Death Penalty Essay: Barbaric Capital Punishment

was a black male who committed rape and robbery. October fifth of two thousand one when Georgia became the first appellate court in the country to rule that electrocution is an “unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment” (www.nytimes.com) . After a four to three decision ending the seventy seven years that electrocution had been put in practice. Four hundred and forty one is the number of inmates that were killed by the electric chair. Lethal injection is currently the sole and primarily method of execution in Georgia, first put it in practice October fifth of two thousand one with Terry Michael Mincey, a white male who committed robbery and murder. He was set to be sentenced to death by lethal injection, just few week after the Supreme

Constitutional. The death penalty itself has been proven unconstitutional through in depth studies. There has been a number of cases in which the convict is improperly executed. For instance, the case Glossip v. Gross was created because of a botched execution, unfortunately it was not ruled as a violation of the Constitution. “In June the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Glossip v. Gross that Oklahoma's use of the sedative midazolam in lethal injections did not violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of "cruel and unusual punishments” (Heyns and Mendez). There has been many other cases with a similar situation to this. The death penalty is not considered cruel and unusual, but due to circumstances in the past there is reason to believe that is not true. Many of the most recent incidents of cruel and unusual punishment was caused by lethal injections. The injections are meant to be the most humane way of killing the inmate, however it obvious in many situations that the killing is not humane. For example, cases have been reported of botched lethal injections, “The cross-country battle over lethal injection methods has taken on added importance since last year, when inmates in Ohio, Oklahoma and Arizona gasped, moaned or writhed in pain during the administration of a three-drug cocktail including the sedative midazolam” (Wolf and Johnson). Due to what those inmates went through during their

wastes the time of courts and attorneys. From the point that the person is sentenced to death row, the convicted may need to wait about 12 years until execution. Furthermore, the actual execution has many complications as well. A hanging may seem simple, but a miscalculation of the drop may lead to the person suffering a slow suffocation or the head being torn off the body. Another method, electrocution, is also not reliable. In one case, John Evans was electrocuted three times before he died, with his flesh burning and flames consuming his leg. Some may argue that this is the reason gas chambers were created. However, the chambers also cause slow and painful death as shown by Don Harding’s execution which took ten minutes. Today’s most used

While execution methods have changed throughout the years each means of elimination has proved to be some form of violence. Some examples include a firing squad in which the criminal was shot to death, electric chair in which the criminal is shocked to death, public hanging where the criminal’s neck is snapped or choked to death, and most commonly used now, lethal injection, which administers a three drug system supposedly similar to putting down an old dog. It has been thought that lethal injection would surpass the eighth amendment because many thought the drugs were unable to harm those who would be effected. However, in Oklahoma there was Layton Lockett’s botched execution, in which he woke up and suffered in immense pain until he finally died. This occurred because of multiple reasons, the first being the use of a new drug and the second, was that the drug had being administered by someone with no medical training. Shortly after this occurred there were 21 individuals who filed civil rights cases arguing that lethal injections were a form of cruel and unusual punishment. Unfortunately, because the execution was only seen as an accident, lethal injection was not considered cruel because it could not prove that the action caused serious illness or needless suffering. The death penalty is inconsistent and unreliable both physically and within processes. Executions

In Louisiana in 1988, Wayne Robert Felde was sentenced to be put to death by means of electric chair. The procedure began proceeding as normal, but Mr.Felde did not die quickly. Due to a form of malfunction, the instrument did not proceed enough voltage to properly execute him. Rather, a sizeable chunk of skin on the side of his head proceeded to melt off, exposing the bone of the skull in the process (Bufacchi and Fairrie). This is a rather common occurrence, and one of the reasons that the death penalty is a violation of the eighth amendment. According to Fred Leutcher, the prisoners often choke, cough, and spasm as they die (Bufacci and Fairrie). In 1990, Jessie Taffero was put to death via the electric chair. The only problem, however, was that the first jolts of electricity caused his hair to catch on fire, simultaneously suffocating him inside of his hood and baking his head at the same time (Bufacci and Fairrie). The electric chair is not the only method with problems, however. “Sometimes there is a problem with the veins or the prisoner doesn’t cooperate, and then it is very difficult” (Bufacci and

Justice Leader J. Shaw, Florida Supreme Court, wrote, “The electric chair with its attendant smoke and flames and blood and screams, it’s a death penalty plus. So why do some states still use the electric chair? Nebraska and Alabama only use the electric chair, while most states give the inmates a choice of methods. Most executions when completed the room smells like burning flesh and there are even an occasional smoke and blood. This method has been argued as inhumane because when the execution is taking place the brain is boiling at 135-145 degrees. How is that humane? Vetinary associations no longer use electricity to euthanize animals yet we do and shouldn’t humans be treated just as good if not better than animals? (Weinstein, Henry)Not to mention the generator of the electric chair is suppost to be the most obscene and horrific sound you’ve ever heard. As Jefferson says in A Lesson Before Dying, “I heard two jolts but I never looked up, I will never forget the sound of that generator as long as I live on this earth.”(Gaines, 254) These chairs have also taken many innocent lives so there is absolutely no reason why they should still be alive.

