Capital punishment is considered the utmost sentencing option in the United States. It is being put to death for committing what is called a capital offense or a drastic crime. Today, it is a debated issue In the U.S. as to whether states should allow capital punishment as an option or completely ban it. Indeed, capital punishment should be abolished in all U.S. states for many obvious reasons. Sentencing someone to death is something that should be reconsidered. Though people argue to keep capital punishment around, it has little benefits and can be considered an act of revenge. Capital punishment can be traced back as far as ancient times. The death penalty is found in the Code of Hammurabi during the time of ancient Mesopotamia which …show more content…
Many argue that most of these methods can be cruel, which is another reason as to why the death penalty should be abolished. Methods used as of 1976 were lethal injection, electrocution, gas chamber, hanging, and firing squad. The most commonly used method is lethal injection. Over 1200 people were executed in this fashion from 1976 to present day. Electrocution was second with over 150 executions (deathpenaltyinfo.org). The first bill that proposed the use of the lethal injection was in 1977 in Oklahoma. Legislators talked it over with the anesthesiologist department at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. They received the knowledge to proceed with this new plan and lethal injection soon after became a form of execution. Lethal injection contains three drugs: sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide, and potassium chloride. All of which combine to shut down important body functions that are necessary to survive. The first drug makes certain that the wrongdoer does not feel any pain that the second and third drug cause which is paralysis and cardiac arrest. That is, if the drugs are conducted in that order. If not, the prisoner will experience a tremendous amount of pain (deathpenalty.procon.org). As for the other forms of execution, they are extremely agonizing and cruel. The prisoner will indeed experience a torturous painful
The most painless and quicker capital punishment is the lethal injection. Maples explains, ”This cocktail paralyzes the respiratory functions, stops the heart by the action of potassium chloride and closes down the brain quietly and painlessly by means of barbiturates.” Many people die when the needle is still injecting in
Has killed 11 people since 1976. d. Hanging- Used 0.5% of the time. The practice of hanging condemned people. Has killed 3 people since
Public executions were used to scare people so they wouldn’t violate the law. Ted Bundy, American serial killer, rapist, and kidnapper was one of several people executed for his murders/crimes in the late 1970’s although, humans weren’t the only ones electrocuted. In 1903 Thomas Edison executed an elephant in front of 1,500 and videotaped it. The elephant was electrocuted at Luna Park Zoo on Coney Island in New York. People that are faced with the death penalty prefer the method of lethal injection rather other methods such a the gas chamber, electrocution, hanging, and even Crucifixion which is still used in Sudan as a form of the death penalty.
According to this article, to name a few, through history, it started from hangings in 1879, then electrocution by chair in 1890, until it reached lethal injection in 2008 where it deemed more humane. Several opinions were added in order to conduct an alternative method that would have a little to no chance in violating the 8th amendment. Officials can act unconstitutionally if they were to execute a condemned person in a procedure that intentionally makes it painful or in another way where they did not care whether it actually was. Due to this, this mostly continued to set an outer limit on how the death penalty can be carried out and since the court was unable to gather an actual majority to decipher the limit more
These methods were grisly and inhumane. Prisoners sometimes took up to twenty minutes to die. Some had to be electrocuted several times while screaming in agony. In 1977 Dr. Deutsch created a method of execution involving several different kinds of drugs to humanely induce death. Officials liked this method of execution as it medicalized the process and was easier to witness.
These are the main reasons why it is classified as a lethal injection, because it not just an injection that you can get but it something that can end your life . Lethal injections is one of the most used execution method that is known today about 32 states telling by the data of the rubric they had on “Death Penalty Information Center”. It seems as if the lethal injection method is easier to lay the prisoner to rest than other execution
Hanging was the main method of execution in America until the electric chair was invented in 1890. Then came gas chambers and lethal injection in the 1920s and 1970s respectively. There were downsides to all of these methods of execution including decapitation for hanging, heads catching on fire with the electric chair, and expenses for lethal injection. The Supreme Court halted all executions for four years in 1972 because of an abolitionist group protesting possibly discriminatory convictions. After this, lethal injection was invented and adopted by many U.S. states.
As of 1976-2022, there have been 163 executions by the Electric Chair which is considered the secondary method of execution for the Death Penalty after the lethal injection. In general, it is inhumane kill these inmates and make them suffer for long periods of
Once all appeals have been exhausted, the state sets a date for the execution. The method of execution in Texas is lethal injection, which involves administering a series of drugs that cause death. The execution is carried out at the Texas State Penitentiary in
Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is a legal process in which a person is put to death as a punishment for a crime by the government of a nation. The United States is in the minority group of nations that uses the death penalty. There are thirty-three states that allow capital punishment and seventeen states that abolished it (Death Penalty Information Center). The morality of the death penalty has been debated for many years. Some people want capital punishment to be abolished due to how it can cost a lot more than life imprisonment without parole, how they think it is immoral to kill, and how innocent people can be put to death.
Lethal Injection The highest point of contention in the criminal justice system is lethal injection, with many people having views on whether it is cruel and unusual punishment or not. One point of contention is that some states use different controversial chemicals during the procedure. Another prominent issue is how the chemicals are introduced to the body. Some want it to be a direct injection and not through an IV.
4 states in the United States use the gas chamber today, however, all of these states use lethal injection as their primary method of execution. Just like all of the other forms of execution, the execution staff takes every necessary precaution towards making sure everything goes as
The death penalty, is the loss of life, which is induced by different tactics. The most common methods in the United States is lethal injection, hanging, firing squad, and the electric chair. The most chosen method by inmates is lethal injection. Lethal injection consists of the inmate being strapped to an operating table or gurney and a trained medical doctor will place two needles into the veins of the arms(Death Penalty Information Center).
Capital Punishment is the death penalty for those who commit murder. The thought behind this punishment is a life for a life. There has been debate on if the death penalty is right or wrong. Some poeple want the death penalty to be illegal while others argue it is needed to deter crime. There are many valid arguments regarding the death penalty.
Daniel Frank was the first person to be legally executed, he was sentenced to death for theft. (Michael Par. 7). Being executed for theft really was extreme, and the government later made the execution method to be used for more grave crimes. Many states years after decided to abolish capital punishment, and eventually legalized it again. Though execution has been considered inhuman, it did lower the crime rates for the crimes that would be categorized for execution.