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Capital punishment history
Capital punishment history
Brief history of capital punishment in the United States
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When analyzing the pro and cons of the death penalty and if it should be kept or abolished in the United States, one has to analyze the different methods of execution. There are five main ways the death penalty procedure is performed which include lethal injection, electrocution, lethal gas, hanging, and firing squad. Lethal injection is the most common way of execution and “as of July 1, 2006, 81 percent of executions performed since 1976 have been been lethal injection, including 375 of the last 378 executions” (Methods of Capital Punishment). Lethal injection is the combination of three drugs. Five grams of Sodium pentothal, puts the prisoner unconscious. The second drug, which is called pancuronium bromide and 50 cc is given, relaxes the criminal’s muscles and paralyzes the diaphragm and lungs. The final drug, 50 cc of potassium chloride, causes cardiac arrest. The drugs are administrated through IV in each of the criminal’s arms. The second way of execution is electrocution, in which “the sentence shall be executed by causing to pass though the body of the convict a current of electricity of sufficient intensity to cause death, and the application and continuance of such current through the body of such convict shall continue until such convict is dead”(Methods of Capital Punishment). The criminal or offender is placed in the electric chair and a wet sponge is placed between the electrode and the offender’s scalp. 2,300 volts are given for 8 seconds, which is followed by 1,000 volts for 22 seconds, and then another 2,300 volts are given again. Electrocution execution used to be the main method, but there were too many botched executions that lethal injection had to be best and most effective method. As for today,...
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..., and lethal gas should not be used as an execution method in my opinion. The main method of execution should be firing squad because it is the most humane and most efficient way to kill someone without torturing him or her. Six guys with guns line up and they all fire at the same times so no one who exactly the offender. I believe the United States and each State alone needs to start using or utilizing the death penalty more. Criminals need to know when they commit a heinous crime that there is a risk and that they could be put to death because of their actions. I believe once this threat is high enough and enforced enough that crime will decrease in the United States. In conclusion, criminals made their choice in committing serious crimes and now they should have to face the consequences of their actions by ending their life by using the death penalty.
Some people may consider the death penalty as inhumane. As stated in the article, Naked City, by Rita Radostitz, Texas uses three chemicals in the lethal injection process: sodium thiopental (an extremely short-term anesthetic), pancuronium bromide (which paralyses the diaphragm and other muscles so the inmate is unable to move or speak, even if he is in pain), and potassium chloride (which stops the heart).
Each year there are about 250 people added to death row and 35 executed. From 1976 to 1995 there were a total of 314 people put to death in the US 179 of them were put to death using lethal injection, 123 were put to death using electrocution, 9 were put to death in a gas chamber, 2 were hanged, and 1 was put to death using the firing squad. The death penalty is the harshest form of punishment enforced in the United Sates today. Once a jury has convicted a criminal, they go to the second part of the trial, the punishment phase. If the jury recommends the death penalty and the judge agrees then the criminal will face some form of execution, lethal injection is the most common form used today. There was a period from 1972 to 1976 that capital punishment was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Their reason for this decision was that the death penalty was "cruel and unusual punishment" under the Eighth Amendment. The decision was reversed when new methods of execution were introduced. Capital punishment is a difficult issue and there are as many different opinions as there are people. In our project, both sides have been presented and argued fully.
An inmate by the name of Gary Graham drew several protestors to a Huntsville unit in the year 2000; they were there in opposition to Graham’s execution. This day finally came after nineteen years on death row and four appeals. With him being a repeat offender he was not new to this side of the justice system, but after being put in prison he became a political activist who worked to abolish the death penalty. People who stood against his execution argued that his case still had reasonable doubt, he was rehabilitating himself, and his punishment would cause major harm to his family. Aside from that you have the advocates arguing that you have to set example for others, so you must carry out the punishment that was given, and while the execution may harm the offender’s family it will give the victims’ families closure for his crimes.
In this paper I will ask three people four different questions about their views on the death penalty. The first question I asked was “Why do you feel the death penalty is wrong?” Question number two, “Does the death penalty help protect the public and discourage crime?” Question number three, “Do you consider the death penalty cruel and unusual?” The final question, “Is the death penalty economically justifiable and cost effective?”
Capital punishment is the type of punishment that allows the execution of prisoners who are charged and convicted because they committed a “capital crime.” Capital crime is a crime that is considered so horrible and terrifying that anyone who commits it should be punished with death (McMahon, Wallace). After so many years this type of punishment, also known as the “death penalty”, remains a very controversial topic all around the world, raising countless debates on whether it should be legalized or not.
The death penalty was around for many years, though we do not really hear much about it today. The death penalty was used as a way of punishment for committing the most serious crimes. This punishment was executed in various ways, all of them leading to the death of the person being executed. However, there are reasons why this punishment is no longer being used today.
