placed on them. Britain’s Colonization in the United States in the 1600’s brought several changes as well as the idea of death penalty. Death penalty was one of the most practiced forms of punishment during the colonization period. Captain Kendall, from Jamestown colony in Virginia was the first one to be executed in early 1600 (ACKER, 2003). Many believed that captain Kendall was a spy for Spain. During the Colonial Period, death penalty was implemented for minor offenses such as stealing, killing chickens and etc. As history explains how effective the death penalty was carried out, today’s society reflects a different perspective and mixed opinions about the issue of death penalty. The issue of death penalty reveals both positive and negative perception. Some extremist still believe that death penalty remains an effective method of punishment, whereas many other argue that it is immoral, u nconstitutional, expensive and doesn’t deter the crime. Extremist supportive of capital punishment might argue that death penalty is the only answer to higher offenses such as murder, rape and such. Likewise someone against the idea of capital punishment might think it is immoral to execute someone and to take someone’s life for the crime they did is not rational.  This argument will always keep on moving and we will never reach a definite opinion, where death penalty is still carried out in our country. Britain’s colonization introduced the idea of death penalty to Americans, but during the late 18th century, many Americans began to question whether the death penalty should still be imposed on minor crimes such as stealing, burglary. The colonies also found influential opinions in newspapers and other writings about death penalty. Cesare Beccaria’s Essay on Crimes and Punishment in 1764 influenced many Europeans and Americans (Banner, 2003). The essay brought positive attributes about the death penalty towards the Americans and changed they mentality towards the death penalty. As a result, several European nations abolish death penalty. American intellect uals such as Dr. Benjamin Rush and Benjamin Franklin were also influenced by the writing of Beccaria. The executed the ideas mentioned in the writing and implemented several laws and regulation on death penalty. Pennsylvania was the first state to abolish death penalty for robbery, burglary and killing of animals (Center, History of the Death Penalty, 2012). Several years later, Pennsylvania also cancelled death penalty for every other offense except first degree murder. The abolishment movement in Pennsylvania led to several states to reconsider capital punishment. In 1846, Michigan, Rhode Island and Wisconsin abolished the death penalty for all crimes, except treason (Bohm, 1999). American abolition movement was gaining major support during the late eighteenth century, but there were several other states, still practicing capital punishment and implementing more capital offenses, especially for the slaves. During the movement, nine states abolished the death penalty for all crimes or placed strict limitation on it. (Center, History of the Death Penalty, 2012) The early and mid-nineteenth century saw decline in American abolition movement due to World War 1. During this period, there was a rise of Russian Revolution and Fascism. Americans were more worried about the threat of Russian Revolution and had just entered the war. The war created a social class conflicts, as many socialist were more worried about the challenge to capitalism. Due to the increasing revolution in Russian and capitalism, several states reinstated the death penalty by 1920 (Center, History of the Death Penalty, 2012). In 1924, Nevada introduced the use of cyanide gas to execute its inmate. Gee Jon was the first person executed by lethal gas (Center, History  of the Death Penalty, 2012). During the 1930’s execution rate hit its highest peak in American History, averaging 167 a year (Bohm, 1999). After the war and revolution, many European nations abolished the death penalty and as a result, Americans diverted their attentions towards capital punishment. In 1966, support for capital punishment reached an all-time low. A Gallup poll showed support for the death penalty at only 42% (Bohm, 1999). There have been a numerous cases regarding death penalty, which has contributed enormously, on how death penalty is viewed constitutionally in the Supreme Court. The first Supreme Court case was a case about federal kidnapping statue requiring that the death penalty be imposed only upon a recommendation of a jury. It was a case between U.S. v. Jackson in 1968, where the court held that this practice was unconstitutional (Center, History of the Death Penalty, 2012). Similarly, one of the most landmark cases in death penalty history was a case between. Where the Supreme Court effectively voids 40 death penalty cases and suspends the death penalty in June, 1972. Years later, there were lots of talks about, how Furman v. Georgia states that only specific death penalty was unconstitutional (Union, 2011). After much debate, the U.S. Supreme Court ope ns the door to states to rewrite their death penalty statue. Many states started writing a sentencing guideline for the judge and jury when deciding whether to impose death penalty. The Supreme Court approved most of the guidelines in 1976 in Gregg v. Georgia and reinstated death penalty in Florida, Georgia