What is capital punishment? Capital punishment is the death penalty given to criminals who have murdered someone. The history of capital punishment in Canada began in 1865, where people who had committed murder, treason, or rape were sentenced to death. In 1961, the murder was classified into capital and non-capital offences. The sentence of hanging became mandatory and it was the only method used for capital punishment in Canada. In 1962, the last death sentence in Canada was given to two convicts. The two convicts were Arthur Lucas and Robert Turpin, with Lucas being convicted of murdering an informer and witness in racket discipline, which was already premeditated, and Turpin was convicted of murdering a police officer to avoid getting arrested, was was not premeditated. They were double hanged in December 11, 1962, at the Don jail in Toronto, Ontario as the last convicts in Canada. After the last execution was held, capital punishment was limited to killing of prison guards and police officers. Soon in 1976 capital punishment got removed from Canadian criminal code. The bill was passed by the House of Commons and instead, they replaced the mandatory life sentence, which only lasted for 22 years. And after 22 years, in 1998, they completely removed capital punishment and replaced it with life imprisonment and decided it will not be imposed anymore.

In the short story Two Fishermen, Thomas Delaney got hanged by killing a man who molested his wife. However, things would have ended differently if this story was based in Canada. We can assume that the setting of the story was most likely based in early to mid 1900’s, since the death penalty was removed in the mid 1900’s.

In the short story Two Fishermen, Thomas Delaney kills Matthew Rhinhart who molested his wife and as a result, he gets hanged for his crime. But does Thomas Delaney actually deserves to be hanged for killing a person who tried to rape his wife? Although he has committed murder, I believe that an ‘eye for an eye’ is never the right answer. I believe that the best result would have been a life sentence.