The United States should use the death penalty because it is economical and continues to be a deterrent for potential offenders. Take into consideration that the Constitution states that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness can not be taken away without due process. The offenders committing the brutal, heinous crimes have not applied this right to the victims of their crimes. Why should the government take their rights into consideration when the victims rights mean so little to them? People always put forth the idea that killing is wrong in any sense, yet they don’t want to punish the people that commit the crimes.
The death penalty is a highly controversial and hotly debated topic. The death penalty is completely obsolete in western English speaking countries; the only exception the United States of America. Capital Punishment is only used in cases of treason and in murder 1. Supporters of the death penalty believe that putting a killer to death gives the family of the murdered knowledge that justice was served. The opposition to the death penalty believes that the punishment is too “final”: it offers no possibility of rehabilitation. Both sides, however, recognize the need for a change in the justice system regarding capital punishment. The common issue is finding a punishment which is harsh enough to deter crime but still offers the chance of rehabilitation. The standard form of execution is use of lethal injection, in which the convicted is bound to a chair and injected with sodium thiopental to cause unconsciousness, pancuronium bromide to induce paralysis, and potassium chloride to stop the heart. Texas is the state most liberal in their use of the death penalty, with 34% of the national total since 1976. The death penalty has been a part of civilization for all of man’s existence, starting in Ancient Greece and Egypt and continuing on through today.
Lethal injections have been a controversial issue for centuries. Before lethal injections was even thought about; previous methods were used such as: hanging, gas chambers, electric
Some even claim that it is cruel and unusual punishment. I would like to shed light on the issue and inform everyone as to why we should keep the death penalty and possibly even use it more than we do now. First of all, it is hard for anyone to argue that we already use the death penalty too much because facts say that we hardly use it at all. Since 1967, there has been one execution for every 1,600 murders. There have been approximately 560,000 murders and 358 executions between 1967 and 1996(UCR and BJS).
Capital Punishment is defined as the legal infliction of the death penalty. The death penalty is corporal punishment in its most severe form and is used instead of life long imprisonment. Putting people to death that have committed extremely terrible crimes is an ancient practice, but it has become a very controversial issue in today's society. Capital punishment has been used for centuries, even the Bible contains over thirty stories or incidents about a person put to death for a crime they committed. Public executions stopped after 1936. The death penalty has been inflicted in many different ways. Today in the United States, there are five ways that the death penalty is performed. These criminals are put to death by a lethal injection, electrocution, lynching, a firing squad, or the gas chamber. These punishments are much less severe than the forms of execution in the past. In the past, people were executed by crucifixion, boiling in oil, drawing and quartering, impalement, beheading, burning alive, crushing, tearing, stoning, and even drowning. The methods used today compared to those of history are not meant for torture but instead for punishment for heinous crimes and to rid the earth of these dangerous people. The majority of America supports the death penalty.
According to the code of Virginia’s Legislative law a crime that fits the death penalty criterion would be anything from first-degree murder. Some circumstances could include when the murder was heinous, if the person is considered a future danger, premeditated killing of anyone with attempted robbery, or as an act of terrorism. Other crimes would include if the murder victim was under the age and the killer was older than 21, premeditated killing of any law enforcement officer, and the killing of a pregnant woman by someone who knows that the woman is pregnant. These are only some of many crimes that could lead a person to death row while living in Virginia.
The death penalty is meant to deter criminals from committing repeat offenses. A review of capital punishment since 1975 by an economist and psychologist concluded that over many years and across states found a deterrent effect. A study in 2003 found from 1977 to 1996 that on average, each execution resulted in 18 fewer murders per county. Another review of data from the 50 states from 1978 to 1997, an economist found that each state execution deters an average of 14 murders annually. Numbers do demonstrate that capital punishment does deter crime, but the justice system should be cautious when handing out the final verdict. Officials at all levels have to keep constitutional protections in mind like due process and equal protection of the law. Although, processing the criminal shouldn’t be taken advantaged of because that will get in the way of lawful execution of the death penalty in capital
Capital punishment is the death penalty, or execution which is the sentence of death upon a person by judicial process as a punishment for a crime like murdering another human and being found guilty by a group of jurors who have listen to a court hearing were the District Attorney and the defendant argue their sides of the case. Historical penalties include boiling to death, flaying, disembowelment, crucifixion, crushing (including crushing by elephant), stoning, execution by burning, dismemberment.(2008) The U.S., begin using the electric chair and the gas chamber as more humane execution then hanging, then moved to lethal injection, which in has been criticized for being too painful. Some countries still choose to use hanging, and beheading by sword or even stoning.
Some states will allow the prisoner to choose their death penalty, with the prisoner getting the death penalty will help bring closure to the victims’ family. Also the death penalty can help the overcrowded prisons and the repeat offenders. The death penalty is very important because it can keep murderers out of society, that may be released for ‘good behavior’ just to make more room for new criminals. It is disturbing to know that you could be walking next to a murder that was released for good behavior when they should’ve gotten the death penalty. Therefore, I believe the death penalty should be legal in all 50 states to help lower crime rates. I think Matthew from the Bible got it right…….. an eye for an eye, a tooth for a