Reference no: EM131208391

Topic: Capital Punishment and the Bible

Capital punishment or "the death penalty" is a frequently debated punishment in the United States. Although a majority of Americans still support the death penalty as a punishment, the support seems to be declining.

Please discuss the following:

What is the origin and biblical bases for the death penalty?

Is there a difference between the Old and New Testament approaches to the death penalty?

Explain the U.S. Supreme Court's treatment of juveniles and the mentally ill in death penalty cases.

Does the death penalty provide a valid punishment option in today's society?

Discussion Board Forums Instructions

For each Discussion Board Forum, you must research the topic and provide a well-written answer to the prompt. Your thread must be between 250-300 words. You must incorporate at least 2 scholarly sources (in addition to your textbook) for your thread. You must cite your sources parenthetically in the text as needed and provide full citations at the end of each posting in current APA format.

You must also post replies to 2 other students' threads which must be at least 150 words and use 1 scholarly source for each reply. You are encouraged to read each post on the Discussion Board Forums. Make sure to use correct spelling and grammar for all Discussion Board Forum postings.

NOTE: Scholarly sources can be books, journal articles, law review articles, etc. While you may use the textbook, the Bible, cases, and statutes; they will not count toward the minimum number of sources.

Responding to a classmate's post requires both the addition of new ideas and analysis. A particular point made by the classmate must be addressed and built upon by your analysis in order to move the conversation forward. Thus, the response post is a rigorous assignment that requires you to build upon initial posts to develop deeper and more thorough discussion of the ideas introduced in the initial posts. As such, reply posts that merely affirm, restate or unprofessionally quarrel with the previous post(s) and fail to make a valuable, substantive contribution to the discussion will receive appropriate point deductions.

This course utilizes the Post-First feature in all Discussion Board Forums. This means you will only be able to read and interact with your classmates' threads after you have submitted your thread in response to the provided prompt.