April 6, 2017English 11Jen Stenner
Capital Punishment Paragraphs
With regards to Capital Punishment it has endured many years of conflict between support and hate about its cruel methods of punishment. Criminals who were sent to death have five different methods of execution. The deaths were to occur by either; lethal injection, hanging, electric chair, gas or firing squad. These tactics for a brutal death were all equally excruciating to endure. Primarily, capital punishment was revoked from the Canadian Criminal Code in 1976, but before that date many more important events have occurred. In 1865 both upper and lower Canada had a death penalty for any, “crimes of murder, treason, and rape.” (Canada Capital Punishment Timeline) Notably it was not until 1961 that the murders were organized into two groups; “capital and non-capital offenses,” (Canada Capital Punishment Timeline) and then a year later in 1962 the very last executions occurred to Ronald Turpin and Arthur Lucas in the, “Don Jail in Toronto, Ontario,” on the eleventh of December. Although this may have been the last time anyone was hanged for severe crimes, it was not the end of the long discussion about having Capital Punishment removed from the Canadian Criminal Code. Consequently it was not until a little over a decade later that the notion to remove Capital Punishment was successful. Furthermore for serious crimes that have been committed the punishment that was relinquished upon was a, “life [of] imprisonment with no eligibility for parole for 25 years.” (Canada Capital Punishment Timeline) Finally Canada has spoken about the possibility of reintroducing Capital Punishment, but the final decision was to keep this mutiny left in the past.
The short story, “The Two Fishermen,” written by Morley Callaghan was based around a small town where a hanging was about to occur. The entire story in retrospect was based around this criminal, Thomas Delaney, who was convicted of killing a fellow civilian. According to how the events were handled if this story occurred in Canada then it most likely would have taken place in 1865 because back then, “crimes of murder, treason and rape carried the death penalty.” (Canada Capital Punishment Timeline) Specifically the reason behind this timeframe was because Thomas Delaney killed a man who was, “caught molesting his wife when she had been berry-picking in the hills behind the town.” (Two Fishermen, Morley Callaghan, pg 1) Generally 1865 still had a strong support towards capital punishment because more people at that time actively believed in a life for a life. Notably some people today do still consider a life for a life a fare punishment, but for most that belief has adapted to a life sentence of twenty five years in jail because once a life has been taken it cannot be undone.
The tragic death of Thomas Delaney was unjust and overly harsh to a man who the town knew very well. Granted Thomas Delaney did kill a man, there are multiple explanations behind why it happened the way it did. Firstly Delaney most likely killed the man because the man was, “caught molesting his wife.” (Two Fishermen, Morley Callaghan, pg 1) Consequently all that Thomas was trying to do was protect his wife from some serious physical and mental harm. Ultimately this act of aggression was out of the love Thomas Delaney had towards his wife. Another reason was that the other man may have actually started to try and kill Delaney, but in self-defence Thomas ended up killing the man instead. Therefore the entire reason for the man’s death may have been his own fault since Thomas Delaney could have be doing self-defence for himself and his own wife. Certainly killing another man was unsuitable, but if it was for self-defence the action could be fairly justified. Lastly Thomas Delaney did make a mistake, he was only human, except should this one crime defy weather or not he should have lived or died. Mr. Delaney should have been sent to jail for what he did instead of sending someone to a barbaric death. Regardless everyone man, women and child should have a right or benefit of the doubt for why what happened did occurred.
The disturbing scene from the old Don Jail.
Citations;
Munroe, Susan. "How Capital Punishment Was Abolished in Canada." ThoughtCo. N.p., 06 Feb. 2017. Web. 05 Apr. 2017. <
Alamenciak, Tim. "The end of the rope: The story of Canada's last executions." Thestar.com. N.p., 10 Dec. 2012. Web. 05 Apr. 2017. <
Powell, Betsy. "Don Jail is out of control, critics say." Thestar.com. N.p., 06 Jan. 2010. Web. 05 Apr. 2017. <