The use of midazolam does not violate the 8th amendment. There have only been a few cases that have failed, and we have improved our strategy. Even if the execution takes more than the estimated amount of time, there is not a substantial amount of pain that would be consisered as cruel and unusual punishment. In addition, those being given capital punishment are deprived of life for taking away the lives of others. Opinion of the Court (Justice Samuel A Alito Jr.)
The Supreme Court ordered that such “deliberate indifference” to an inmate 's “serious medical needs” was a violation of that inmate 's Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. This case guaranteed three basic rights: the right to access to care, the right to care that is ordered, and the right to professional medical judgment.
The new protocol was a four drug alternative which still contained the same drug used in the Lockett execution, Midazolam. Charles Warner along with twenty other death row inmates sued a variance of state officials, on the grounds that being put to death with the new protocol was against their eight amendment right. (No cruel or unusual punishment) They argued that Midazolam the key initial drug would cause them a horrible cruel death. They claimed that it would feel as if they had a liquid fire running through their veins.
But the Arkansas court issued a death sentence against him and force him medication before the time of his execution on January 2004. Arkansas court puts doctors in dilemma, adhere to their medical oath or criminal law. Regarding to the medical oath, doctors are not allowed to participate in the execution or use of drugs to take people life. Duty’s doctors are helping and treatment of patients not killing the patient. (Eisenberg, 2004).
Why? In “Chronicle of an American Execution”, the author, Dan Barry, describes how a man by the name of Daryl Holton ruthlessly murders his four young children. Why would anyone murder their children? As hard as it is to comprehend, there is a cause, a reason as to why this man killed his kids but there is also an effect, a consequence.
Although inmates are being put to death, their death does not have to be stressful and painful. The inmate serving death-row and facing death may deserve death for their actions, However, a painful death is a cruel punishment and inhumane. The lethal injection drugs should be carefully evaluated by Drug Enforcement Administration and be free of cruelty when being administered to the inmate. Just because someone is going to die anyway, the lethal injection matters on what will be administered. Off market drugs is illegal to obtain when there is not a prescription, therefore, off market drugs should not be allowed for use in a correctional center for death
On February 14, 2006, a United States district court issued an unprecedented ruling in the execution of murderer Michael Morales. In order to uphold the Constitutions Eighth Amendment against cruel and unusual punishment California was ordered to have a physician, specifically an anesthesiologist, personally supervise the execution by lethal injection to determine the prisoner’s state of consciousness (p101). The American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) strongly opposed this ruling stating that “Physicians are healers not
The issue in this case is whether the imposition of the sentence of death for the crime of murder under the law of Georgia violated the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. Gregg argued that the sentencing procedure allows for arbitrary grants of mercy that reflects a misinterpretation and ignores the reviewing authority of the Georgia Supreme Court to determine whether each death sentence is proportional to other sentencing for similar crimes. Gregg was pleading for a life sentence instead of death. Georgia argued that the statute did not constitute a cruel and unusual punishment and did not violate the Eighth and Fourteenth amendments. Georgia also argued and proved that there must be specific jury findings as to the circumstances of the crime to determine whether the death sentence was fair for the case.
After reading" Life Sentence" by Christopher Shea, I totally agree with what he is trying to reveal. In the beginning of the reading, Shea mentioned all these “What if” questions to get you thinking before he starts explaining his claim. His claim in this article was that prisons have a greater impact than most people think it does. Prisons don’t just punish criminals during their time, they still punish them even after they’ve paid their time.
The most important issue that must be addressed in this case is the principle of the “evolving standards of decency” and the uses of a national consensus. The “evolving standards of decency” were developed by Trop v. Dulles and have been implemented in one way or another in all of the precedents dealing with “cruel and unusual” punishment. It is important to treat these principles as an important aspect of “cruel and unusual” punishment jurisprudence, therefore turning from these set of principles would be foolish and a disregard for every precedent. However, it is important to acknowledge that each case satisfies the standards by using a different method; some use the presence or lack of state legislature as a judgment of consensus while others look at foreign countries.
Texas holds the title for the state with most executions in the United States gaining heavy scrutiny for the use of death penalty. Many are concerned that the death penalty is in direct violation of the 8th amendment of the constitution which forbids the act of cruel and unusual punishment as well as being wrong on a moral level. This becomes a hot button issue when mental illness comes into play as 30% of Texas's incarcerated inmates, have been clients of the state’s mental health system (“Texas Death Penalty”). Andre Lee Thomas is one of those inmates, sentenced to death, but also deemed mentally unstable.
Transformed: Question #1 Thomas Cahill writes in his book, A Saint on Death Row, about a man that was given the death penalty. Dominique Green was given lethal injection after being convicted of first degree murder. Green had a rough life growing up, and Cahill calls him a “saint” towards the end of his life.
1. Do you believe that each of the 3 inmates deserved the death penalty? Why or why not? After viewing the National Geographic documentary titled “Death Row Texas”, I found myself grieving the loss of my father.
Advocating for the Vulnerable: Lessons from Two Powerful TED Talks Law and Society has been a very informative class and has greatly enriched my understanding of the American justice system. However, one particular section of the course stands out in my mind as the most potent example of how dysfunctional the American justice system can be. David R. Dow — Lessons from Death Row Inmates. In his Ted talk Dow argues that the death penalty system in the US is deeply flawed and that it fails to address the underlying issues that lead people to commit crimes. He suggests that we need to focus more on prevention and rehabilitation rather than punishment alone.
This line from the article explains that the court didn’t think it was right to execute minors, but still did it in certain cases. In addition, the court found it unconstitutional to execute other categories of people. The article states,”(The Court had also, in 2002, held it to be a violation of the Eighth Amendment to execute mentally retarded persons.) " This excerpt points out that it is illegal to execute people with mental disabilities. Lastly, the court had to decide whether this case violated the Eighth Amendment.
