The Death Penalty: A Violation of 8th Amendment

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Recommended: Death penalty as a cruel and unusual punishment

Don't you think that putting people to death is brutal? Wouldn't you rather have them stay in prison for the rest of their lives? In fact, it costs far more to execute a person then to keep him or her in prison for life. The EighthAmendment states that it prevents cruel and unusual punishment, and the death penalty is violating it. The Supreme Court case, McCleskey v. Kemp (1987) violates the Eighth Amendment purpose. Therefore, the death penalty clearly defies the Eighth Amendment and shouldn't be used for people who have convicted murder.
It is true that, capital punishment is properly reserved for the worst of the worst.
For example, Ted Bundy and terrorists like Oklahoma City bomber, Timothy McVeigh who have committed serious crimes. Furthermore, during the first decade of the 21st century there were 26 percent more executions in the U.S. than in the 20th century. For instance, during the same time period, the U.S. murder rate decreased by 24 percent (Marquis, 22). However, how would you know if someone was innocent or not? What if they had been framed by the actual killer? That’s why it would take a long and complex process to find out whether that person had not committed such crime. Therefore, innocent people could be put to death for doing no such crimes.

The courts have declared that if a sentence is inhuman, outrageous, or shocking to society, it would be considered cruel and unusual. For example, cutting body parts off, breaking on the wheel, crucifixion, and so on. The Founding Fathers intention for the Eighth Amendment was to give the government into the hands of people and take it away from arbitrary rulers and judges, who might expose any amount of excessive bail or cruel and unusual punishment that they wished....

... middle of paper ...

... Court case McClesky v. Kemp not only violated the Eighth, but also violated the 14th Amendment. If McClesky had shot a black police officer, then he wouldn't have had to be sentenced to death. That being the case, The U.S. shouldn't continue to apply the death penalty because two thirds of the world's countries, including all of Europe have abolished the death penalty policy.

Works Cited

Marquis, Joshua. “Should the Death Penalty Be Abolished?” The New York Times Upfront, 07, Oct. 2013 :22
McClesky vs. Kemp, United States. (1987)
“The Death Penalty.” The Death Penalty.N.p., N.d,. 04 Feb 2013
Tierney, Diann Rust. “Should the Death Penalty Be Abolished?” The New York Times Upfront, 07, Oct. 2013 :22
United States. Amendment 14.
"8th Amendment." Revolutionary War and Beyond. N.p., n.d. http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com/8th-amendment.html. 04 Feb. 2014.

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