Capital Punishment Needs Abolished Essay

In this article it states what all methods are used for the death penalty. In Eight states it allows electrocution (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia). Three states it allows the gas chamber (Arizona, Missouri, and Wyoming). Three other states allow hanging (Delaware, New Hampshire, and Washington). Two other states allow the firing squad (Oklahoma and Utah), though only Oklahoma is the one that uses it. Utah allowed that option before it was banned in 2004.

The victim was strapped to a table with a pot of rats upended on his stomach. Then a fire was lit atop the cauldron. The rats had no choice but to burrow into the condemned’s stomach.

If the defendant was found guilty in one of the thirty five United States that enforced the death penalty, he would most likely be executed by means of lethal injection. Lethal injection has proven to be the most humane way of euthanizing criminals. Before this, up to 4 different methods had been used in the United States. These included hangings, firing squads, gas chambers and the infamous electric chair.

Many people who are supporters of the death penalty say that it’s a successful deterrent. But this isn’t true because the death penalty is administered very inconsistently and arbitrarily. “Only a small proportion of first-degree murders is sentenced to death, and even fewer are executed” (Bedau). There are also several states that have a lower criminal rate without using capital punishment. For example Wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan all get along just fine without the use of the death penalty. Also “…all other Western industrial countries get along quite well without killing their citizens” (Ryan). There are many judges that are against the use of capital punishment as well.

All of the research that I have done suggests that the death penalty is not a major source of deterrence for criminals to commit severe crimes such as homicide. In a 2009 survey of America’s top criminologists, published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology and written by Professor Michael Radelet, eighty-eight percent of the expert criminologists stated that they do not believe the death penalty acts as a deterrent for criminals to commit homicide. Respondents to this survey were asked to base their answers on research, rather

Premise 2: If we abolish the death penalty we run the risk of some innocent peoplebecoming future victims of the murderers (for example, the prison guards)Utilitarian’s recognize that punishment consists of the infliction of evil on another person, but they holdthat such evil is far outweighed by the future benefits that will accrue to society. Such as the death ofprison guards. Even though utilitarianists may believe that this will help prevent innocent people becomefuture vicitims, having the death penalty STILL runs the risk of convicting and killing innocent people.Premise 3: Whether we choose to keep the death penalty or abolish it, there is a riskthat some human lives will be needlessly lost.A utilitarianist would say we (humans) should always do what brings about the greatest benefit (pleasure) to thegreatest

Those that are for the death penalty claim that it will serve as a deterrent and is the only way for retribution against murderers. Both issues are highly debatable and have even been a subject of criticism. Punishment as a deterrence has been used for ages. This concept does work, however it should not be applied to all criminals, in my opinion. Some pro capital punishment individuals claim that it is an efficient deterrence against criminals. In an article “Death penalty is a deterrence”, the authors claim that by practicing the death penalty, violent crimes will decrease.”violent crime has declined eleven percent, with murder showing the largest decline at even more than twenty two percent. We believe that this has occurred in part because of the strong signal that the death penalty sent to violent criminals and murders.” These statistics taken from this article may be inaccurate and should be closely examined.

     Why should the death penalty be abolished? The death penalty should be abolished because of many reasons. Many people believe the saying, 'an eye for an eye'. But when will people realize that just because someone may have killed a loved one that the best thing for that person is to die also. People don't realize that they are putting the blood of another person life on their hands. This makes them just as guilty as the person who committed the crime: the only difference is that they didn't use weapon except their mouth to kill them. The death penalty should be abolished because it is racist, punishes the poor, condemns those who are innocent to death, and is a cruel punishment.

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

“Harding’s death was extremely violent. He was in great pain. I heard him gasp and moan. I saw his body turn from red to purple.” Carla McClain, a newspaper reporter, witnessed the execution of Donald Eugene Harding on April 6, 1992 by asphyxiation. Of the same execution television journalist, Cameron Harper, said, “Harding’s spasms and jerks lasted 6 minutes and 37 seconds. Obviously, this man was suffering. This was a violent death….an ugly event. We put animals to death more humanely.”

There is trap door that the inmate stands on, once opened, the prisoner will fall through. The weight of prisoner should cause a rapid fracture-dislocation of the neck, although instant death rarely occurs. When the inmate has strong neck muscles, the drop is too short, or the noose is wrongly placed, the fracture-dislocation is not rapid, in which death results from asphyxiation. When this occurs the face becomes engorged, the tongue protrudes, the eyes pop out, the body is defecated, and violent movement of the limbs occur.

Another method of execution is the gas chamber; with this procedure a prisoner is put in a closed chamber and forced to inhale lethal fumes from a sulfuric acid and cyanide chemical reaction. According to a dissent by U.S. Supreme Court justice John Paul Stevens concerning the 1992 execution of Don Harding, there did not seem to be any civilized aspect of the gas chamber method of executing prisoners. According to the report at first Harding tried to hold his breath inside the chamber, but was unsuccessful; when he finally inhaled some of the fumes his body started convulsing and the muscles and veins under his skin were twitching in a "wavelike motion." This execution took over eight minutes to complete and Mr. Harding was writhing in pain for most of that time. According to officials at the scene Harding did not fall unconscious until right before his death (Bedau).

Until the 1890s, hanging was the primary method of execution used in the United States as it was quicker than the firing squad and there was no blood involved. The prisoners were hung and the platform below would open, causing a quick neck dislocation. The firing squad was first used in 1913 in Nevada, and was used in the first execution in America. The prisoner is strapped to a chair, has his heart marked with a cloth, then shot at by shooters, killing the person due to a vessel rupture. Seeing as how inhumane these were, the new method of electrocution was built in 1888 in New York, and in 1890 they executed William Kemmler, who is one of 158 inmates to receive electrocution. The inmate in strapped into a chair, has electrodes attached to their body, then are given regular shocks until their heart stops beating. Nevada still found this inhumane, so they developed a lethal gas execution process that would hopefully inflict less pain while remaining cost-effective and in 1924, Gee Jon was the first person of 11 executed by lethal gas (DPIC). The inmate is placed into a gas chamber, where once the room is sealed, is filled with hydrogen cyanide gas (or nitrogen gas). The prisoner is instructed to breathe deeply to speed up the process. Most prisoners,

The death penalty, also known as capital punishment is a legal procedure in which a state executes a person for crimes he/she has committed. This punishment has been implemented by many states, and is normally used for atrocious crimes, especially murder. It is also used on crimes against the state such as treason, crimes against humanity, espionage, and violent crimes while other states use it as part of military justice. There are mixed reactions on capital punishment depending on one’s faith, and the state they come from. In my view, I am not in favor of death penalty, as I strongly believe that, death penalty is unacceptable and an inhumane practice for it denies one the right to live. Death penalty does not deter crime, it is an act

The death penalty is a tough debate and an overwhelming argument in this country. We as Americans put Timothy McVeigh to death by lethal injection just three months ago. Arguments can be made for and against the death penalty, but this is not the problem. Capital Punishment is supposed to be a deterrent to crime, but is the death penalty really a deterrent? Capital Punishment is not a deterrent for crime, and the effects of Capital Punishment are actually hurting the American citizens. Capital Punishment affects the American citizens by having those citizens pay millions of dollars for death row inmates, and these criminals affect those same citizens because the