Capital Punishment is seen as the act of killing an individual as a form of punishment given for a particular crime. The act is carried out through a legitimate hearing in court. Capital punishment applies to murder cases, but some countries apply capital punishment for fraud, adultery, and treason against the crown. Its use varies in many countries around the world. Those who use capital punishment often justify their actions with the argument that such harsh punishments will deter potential murderers from committing the act of murder. The use of capital punishment dates back “to early English common law, where virtually any person convicted of a criminal offense faced a mandatory death sentence, but the practice has always been much more widespread in [the United States, rather] than in United Kingdom, which abandoned capital punishment in 1973” (Marcus 2007). In 1896 America's first serial killer, Herman Webster Mudgett, was executed for running a hotel he called "Murder Castle" and inciting women, through sexual intercourse, to take out life insurance policies with him as the primary beneficiary. Once involved, he tortured and killed them, dissected their bodies, and sold the skeletal remains to medical schools for research. Mudgett confessed to twenty-seven murders, but there could have been more, he was tried and hanged. In that case, one could easily identify with the ultimate punishment of death as it refers to the inhumane way in which he took the lives of innocent victims. . His sadistic and premeditated actions put the rest of society in fear that someone might be the next victim. By law, the government is obligated to protect the safety of all its citizens. With the likes of Mudgett on the road...... middle of paper...... (2011), Capital Punishment by Moral Issues That Divide Us https://www.utm.edu/staff/jfieser/ class /160/7-cap-pun.htm Accessed: 21 April 20143. Lair, Kevin, (2013) The Elm - Death Penalty Debate: Columnists Respond – The Death Penalty Saves Lives, Go Figure http://elm.washcoll. edu/index.php/2013/04 Accessed: 21 April 20144. Marcus, Paul, (2007) “Capital Punishment in the United States and Beyond”, Faculty Publications, Paper 61. http://scholarship.law.wm .edu/facpubs/615. The Death Penalty – High School Curriculum – Arguments for and Against the Death Penalty (2000) http://deathpenaltyinfo.msu.edu/6. Warden, Rob, (2009) Reflections on Capital Punishment, 4 Nw.JL& Soc. Pol'y.329 http://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/njlsp/iss2/27. Arguments against capital punishment http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/capitalpunishment/against_1 Accessed: April 21, 2014