Paper Summary:

This paper examines the history and practice of the common law system and then looks at civil law and its basis and application. The paper compares these two systems of law and discusses how different countries employed different systems of law in the past and still do in the present. The paper then focuses on the issue of capital punishment in the United States, in terms of its history and current practice.

From the Paper:

"Currently, it is recognized that the use of capital punishment could not be deemed common practice in the United States. On average, there has been one execution for every 700 homicides carried out. However, there is a great deal of variability in rates of executions from state to state. For example, Nevada and Texas have a fairly high rate of people who have been sentenced to die via execution. A 2004 study found that Texas executed a percentage of convicted criminals that was nearly four times higher than the nationwide average, while it was discovered that California had put to death only 1% of people who had been sentenced. In the United States, about three- quarters of the states have held onto the death penalty as a form of punishment. However, nearly two-thirds of all of the executions that have been administered since 1976 have taken place in only six states: Texas, Virginia, Florida, Missouri, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. In the minority for those falling victim to the death penalty are women, with African Americans bearing the brunt of the rates of execution (Ferrall)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• "Capital Punishment." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 2007. Encyclopedia Britannica. 17 April 2007 <http://www.britannica.com>
• Carbasse, Jean-Marie. "La Peine De Mort."(2002) 127- . Criminal Justice Abstracts. . 17 April 2007 <http://www.il.proquest.com>.
• "Civil Law." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 2007. Encyclopedia Britannica. 17 April 2007 <http://www.britannica.com>
• "Common Law." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 2007. Encyclopedia Britannica. 17 April 2007 <http://www.britannica.com>
• Ferrall, Bard R. "The Death Penalty: An American History." Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology 93.1 (2002) 299- . . 17 April 2007 <http://www.il.proquest.com>.

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