Capital punishment and the practice of the death penalty is an issue that is passionately debated in the United States. Opponents of the death penalty claim that capital punishment is unnecessary since a life sentence accomplishes the same objective. What death penalty opponents neglect to tell you is that convicted murders and child rapists escape from prison every year(List of prison escapes, 2015). As I write this essay, police are searching for two convicted murders who escaped from the Clinton Correctional Facility in New York on June 6th, 2015. The ONLY punishment from which one cannot escape is capital punishment.

Evans was given three charges of electrocution over a period of fourteen minutes. After the first and second charges Mr. Evans was still conscious and smoke was coming from all over his body as a result of his flesh burning. An official there even tried to stop the execution on account of it being cruel and unusual punishment, but was unsuccessful. Witnesses later called the whole incident a "barbaric ritual."

Could that be considered cruel and unusual punishment? This is one valid argument that people make. That is why it is important for the commission to look at the constitutionality of the death penalty. If lethal injection truly is cruel and unusual then that would be illegal in the eyes of the federal government. Nobody has the authority to go

Cruel and Unusual Punishment, according to merriam-webster.com, is a punishment that is very harsh and too severe for the crime. The Eighth Amendment prohibits the federal government from imposing or inflicting cruel and unusual punishment, stating that "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted." This meaning, the punishment should not be too severe. There are nineteen states without the death penalty, while thirty-one that still have it including California, Florida, and Texas. There have been cases, in these states, in which the criminal sentenced death suffered once administered the most common protocol to date used on death row which was lethal injection. One man, Charles

The courts in this country have determined that capital punishment is not cruel and unusual punishment.  The fact that it is not a common punishment makes it unusual.  As for its being cruel, many witnesses of executions have testified to the cruelty of this punishment.  The 1985 execution of William Vandiver was witnessed by Herbert Shaps, Vandiver's attorney.  Shaps testified that smoke and the smell of burning flesh was evident during Vandiver's execution.  Shaps said the leather straps on the electric chair held down Vandiver's thrashing body each time the electrical shocks were administered.  Shaps also reported that it took more than four series of the voltage shocks before the sound of Vandiver's beating heart could no longer be heard on the microphone system in the chamber.  Smoke coming from a man's head and leg,

At present there are five methods of execution. The most commonly used form of execution is by lethal injection. In this method the convict is first injected with sodium thiopental, which puts the person to sleep, then he/she is injected with Pavulon, which finally kills him. [1] The next most common method of execution used is electrocution in which the person is tied with leather straps to a chair and electric current of two thousand or more volts is passed through the body. The initial shock of the electricity causes the person’s body to surge forward. The shock burns the internal organs of the person, which leaves them dead. During this process urination, vomiting of blood, change in skin color, and even swelling or burning of the skin may occur. This method of execution is currently used by only eleven states. The third method is gas chamber execution in which hydrochloric acid and potassium is used to kill the convict. One of oldest methods of executions is hanging and last method is by shooting. All the five methods are inhumane and cruel. The convict dies within a few seconds. He never gets the time to realize his mistake, repent over it or to correct it. Killing that person

Electrocution was first practiced in New York City by the use of an electric chair. The person is strapped to a chair with belts across his chest, legs, and arms and a metal skullcap-shaped is then attached to the forehead. It will run between 500 and 2000 volts, which can take about 30 seconds for the inmate to lose his life (Death Penalty Information, 2014). Another use of execution was the use of the gas chamber during the 1920s. Gee Jon was the first prisoner on which the gas chamber was used. The officers of the prison, in Nevada, pumped gas into his cell while he was sleeping. Firing Squad is a method of execution that is mainly practiced in the state of Utah. This was done by having the prisoner stand 20 feet away from the guards, and the five of the guards would aim with .30 caliber rifles and shoot at the prisoner's heart. The prisoner would then die as a result of blood loss. The last practice of execution that was done until the 1890s was hanging. This was a primary form of execution used in the United States. “If the

Does taking another’s life actually avenge that of another? The disciplinary act of capital punishment, punishment through death, has been a major debate in the United States for years. Those in support of capital punishment believe that it is an end to the reoccurrence of a repeat murderer. The public has, for many years, been in favor of this few and pro-death penalty. Yet as time goes on, records show a decrease in the public and the state’s support of the continuation of capital punishment. Those against capital punishment believe it is an immoral, spends taxpayers’ money improperly, and does not enforce a way to rehabilitate criminals and/or warn off future crimes.

Occurrences like these have happened before with different types of execution methods. Frank J. Coppola, a convicted murderer, was executed by an electric chair in Virginia on August 10, 1982. An attorney who was present at the time of the execution stated that it took “two 55-second jolts of electricity to kill Coppola” (Radelet). On the second jolt, an odor of burning flesh and a sound of sizzling flesh was produced according to the attorney. The second jolt also made Coppola's “head and legs catch on fire” (Radelet). With the burning flesh, his body limbs catching fire, and sounds of sizzling flesh, makes Coppola's execution an act of a quick and painless death fail. It is not a painless death if one's body limbs catch on fire and their skin starts to sizzle. Another occurrence of a quick and painless death fail was on September 15, 2009 in the state of Ohio. Romell Broom tried to be executed by lethal injection multiple times, but the injections would never work. The executioners could not find a vein in his arms or legs and while trying Broom’s stomach kept heaving (“Botched Executions”). Romell Broom never died and is still currently on death row, but as his stomach was heaving during his execution, displays an act of a failed painless death. With all of these gruesome failed ways of execution, it still does not act as a deterrent to