Urban Violence In America Essay
Urban Violence in America
Why has America become so violent?
Murder is regarded as a crime in all modern civilized societies. Crime is shown in the media and is prevalent in society. Early in America s history, killing a human being was a relatively private matter to be dealt with by families or larger kinship groups. Deliberate killing (such as infanticide, cannibalism, head hunting, or the killing of the very old) is classified as murder in modern law, but such practices were viewed as customary and acceptable early in America s history when the settlers first arrived on the continent.
New laws or views of existing laws may make criminal acts that were once legal; or, on the other hand, they may legalize acts that were once criminal. …show more content…
In the 7th century BC, a lawgiver named Draco drew up a very harsh code that punished offenses, no matter how trivial, with death. Not many years later, another Greek lawgiver, Solon, repealed all but the laws dealing with murder. In the Greek city-state of Sparta, there was a legendary lawgiver named Lycurgus who, after giving the Spartans a code of law, left the city with the instruction that the laws were not to be changed until he returned. He never did return. So it is in human nature to want to make up individual rules for other people to follow. Therefore, it is possible for people to think that their own punishments (homicides, hangings, beatings) can be made up for those who break the law. They become their own judge and jury, committing crimes to punish those who also broke the law.
Capital punishment is the extreme penalty for crime for violators of government laws. Execution of criminals for a great variety of offenses has been carried out by such methods as drowning, stoning, hanging, and beheading. Modern executions are usually done by means of electrocution, the gas chamber, or a lethal injection of a drug. Hanging is still used in some places, as is an execution by firing squad (but mostly in other
Why has America become so violent?
Murder is regarded as a crime in all modern civilized societies. Crime is shown in the media and is prevalent in society. Early in America s history, killing a human being was a relatively private matter to be dealt with by families or larger kinship groups. Deliberate killing (such as infanticide, cannibalism, head hunting, or the killing of the very old) is classified as murder in modern law, but such practices were viewed as customary and acceptable early in America s history when the settlers first arrived on the continent.
New laws or views of existing laws may make criminal acts that were once legal; or, on the other hand, they may legalize acts that were once criminal. …show more content…
In the 7th century BC, a lawgiver named Draco drew up a very harsh code that punished offenses, no matter how trivial, with death. Not many years later, another Greek lawgiver, Solon, repealed all but the laws dealing with murder. In the Greek city-state of Sparta, there was a legendary lawgiver named Lycurgus who, after giving the Spartans a code of law, left the city with the instruction that the laws were not to be changed until he returned. He never did return. So it is in human nature to want to make up individual rules for other people to follow. Therefore, it is possible for people to think that their own punishments (homicides, hangings, beatings) can be made up for those who break the law. They become their own judge and jury, committing crimes to punish those who also broke the law.
Capital punishment is the extreme penalty for crime for violators of government laws. Execution of criminals for a great variety of offenses has been carried out by such methods as drowning, stoning, hanging, and beheading. Modern executions are usually done by means of electrocution, the gas chamber, or a lethal injection of a drug. Hanging is still used in some places, as is an execution by firing squad (but mostly in other