and Texas (Center, History of the Death Penalty, 2012). Several other cases have laid a foundation for death penalty laws and statue. In Ford v. Wainwright (1986), the Supreme Court stated that execution of an insane, mentally challenged person is unconstitutional therefore this practice was banned (Union, 2011). Likewise, another case of Thompson v. Oklahoma (1988) stated that execution of offenders age fifteen and younger at the time of other crimes is unconstitutional (Center, History of the Death Penalty, 2012). Since its re-instatement to the constitution, there have been quite a few states pushing to end capital punishment. New York’s death penalty law was declared unconstitutional by the state’s high court in June 2004 (Center, History of the Death Penalty, 2012). Also, New Jersey became the first state to legislatively abolish capital punishment since it was re-instated in 1976 (Center, History of the Death Penalty, 2012). Even though, the Supreme Court  states that the death penalty is constitutional under certain circumstances, many states have all the rights to rewrite their death penalty law. To every issue, we always come up with an argument or sometimes we agree with the decision we make. Likewise, we might have majority of people stating that the death penalty is constitutional and will deter crime in a long run. But, many people believe that death penalty isn’t that answer to deter crime and it’s unconstitutional to someone’s life. We have had lots of statistics and useful information, which supports both arguments. Since, reinstating the death penalty, many have argued that the death penalty kills innocent people. Many people believe that the criminal justice system and the legal procedure system of this country aren’t effective enough. According to ACLU, â€Å"Since 1973, 138 death row prisoners have been released because they were innocent.† That number s ounds really excruciating and explains how death penalty is really not the answer. At least 10 people have been executed since 1976, even though they were innocent. Much has to do with wrongful evidence, false confession, mistaken eyewitness and such, American Civil Liberties Union explains that death penalty is racially biased and punishes the poor. Most defendants are poor and cannot afford qualified attorney to oversee their case. As a result, the defendant pleads guilty, thinking it would get them out of death penalty. Many believe that death penalty is much more expensive that life without parole because death penalty requires long and complex judicial process. According to NBER, the extra cost of capital trials was &1.6 million from 1982-1997. The recent study by the Urban Institute predicted that the lifetime cost to taxpayers for the capitally prosecuted cases in Maryland since 1978 will be $186 million (Costs of the Death Penalty, 2011). Since the state reinstated the death penalty, there have been five executions taken place. Mathematically, the cost of every execution was about $32 million. As the numbers explain how death penalty is much more expensive, that amount could have been utilized in different sectors of infrastructure rather than death penalty. California is another state with higher death penalty cost. Since 1978, the average cost of death penalty in California has been over $4 billion (Ellis, 2011). California’s Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice reported that out of the $4 billion, pretrial and trails cost about $1.94 billion and the cost of incarceration is $1 billion. California has conducted 1.940 capital  cases, with every case estimated to be around $1 million (Center, THE DEATH PENALTY IN 2011:YEAR END REPORT, 2011). There has been numerous capital cases in New Jersey resulted in death penalty. Since the state reinstated the death penalty in 1982, it has spent #253.3 million in death penalty cases. Besides Maryland, California and New Jersey, other states such as Kansas estimated that the cost of death penalty case in 70% more than comparable non-death penalty case (Costs of the Death Penalty, 2011). When it comes to execution, every inmate on a death row is offered to pick their choice of execution. There is no limit placed on type of execution that can be performed with lethal injection to firing squad. Electrocution, gas chamber and hanging are other three methods of execution offered to an inmate depending on the state’s legation. New York was the first state to consider lethal injection in 1888 (Stewart, 2011). Today about 35 states use this method of execution. During lethal injection, the inmate is injected with sodium thiopental, which puts inmate to sleep. Next, Pancuronium bromide is injected which paralyzes the entire muscular system and the inmate stops breathing. Finally, the flow of potassium chloride stops breathing. Charles Brooks of New York was the first person to be executed by lethal injection. After the invention of lethal injection, New York wanted to introduce something more humane to execute the inmate. As a result, Electrocution was introduced by New York in 1888 and years later executed William Kemmler in 1890 (Center, History of the Death Penalty, 2012). The electric chair execution requires the person to be seated in the chair with belts around his chest, legs and arms. A metal skullcap electrode is attached to the scalp and forehead. After every tool has been connected to the person, a jolt