8th Amendment And The Death Penalty

Crime- No person shall be held to answer for any crimes unless proven guilty. No person shall be arrested, imprisoned, despoiled, or deprived of his property, immunities, or privileges, put out of the protection of the law, exiled or deprived of his life, liberty, or estate, but by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land. The legislature shall not make any law that shall subject any person to a capital or infamous punishment, excepting for the government of the army and navy, without trial by

It states that the government cannot make a person testify against themselves. A trial relies on witnesses and evidence and not the testimony of the accused.

The prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment largely concerns itself with disproportionate and arbitrary punishments imposed by the government. “The Court has repeatedly emphasized the Eighth Amendment’s expansive and vital character and its capacity for evolutionary growth.” (Kanovitz, 2010) Cruelty is interpreted as actions that oppose current standards of decency. As public opinion grows and changes these standards are apt to change. The vague wording of the Eighth Amendment allows room for the opinion of what punishments are acceptable to adapt to modern times.

"In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense."

Basically says that all capitals and “infamous crimes” needs to be dealt with in a grand jury and that everyone has the right to not say anything that can be used against them in the court of law. Unless under military service or during times of war in which public safety is prioritized. Also no person should ever be charged twice for the same or similar offense they committed last time around.

If we examine some arguments presented from both sides, opponents of the capital punishment claim that executing someone is nothing more than an immoral, state-authorized killing which undervalues the human life and destroys our respect for our government which itself says that killing is wrong. But the supporters of the death penalty think that certain murderers

This case stemmed from several Oklahoma inmates who were disputing the use of a sedative called midazolam used in executions to numb the inmate. Apparently the sedative doesn’t render a person fully unconscious before the lethal injection which in turn causes immense pain and violates the 8th amendment against cruel and unusual punishment. However no alternative sedative is available in place of midazolam. The group of inmates failed to prove to the justices that a large dosage midazolam actually caused any real pain. Two of the inmates also questioned whether the death penalty was constitutional which if it weren’t we wouldn’t have it or death row. One inmate wrote he believed it was “highly likely” that it violates the 8th amendment. The inmate’s lawyer also argued that midazolam was unable to reliably knock out the inmate before the paralytic and finally the potassium chloride which stops the heart. Most states until 2009 like Oklahoma had used this three step execution process but nowadays most states that still do executions nowadays just use a single step execution

The 8th amendment’s most confusing, and yet most important feature, is the right to no cruel or unusual punishments. The

Justice Brennan concurred. It was argued that the cruel and unusual clause was not used properly and consistently. That the clause must evolve along side with the society and ever changing human standards. The clause prohibits “infliction of uncivilized and inhuman punishments” and the state, when punishing an individual must follow the basic human values and not exceed them (O`Brien, 1258).

as though they have already been found guilty (Henham, 1998). The due process model protects

The choice to attack the cruel and unusual punishment clause of the Eighth Amedment, while preserving the original arbitrary and capricious sentencing argument, proved

Capital punishment has been a continued controversy in the public opinion forum, in state legislatures, and most recently in the courts. In 1972, the case of Furman vs. Georgia involving capital punishment reached the US Supreme Court. The Court decided that capital punishment would violated the Eighth Amendments provision "forbidding cruel and unusual punishment” (“Chronology”). By this decision, death sentences all over the country were set aside. But, four years later, the Supreme Court held in Gregg v. Georgia that under the states’ new two-stage trial system,

punishment, the guarantees of due process of law, and of equal protection under the law. (Bedau,

Around one third of countries around the world are known to have a legal set of laws that allows capital punishment. Surprisingly the United States is one of the countries with the most confirmed executions every year. A number count of most confirmed executions per country was done in 2013 in which the U.S ended up at the fifth position (“International Perspective”). Only a total of 6 names were given which were China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, United States & Somalia, which were the countries with the highest number of executions. Now you ask yourself why in the world would the U.S be in a top 6 list with such names as those, the only answer to that is that we as a society still stoop extremely low. Now some might say that we are extremely different and more civilized than those countries, while the answer to that is no we are not. Within the

Capital punishment, which can also be referred to as the death penalty, has been around for hundreds of years. Ever since it began, there has been discussions as to whether it is morally correct, and as to whether it actually influences criminals. Some believe that the possibility of being put to death often stops criminals from committing violent crimes. Others believe the reciprocal, stating that those that partake in violent crimes are driven to do so for various reasons, and whether they have the chance of being put to death or not will not stop them from doing what they feel they must do. Some serial killers and other violent individuals think that they will never be caught. Others believe that they are doing God 's work, or they proclaim other 'important ' reasons for the killings and violence that they partake in. Sometimes this is due to mental disorders, but there are other reasons that people partake in acts of this nature. Regardless of these reasons, violent acts can and do happen and whether these people should be put to death for their crimes remains a widely discussed issue.