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The Pros And Cons Of Capital Punishment

683 Words3 Pages

With the ruling in Gregg v. Georgia (1976), the Supreme Court held that capital punishment for certain offenses did not constitute cruel and unusual punishment, thus deeming the death penalty constitutionally acceptable (Harr, Hess, Orthmann, and Kingsbury; 2015). Over the years, the Court placed limitations on the sentence. Beginning in 1986, the Court banned the execution of mentally ill individuals, and three years later rendered mentally retarded individuals ineligible as well. In 2005, the Roper v. Simmons decision excluded juveniles under the age of eighteen from receiving the death penalty on the grounds of cruel and unusual punishment (Harr et al., 2015). The courts limited the number of individuals and crimes warranting the death …show more content…

Rees (2008), the Court determined was "humane" when performed correctly (Harr et al., 2015). Lethal injection incorporates three separate drugs: an anesthetic, a paralytic called Pavulon, and potassium chloride which stops the heart (Schmalleger and Smykla, 2015). The intention of the chemical cocktail is for the inmate's death to occur while he is unconscious to refrain from subjecting him to unnecessary pain or cruelty. Ultimately, though controversial, the death penalty achieves three of the five contemporary goals of criminal sentencing: retribution, deterrence, and incapacitation. Physical punishment dates back to the days of the Old Testament's "an eye for an eye" and intends to exact revenge on a criminal for his crimes (Schmalleger, 2016). Since most capital offenses eligible for the death penalty involve murder, sentencing an offender to death seems an appropriate punishment (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2014). Despite eighty-eight percent of criminological experts refuting the death penalties impact on deterrence, they fail to account for the specific deterrence -aiming to prevent a particular offender from reoffending (Schmalleger, 2016). Specific deterrence is achieved through the death penalty because following execution, it is impossible for an offender to

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