of between 50 and 200 volts is given to the person. This process continues until the person is dead. Today, only Nebraska uses electric chair as the sole method of execution, while 9 other states provide as an alternative method (Stewart, 2011). Another method of execution is the gas chamber, which was introduced in 1924 in Nevada (ACKER, 2003). For execution by this method, the person is tied to a chair in a chamber. As instructed, the executioner flicks a leveler that releases crystals of sodium cyanide into the pail, situated below the chair. This causes a chemical reaction that releases hydrogen cyanide gas. Arizona, California, Missouri and Wyoming currently authorizes gas chamber as a method of  execution. In recent history only two inmates have been executed by firing squad, both in Utah: Gary Gilmore (1977) and John Albert Taylor (1996) (Stewart, 2011). Depending upon the choice of the inmate, only 3 states, Idaho, Utah and Oklahoma currently use Firing squad a method of execution. For this type of execution, the inmate is placed on a chair with belts around him and a black hood to cover his head. A doctor marks a white target spot around his heart, where the executioner from 20 feet away tries to aim the spot, resulting in execution of the inmate. Hanging was the primary method of execution used in the United States and is still used in Delaware and Washington, although both have lethal injection as an alternative method of execution (Center, History of the Death Penalty, 2012). Before the execution, the prisoner’s hands and legs are secured, and the prisoner is blindfolded, and the noose is placed around the neck, with the knot behind the left ear. The execution takes place when the trap door is opened and the prisoner falls down. The prisoner’s weight should cause a rapid fracture-dislocation of the neck. Currently, Delaware, New Hampshire and Washington are the only three states still using hanging as a method of execution, alternative to lethal injection, depending upon the choice of the inmate (Stewart, 2011). Compared to the early eighteenth and nineteenth century, death penalty is still practiced in the United States but the public support is diminishing. A majority of the U.S. public now prefers alternatives over the death penalty as the best punishment for the crime of murder. Compared to 98 execution in 1999 and 37 in 2008, executions have declined as well. In 2010, there were only 46 executions and 43 in 2011 (Center, THE DEATH PENALTY IN 2011:YEAR END REPORT, 2011). Death sentences have also declined sharply since 1990’s. There were only 78 death sentences in 2011, a decline of about 75%, compared to 315 death sentences in 1996.Compared to 47 death sentences in 1999; Texas had a massive drop to only 8 death sentences in 2011. California, the state with the largest death row had more than half death sentences this year- only 10 compared with 24 in 2010 (Center, THE DEATH PENALTY IN 2011:YEAR END REPORT, 2011). According to Gallup poll in 2011, 61% of the total population favors death  penalty. Even though, more than half of the citizens think death penalty should be continued, there have been continuous developments in the banning of capital punishment (Center, History of the Death Penalty, 2012). Many states are trying to replace death penalty with other form of punishment. In March 2009, Governor Bill Richardson signed legislation to abolish the death penalty in New Mexico, replacing it with life without parole. Two years later, Governor Pat Quinn from Illinois also signed legislation in March 2011, replacing death penalty with life without parole (ACKER, 2003). Also four other states in the past four years have already abandoned the death penalty altogether. Personally, the death penalty law in the United States should be abolished, in consideration to its expensive cost and wrong convictions to innocent person. Abolishing death penalty or replacing it with other punishment would only bring positive incentives to the community. Resources spent on death penalty can be used to expand the resources available for education, rehabilitation program, and drug treatment program and crime prevention. The death penalty is a scary theory for a lot of Americans. People who are convicted of crimes they have not committed have always shown in large numbers. That is why people feel that morally, the death penalty is too harsh, even if you find new evidence in a crime, and are able to free a wrongly convicted person, if you use the death penalty, then you can just bring that person back to life. Like all other politically debated topics, it is difficult to find a middle ground for people to rely upon. As for today, states are making it more and more difficult to keep the death penalty instated. Bibliography Costs of the Death Penalty. (2011). Retrieved from Death Penalty Information Center: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-death-penalty ACKER, J. R. (2003). THE DEATH PENALTY: AN AMERICAN HISTORY. Retrieved 2012, from The University of Hawaii System: http://www.hawaii.edu/hivandaids/The%20Death%20Penalty%20%20An%20American%20History.pdf Banner, S. (2003). The Death Penalty: An American History. Harvard University Press. Bohm, R. M. (1999). Deathquest:an introduction to the theory and practice of capital punishment in the United States. Anderson Publication Company. Center, D. P. (2011, December). THE DEATH PENALTY IN