ipl-logo

Lethal Injection: A Constitutional Violation Of The 8th Amendment

832 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Death penalty in the united states research paper

The lethal injection executions illustrates a constitutional violation of the branch 's overreach as described by the 8th amendment due to its cases bring either successful in the execution or providing sufferable pain to death row inmates. One of the current problems in the Judicial branch is the use of lethal injection towards execution sessions. Lethal injection is an injection that is administered for the purpose of euthanasia and capital punishment. There are two methods of lethal injection today, one using a three drug protocol and the 2nd being the large dose of barbiturate. Lethal injection is used for capital punishment as it follows the 8th amendment we have today. The 8th amendment states that “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted”. Justice Samuel and four other justices conclude that the lethal injection does not cause harm and does not violate the 8th amendment according to this article. “ Testimony from both sides supports the District Court’s conclusion that midazolam(medicine) can render a person insensate to pain” says Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. Justice …show more content…

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

Show More
Related
607 Words | 3 Pages

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

Read More
992 Words | 4 Pages

1 Compare and Contrast A Summary of First Author From the court case, Glossip v. Gross, Samuel Alito, Supreme Court Justice, argues that lethal injection IS a constitutional method of execution. He argues that lethal injection is “a fast-acting barbiturate sedative that induces a deep, coma-like unconsciousness when given in the amounts used for lethal injection...inhibits all muscular-skeletal movements...inducing cardiac arrest.”

Read More
919 Words | 4 Pages

The combination of a lethal injection includes these three drugs: First sodium thiopental is used as an anesthetic; second, pancuronium bromide is used to paralyze the person, and lastly they induce you into cardiac arrest using potassium chloride. American business magnate Donald Trump said “Anyone who would commit an act as heinous as this clearly has deep rooted emotional problems. While this crime was an insane act, it demonstrates a deep lack of respect for law and order by a segment of society in this country. I would be in favor of the death penalty for this type of senseless and violent act (as well as others like espionage, treason, acts of terrorism) committed against innocent citizens. The trial should be expeditious

Read More
3117 Words | 13 Pages

Though the court did, however, concede that a state could fall in violation of the 8th amendment if an inmate offers a known and available alternative method of execution, and it is not granted without a proper justification (Baze v. Rees, 553 U.S. 2 2008). Through this, a test of constitutionality was estalblished, providing that a challenge must include evidence of significant pain, as well as a known and readily available alternative. Glossip v. Gross is often discussed in tandem with Baze, as they both challenged the constitutionality of execution by lethal injection. Glossip emerged when an inmate in Oklahoma had woken up during his execution and suffering for forty minutes before death. The tree-drug protocol was reevaluated, and a new protocol emerged, one that used one of the drugs from the first.

Read More
729 Words | 3 Pages

It clearly violates the eighth amendment that states, “[E]xcessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." (Eighth Amendment.) The segment of ‘cruel’ refers to a punishment that is brutal and inflicts severe pain of the suspect, whilst ‘unusual’ implies that the punishment is generally not associated with the crime that has been presumably been committed. The supreme court of Georgia explained, in a five to four ruling, that “capital sentencing based on the unguided discretion of juries offends the "cruel and unusual punishment" clause of the Eighth Amendment” due to the fact that it permits “juries to impose the distinctively profound sentence of death on some convicted defendants while other juries impose the far different sentence of life imprisonment on large numbers of similarly situated defendants convicted of exactly the same crime.” (Furman v.

Read More
700 Words | 3 Pages

It’s Not working out. By:Taija Jones. The 8th amendment says “Excessive bail shall not be required, Nor excessive fines imposed, Nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted” . With that being said if the 8th amendment applies for cruel punishments of death penalties then why is it still happening.

Read More
796 Words | 4 Pages

But no great reformation occurred until 1833. Those who witnessed public executions either reveled in the excitement of the event, or violently rioted in its aftereffects. There were some repulsive executions that led to abolition, such as “In 1853, Wisconsin abolished the death penalty after a gruesome execution in which the victim struggled for five minutes at the end of the rope, and a full eighteen minutes passed before his heart finally quit” (Reggio). In 1930, Eva Dugan was the first female to be executed in Arizona, and her “execution was botched when the hangman misjudged the drop and Mrs. Dugan's head was ripped from her body” (Reggio). But success against capital punishment didn’t see much of any fruition until 1972, when the Supreme Court declared it cruel and unusual in Furman v. Georgia, based on ‘discriminatory sentencing guidelines.’

Read More
1390 Words | 6 Pages

Criminals are shielded from cruel and unusual punishments. Finding the better option for good is sometimes the only answer. More so, execution is a crueler punishment than a life sentence without the possibility of parole. The process of entrusting a jury and judge with the power to decide someone's fate and put an end to their life will always be inhumane and seen as a cruel punishment. Although the Supreme Court has ruled capital punishment constitutional, it is difficult to determine if someone really deserves to die rather than just spending life locked away with no possibility of release.

Read More
154 Words | 1 Pages

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.

Read More
1008 Words | 5 Pages

The 8th Amendment of the Constitution states that no one should receive any "cruel and unusual punishments" for the crimes they have commited. The death penalty is a violation of the 8th amendment, and should be banished from the USA as it is an unreasonable and extreme punishment that is unnecessary and avoidable. The death penalty is inhumane, irreversible, and much more expensive compared to a non-death penalty case. Currently, 27 states are still using the death penalty and many of these states are either Midwest or South. Methods such as lethal injection, electric chair, hanging, gas chambers, and firing squad are used to execute these inmates.

Read More
932 Words | 4 Pages

The death penalty is a controversial issue that has been debated in the United States for a long period of time. In our own state of Texas, executing convicted criminals has become second nature. This is due to the fact that Texas has executed more people than any other state in the United States since 1976. So why does Texas lead the United States in executions? There are many reasons and factors that has led to this point.

Read More
483 Words | 2 Pages

Now, with the shortage of common drugs used in lethal injections, the Court is not handing the task over to doctors, and scientists, but rather politicians and lawyers who are not trained in the effects of lethal drugs. In recent executions, the offender might hold on to life for as long as twenty-five minutes, to two hours. Some might argue that this violates the Eighth Amendment, as letting someone suffer for two hours is certainly cruel and unusual punishment. In my opinion, this drug needs to be tested before someone is left barely hanging on to life for two

Read More
1230 Words | 5 Pages

Many citizens think that lethal injection is cruel and unusual. There are other ways of execution. The electric chair, firing squads, and hangings are other methods of choice. The United States courts can reject any way of execution that seems cruel and unusual (“top 10 pros and cons- death penalty- procon.org”). Another factor that is used against the death penalty is racism.

Read More
900 Words | 4 Pages

The death penalty is a punishment of execution, given to someone legally convicted of a capital crime. The death penalty laws were established in the 18th century B.C when king Hammaurabi of Babylon instituted the law for 25 different crimes. In Jewish history the death penalty could only be given after trail by the Sanhedrin, which was composed of twenty-three judges. There were four different ways the death penalty was imposed on an individual, these were burning, stoning, strangling and slaying (Talmud). In today’s society most countries have abolished the death penalty due to various reasons such as unfair justice, but others still have it in place, for example some states in The United States of America.

Read More
542 Words | 3 Pages

In that decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty did not violate the Eight Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.” Throughout the years, there have been numerous debates

Read More

More about Lethal Injection: A Constitutional Violation Of The 8th Amendment

Open Document