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Capital Punishment and Life Without Parole Essay - 897 Words

The first death sentence that has been historically recorded was as far back as 16th century BC. This occurred in Egypt, the wrongdoer was accused of magic and he was then ordered to take his own life. In present day the death penalty has changed drastically. The death penalty has undergone many changes since then. In medieval times the methods used to kill people were inhumane and often times cruel. In modern times the methods to kill people are much more humane. The death penalty has been used less and less often and even outlawed in some states. The death penalty should be used more often and for more crimes. If the death penalty was used more often there would be a deterrence for future crimes, it is more cost effective, and it would†¦show more content†¦The more people in a prison the more money it takes for that prison to run. In 1995 it cost $49 billion dollars to run all of the prisons in all 50 states. Since 1995 there has been an increase in the amount of people in carcerated in prison. With this increase in prison population there is also an increase in the amount of money it costs to run prisons. The cost difference in an entire trial and prosecution of a death sentence and the entire trials and prosecution and life in prison of a LWOP sentence is immense. Dudley Sharp says in â€Å"Death Penalty and Sentencing Information† â€Å"Justice for all estimates that LWOP cases will cost $1.2 million - $3.6 million more than equivalent death penalty cases† (Sharp). Additionally, we would live in an all-around safer country. The people of the country would feel safer as well as be safer. People would be safer in every way possible. The lack of violent crimes would create a physical safety. Without murderers, rapists, assailants, and other such brutal people there would be less need for self-defense, such as guns or other weapons. With less white collar crime people would be safer when it comes things such as having identities stolen or companies being embezzled. This would give people better financial security and less chance of having their life ruined by someone stealing their identity. It would give the economy a great boost as well. On the other hand, some people disagree with the thoughtShow MoreRelatedCapital Punishment Is Not Effective865 Words   |  4 Pagesinnocent. Capital punishment is legal authorization to kill someone as a punishment for crimes such as treason, terrorism, espionage, federal murder, and large-scale drug trafficking. In the 1960s, the American Convention on Human rights was created providing a right for life, but the death penalty is included as an exception. While the percent for capital punishment is high in America the majority of Americans would rather have the sentencing be life in prison without parole. Even though capital punishmentRead MoreThe Death Penalty Is More Expensive Than Life Without Parole917 Words   |  4 Pagesdeath penalty has been a controversial topic for a long time, and rightfully deserves to be when a man’s life is in the government’s hand. Although life sentences are the popular alternative, the death penalty is the best solution to heinous cr imes because it saves the government money, teaches citizens that they are responsible for their own actions and actually saves lives. Capital punishment has been around since the 18th century B.C., when the code of King Hammurabi of Babylon established deathRead MoreBlack Man Who Was Suspected As The Killer Of A White Off Duty Police Officer Essay1726 Words   |  7 Pageslike America has lots of resources to almost everything, but we still use a law system as old as time itself. Although the death penalty has been necessary in the past, it is no longer justified in the 21st century. Capital punishment has become a costly and hypocritical punishment overtime, so it is no longer justified to stay in the 21st century. Justified means accepted or validated with logical reason, something that does not contradict itself. Our justice system over the centuries have modifiedRead MoreIs life in prison without parole better than the death penalty?812 Words   |  4 Pagesï » ¿ Amrat Tahir Is life in prison without parole better than the death penalty? This is it, this is the last time you will ever see daylight again. The dim light of the outside world seems to be overtaken by shadows. You squeeze your eyes shut, and then everything goes dark.  That is the death penalty. What exactly is the death penalty? In the dictionary, it is defined as, the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offense. What the death penalty itselfRead MoreDeath Penalty for Murders1634 Words   |  6 Pagessevere punishment in the United States. People who have performed heinous crimes can be sentenced to capital punishment in some states; however, this type of chastisement is rarely performed. Capital punishment has more negative aspects than it has positive. The states that have legalized the death penalty face the excessive costs associated with it, which can be damaging to their economies. In addition, there is always the chance of executing an innocent person when carrying out capital punishmentRead MoreCapital Punishm ent As A Deterrent Of Crime1354 Words   |  6 PagesCapital punishment as a Deterrent to Crime Is it ethically wrong to execute offenders after they have carried out a certain horrendous crime? Two sisters vanished while strolling home from a shopping center in a calm suburb of Washington, and a far reaching inquiry yielded nothing. As months swung to years, and after that decades, any desires for realizing what happened to the young ladies dwindled. Law enforcement authorities vowed to work to pursue each individual who was included