Capital Punishment: A Brief Analysis

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The inmate walks from the holding cell to the gurney, accompanied by guards and he is placed in a supine position on the gurney and he is strapped…The arm that takes the IV [intravenous line] is exposed…[After a signal to begin] they press the button [of the lethal injection machine]…[W]hen the prisoner had died and had been certified as such, the nurse-anesthetist removes the IV. Then the mortician comes in and removes him from the gurney to his table, and takes him to the funeral parlor. (qtd. in Holmes and Federman 8)
The above narrative describes the last few moments of a convict condemned to death by lethal injection. The death penalty has been a contentious subject for centuries. According to Chew, the practice of capital punishment began in the primeval Roman and Greek empires (19). Evidence of the death penalty has also been found in the ancient books of the Babylonians in 1760 BC (Chew 19). These point to the notion that the death penalty as a form of punishment has been used for a long time. Over time, various methods of administering capital punishment have been adopted including “stoning, burning, crucifixion, impalement, drowning, live burial, the guillotine, and hanging” (Chew 19). The United States eventually adopted capital punishment as a form of discipline as a result of being colonized by the British (Chew 20).
After capital punishment arrived in the United States, the killing methods became more humanized through development. Hanging, which was adopted from the British, was soon changed to electrocution in 1888 and electrocution was also replaced with lethal injection by 1924 (Chew 20). The most common method now, first used in 1977, is lethal injection (Chew 20). Chew also reports that as of 2010, thirty-eigh...

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...ly lethal injection), the effectiveness of the death penalty as a deterrent and the religious views, specifically Christianity, on capital punishment.

Works Cited

Chew, Amanda. "Lethal Injection: Constitutional Method Of Execution Or Cruel And Unsual
[sic] Punishment?" International Journal of Punishment and Sentencing (Apr. 2010): 19-35. Academic OneFile. Web. 9 Mar. 2014.
Holmes, D, and C Federman. “Killing For The State: The Darkest Side Of American Nursing.”
Nursing Inquiry 10.1 (2003): 2-10. CINAHL Plus with Full Text. Web. 24 February 2014.
Osler, Mark. "Christ, Christians and capital punishment." Baylor Law Review Winter 2007: 1-
40. Academic OneFile. Web. 28 Feb. 2014.
Shepherd, Joanna M. "Deterrence Versus Brutalization: Capital Punishment's Differing
Impacts Among States." Michigan Law Review (Nov. 2005): 203-255. Academic OneFile. Web. 9 Mar. 2014.

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