The use of capital punishment, frequently known as the death penalty, is highly controversial. There are many organizations worldwide, such as Amnesty International, and country-specific, such as the ACLU, that have abolition of the death penalty as a fundamental purpose. In the classic doctrine of natural rights as expounded by for instance Locke and Blackstone, on the other hand, it is an important idea that the right to life can be forfeited.
Famous quotes containing the words capital punishment, capital, punishment and/or debate:
“We make needless ado about capital punishment,—taking lives, when there is no life to take.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Oh, a capital ship for an ocean trip,
Was the Walloping Window Blind;
No gale that blew dismayed her crew
Or troubled the captain’s mind.”
—Charles Edward Carryl (1841–1920)
“All pain is a punishment, and every punishment is inflicted for love as much as for justice.”
—Joseph De Maistre (1753–1821)
“What I think the political correctness debate is really about is the power to be able to define. The definers want the power to name. And the defined are now taking that power away from them.”
—Toni Morrison (b. 1931)