in the crimeRead MoreCapital Punishment Is Deterrence For Crime1570 Words   |  7 Pagesanother victim. To this day, capital punishment is a subject undergoing intense study, and is a hot topic of controversy. It is a challenging debate with many different viewpoints. Many people are pro death penalty, while others are quite against it, and there are others with amphibological feelings towards the subject. One of the many different questions that originate when the topic of the death penalty arises is if capital punishment is deterrence for crim e. Capital punishment stirs up a fierce debateRead MoreThe Merits and Pitfalls of Capital Punishment Today1482 Words   |  6 Pages Capital punishment is an age-old practice. It has been used in civilizations for millennia, and will continue to be used for millennia to come. Whether used for the right or wrong reasons, capital punishment is unmistakable in its various forms. From hangings, to firing squads, to lethal injections, capital punishment and the associated proceeding have evolved over time. There have been many arguments against capital punishment, many of which still hold true. As capital punishment has evolved overRead More Capital Punishment Essay949 Words   |  4 PagesCapital Punishment   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Capital punishment is a very controversial issue, but it is a just penalty for murderers. Murderers forfeit their lives for taking the life of another. Capital punishment deters criminals from committing violet crimes. Incapacitating criminals is also another form of deterrence. The death penalty removes harmful criminals from society. In doing this, people can feel much safer knowing that there is one less criminal on the streets. The death penalty is also more economicalRead MoreCapital punishment’s validity in the legal system continues to be questioned but has been a huge800 Words   |  4 PagesCapital punishment’s validity in the legal system continues to be questioned but has been a huge part in human society and the legal system for centuries to restrain dangerous criminals and crimes. Later on, the death penalty as a punishment became a crime in itself, a crime against humanity thought by many, because killing, is killing no matter what. A nd it is wrong.To this day the argument continues. First of all, the death penalty seems somewhat barbaric and violates the â€Å"cruel and unusual† within

Father of Science Fiction H. G. Wells Free Essays

string(26) " accurately applied to H\." H. G. Wells is the True â€Å"Father of Science Fiction† At the very end of the Victorian Era, there emerged a man of literature the likes of which the world had never before seen. We will write a custom essay sample on Father of Science Fiction: H. G. Wells or any similar topic only for you Order Now Some know him best as an English novelist, though most of his works were not novels. Some call him a political and social commentator, due to the didactic themes in many of his works. Due to inclusion of the social and natural sciences in his works, he is also known as a popularizer of science. His devotion to the development and establishment of future studies as a science most certainly garnered him the reputation as an early futurist. His pervasive influence in the development of the science fiction genre is indisputable. However it was his masterful weaving together of futurism and speculative fiction into a single body of work dedicated to the future of mankind that earns H. G. Wells the title of â€Å"The Father of Science Fiction†. Herbert George Wells was born in Bromely, Kent, England in September of 1866, the son of a maid and a professional cricketer. When he was eight years old Wells broke his leg and began reading library books to pass the time, stimulating his desire to write. He attended a number of schools throughout his early life, acquiring an xtensive background in physics, astronomy, and chemistry. He even studied biology under Thomas Henry Huxley at the Royal College of Science, acquiring extensive knowledge in the theories of evolution. Joining the school Debating Society nurtured his interest toward social issues and reform. Wells considered himself a socialist and was a member of the Fabian Society that included other such notable members as George Bernard Shaw and Virginia Woolf. At that time he also founded The Science School Journal, allowing him a forum to develop his pen for literature, expressing his iews on society and perfecting his burgeoning fiction. After doing some teaching, he eventually graduated from The University of London with a Bachelors of Science in zoology. His prolific writing career that followed included hundreds of works over the span of fifty years. His talent for combining the possibilities of science and technology in the form of fictional stories that became known as â€Å"science fiction† or as the genre was known in Britain at the time, the â€Å"scientific romance†. Science fiction as a modern literary genre is distinguished by its use of real cientific ideas and concepts to form a story that is plausible within a futuristic or alternative-world setting. The imaginative elements of science fiction are largely possible within the realm of scientific theory and fact. This differentiates science fiction from other speculative genres such as fantasy and horror in that those works are not concerned with scientific and technological possibility. Even Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818), though certainly innovative in using themes of science fiction, is more accurately classified as a horror novel. Horror and fantasy genres also delineate rom science fiction in that they include magical and supernatural elements that are absent from the realistic and logical science fiction genre. Though some story elements of sci-fi can be purely imaginary, accurate depictions of science and technology are used to tormulate realistic conjectures ot the tuture, or even alternative timelines of the present or past. What distinguishes H. G. Wells from earlier authors who delve into themes of modern science fiction is that he studied science as a primary disciplinary field and applied his knowledge in a literary fashion, focusing on scientific and technological plausibility. All of Wells’ scientific romances contain realistic elements that are based on applied scientific methodology and knowledge. Some of these include such famous works as The Time Machine (1895), The Invisible Man (1897), and The War of the Worlds (1898). Though Wells is considered the â€Å"Father of Science Fiction†, it is often argued that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is the first work that could be considered true science fiction. Many of the innovative themes used by Mary Shelley unquestionably fall into the realm of modern science fiction. Never before had any story been written about a man of science† (the term â€Å"scientist† was not yet coined and would not be until 1834) that performs â€Å"experiments† in a â€Å"laboratory’. Written as a response to the recent Industrial Revolution, Shelley uses fantastical scientific innovations to explore the moral and ethical consequences of technology, a device used by nearly all modern science fiction writers, including Wells. However, unlike Wells, Shelley’s works include precious little in the way of actual scientific fact or theory, leaving the audience to speculate about their plausibility. Her education, though broad and advanced for a oman of the Romantic era, was in literary studies and included no instruction in the natural or physical sciences. Her sources were limited to discussions with her peers of earlyl 9th century experiments in vivisection and galvanism, the latter of which is an antiquated term for the stimulation of muscles by electric current, applied in the case of Frankenstein to the reanimation of dead tissue. Her scientific education is in contrast to Wells, who had an extensive educational background in the sciences. Although Shelley’s science is neither plausible nor the main focus of her story, its ealistic nature made Frankenstein truly frightening to her audience, which was her intention in using such scientific elements. Shelley had originally conceived the work as a horror story, thus her themes of science fiction become secondary to the theme of horror as the focus of the work. She inspired the archetype of the â€Å"monster† that followed in literature and film. Though Shelley’s idea of using science merged with fiction was innovative for the time and implemented by later writers (including Wells, and not for another 80 years), Frankenstein’s designation as science fiction remains ncillary to that as a landmark novel of the horror genre. The title of â€Å"The Father of Science Fiction has also been applied to popular French writer Jules Verne, but is more accurately applied to H. You read "Father of Science Fiction: H. G. Wells" in category "Papers" G. Wells. While certainly a brilliant and talented writer that heavily influenced science fiction as a genre of literature, Verne’s novels can easily be disputed as works of true science fiction. Much like Shelley’s Frankenstein, the works of Verne contain elements and themes that are considered scientific but accessory to his primary literary theme. Much attention is given to Verne’s Voyages Extraordinaires, a series of fifty-four stories hich include such famous works as Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), From the Earth to the Moon (1865), and Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea (1869). At the time of their publication, the technological advancements present in Verne’s works had been extrapolated by him to aid in his fantastic voyages, but would soon atter become scientific realities. This earned him the reputation ot being a technological prophet, a reputation also held by Wells. Some of his prophecies that came true include the electric submarine, the helicopter, and a â€Å"projectile† to carry passengers to the moon. Although Verne’s scientific prophecies were at times more grounded in reality than those of Wells, they were made almost primarily in the area of transportation, unlike Wells, whose prophecies were made in multiple areas of science. The argument can be made that Verne himself inspired these technological advancements. Many pioneering submarine, aviation and rocketry innovators have credited Verne as the inspiration for their successful inventions. However, Jules Verne was in no way a scientist. He was educated as a lawyer and studied geography, the latter of which inspired him to write his stories of adventure and travel. Verne argued incessantly that his stories were not meant to be read scientifically, and even stated â€Å"l do not in any way pose as a scientist†2. The science he did use in his stories was well research ed; Verne often spent time in the company of the best contemporary scientists of his day, consulting them on possibilities of future technology that he could realistically yet fantastically apply to his adventure stories. While not all science fiction writers are scientists, the case of whether Verne or Wells is â€Å"The Father of Science Fiction† can favor Wells as the true â€Å"Father† when it’s argued hat Wells’ scientific educational background gives him credibility and authority. His use of scientific elements as the primary theme of his works (unlike Verne, whose science was used as an auxiliary to the theme of adventure) makes him more deserving of the title. Also, Verne’s title of â€Å"technological prophet† passed to Wells because of his dedication not Just to science but also the serious exploration and inquiry of the future. In 1901, H. G. Wells wrote a book called Anticipations of the Reactions of Mechanical and Scientific Progress upon Human Life and Thought which is onsidered the â€Å"first comprehensive and widely read survey of future developments in the short history of predictive writing†3. Wells was not the first person to take seriously the study of the future, but rather he had access to a vast amount of early speculative writings, including some utopian novels that explored the future state of society, that he combined into a single body of work. With the development of scientific thought during the 18th and 19th centuries and the movement of scholars away from religious apocalyptic future inquiry, scholarly thinking and literature that ealt with general human progress instead of eschatology began to emerge. The development of social sciences that studied human interaction showed predictive power when applied to how future society might develop. Many 19th century novelists such as William Morris synthesized sociology with speculative fiction perfecting the utopian novel that gives an image of an ideal society set in the future. Earlier works inherited by Wells that included futurist themes often had a different purpose than the actual scientific study of the future such as exploring God and nterpreting history. In Anticipations, all the early tendencies toward future thought were combined by Wells into the first volume of work that gave complete attention to futurist ideas and systematically explored the future. Like the works of Verne, Anticipations investigates the future of transportation, accurately predicting major highways and interstates as well as the prevalence of motor vehicles. He accurately predicts the rise ot suburbia and huge metropolises as an enormous unbroken sprawls of middle-class life. The book also dwells extensively on the future of world rder and government, even predicting the formation of the European Union. After the publication of the book, the Royal Institution requested a lecture on future study, which he published under the name The Discovery of the Future (1902). The lecture calls for a whole new science to establish an ordered and working vision of the future, and is known to this day to be the birth of future studies. Wells continued this theme with other works dedicated to the future such as A Modern Utopia 1905), The Future in America (1906), What is Coming? (1916), A Year of Prophesying (1925), The Fate of Homo Sapiens (1939) and many, many more. His work The Shape of Things to Come (1933) is a fictional outline of future history, the title a phrase coined by Wells that has been used countless times and is still used today. The term â€Å"foresight† used in Anticipations was also coined by Wells. Wells’ other accurate future predictions include lasers, cell phones, the Internet, and the atomic bomb (a phrase he used in his book The World Set Free [1914] to describe the bombs that would not be developed until the 1930’s). The attention that Wells gave to surveying the future not nly established future studies as a legitimate science, but also helped firmly established future thought as a major theme of science fiction. Before Wells published Anticipations, he published his first and most well-known novel The Time Machine (1895). The story features a scientist known only as â€Å"The Time Traveler† who built a device that can move through time. This device is known as a â€Å"time machine†, a term coined by Wells and still used to this day in reference to such a device. The Time Traveler Journeys forward in time almost 800,000 years and meets a peaceful society of child-like humans known as the Eloi. He also meets the frightening race of Morlocks that live underground and are keepers of the technology that achieve the above-ground serenity. The Time Traveler also soon learns that the Morlocks feed on the Eloi, and that their technology is used to keep the Eloi passive. He comes to the conclusion that the two races are a product of Darwinian evolution and the large gap between the social classes of British society. He speculates that the Eloi were once the leisure class, and due to their conquest of nature with technology they have become feeble in an environment where intelligence and strength are no onger necessary for survival. He also speculates that the Morlocks are descendants of the oppressed working class. This application of Darwin’s theories as a literary motif echoes Wells’ education under Huxley who was known as â€Å"Darwin’s Bulldog†. Before publication of The Time Machine, the premise of time travel as a plot device had been used very little. There were some old folk tales and less than a handful of modern fictional works that had included time travel. The idea was certainly popularized by Wells and considered the inspiration of all later science fiction works that feature time travel. Like Anticipations, it also established time settings in the future as a major element of science fiction. Wells is the first author to use modern science fiction elements to compose social and political commentary. The Time Machine famously illustrates the possible future consequences of a stratified society that becomes too dependent on technology and will be subject to a form of extreme social Darwinism. In The War of the Worlds, Wells examines Victorian attitudes and values. In his story of Martians attempting to colonize Earth and exterminate humans, Wells provides an imaginative vehicle tor ommentary on British Imperialism. Wells also explores morality and technological ethics, specifically within the realm of vivisection and genetic engineering in his novel The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896). The use of science in a fictional setting to make a didactic point is a reoccurring theme in Wells’ scientific romances. It has since then became a major literary device in modern science fiction works to explore the impact of technology on society and humanity. In his best-known and most influential work, 2001 : A Space Odyssey (1968), British author Arthur C. Clarke explores the moral and hilosophical implications surrounding technology and artificial intelligence, evolution, and alien life. Clarke was strongly influenced by Wells; he was even vice president of the H. G. Wells Society. The British author C. S. Lewis was a champion of science fiction that is philosophically reflective and includes a moral point. He created his Cosmic Trilogy as a direct influence by H. G. Wells, citing his novel The First Men in the Moon (1901) as â€Å"the best sort [of science fiction] I have read†4. Out of the Silent Planet (1938), the first book in Lewis’ trilogy, is so similar to The First Men in the Moon that the opening age says â€Å"Certain slighting references to earlier stories of this type which will be found in the following pages have been put there for purely dramatic purposes. The author would be sorry if any reader supposed he was too stupid to have enjoyed Mr. H. G. Wells fantasies or too ungrateful to acknowledge his debt to them. â€Å"5 Wells’ influence on science fiction extends to many more authors, including British science fiction author Olaf Stapledon. Stapledon himself was a heavily influential writer, contributing many ideas to the genre of science fiction. Stapledon and Wells orresponded for over a decade, both creating ideas together and borrowing from each other. In his book The Billion Year Spree, Brian Aldiss calls Stapledon the â€Å"greatest of Wells’ followers†6. Wells’ science fictional reach extended beyond the sphere of British authors and diffused quickly to America, where his influence can be seen in such notable science fiction authors as Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein. During the 19th and 20th centuries, when the idea of the utopia as story element began to have a prominent place in literature, Wells himself wrote a number of utopian novels such as A Modern Utopia (1905) and Men Like Gods (1923). Wells progresses the idea of the utopia with his novel The Time Machine by turning the theme into an anti-utopia point of view. He illustrates the seemingly utopian society of the Eloi, and upon the discovery of the violent Morlocks, the world transforms into a horrifying dystopia. In his novel When the Sleeper Wakes (1899) about a man who falls asleep for two hundred years and wakes up in the future, Wells gives definitive form to the dystopia as a science fiction theme. This theme was taken up by later authors, most notably the British authors George Orwell and Aldous Huxley in their amous novels Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) and Brave New World (1932) respectively. These two novels have been explicitly touted by their authors as directly influenced by the works of Wells, and have in turn influenced many other authors, works, philosophers, thinkers, and even nations and governments. The achievement of H. G. Wells in the development of science fiction as a respected and important literary genre is unquestionable. His background as a scientist combined with his adept queries on futuristic ideas provided a springboard into an illustrious and intluential literary career His creative inventions ot science fiction themes such as the time travel, alien invasions, and invisible men have taken their place as staples of sci-fi literature. This, along with his numerous coined terms, technological prescience and populizing of proto-science fiction themes into mainstream literature designate Wells as the most important science fiction writer the genre has ever seen. And when his pervasive influence on future science fiction writers is regarded along with his other contributions, the only conclusion that remains is that H. G. Wells is the true â€Å"Father of Science Fiction†. Works Cited Wells, H. G. Anticipations of the Reactions of Mechanical and Scientific Progress upon Human Life and Thought. How to cite Father of Science Fiction: H. G. Wells, Papers

The Navigation Act of 1600 free essay sample

This paper looks at the effect the Navigation Act of 1600 had on American history. This paper examines how the Navigation Act of 1600 laid the groundwork for what was to eventually become the American Revolution. The author gives the reader a brief history of the political climate in England that lead to the passage of the Navigation Act and its accompanying taxes and details how they came to affect the lives of the colonists, especially those living in New England. According to the author, the people living in New England made their livelihood from the majority of the items that were now heavily taxed by this new law, which lead to them feeling increasingly isolated from England. This Act or set of taxes, was the first of many subsequent laws which placed an increasing burden upon the colonists and led to the American Revolution. By the 18th century, the relationship between the American colonists and Britain and the British Parliament had as its basis a complex pattern of economic ties and conditions. We will write a custom essay sample on The Navigation Act of 1600 or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The fact that the American Revolution was initiated over taxes and economic independence more than any other single issue was no historical accident, for while Britain and the American colonies were tied together in a number of cultural, social and political ways, the relationship (as is the rule between a mother country and her colonies) remained at base an economic one.