Executing David Clayton Hill: You Wouldn’t Do a Dog This Way by Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg

He uses the KKK statement to transition into discussing Ernest Knighton’ case to indicate that race is another factor in deciding whether a person should be executed. Moreover, he states that people are ruled by fury rather than justice when wanting capital punishment for murderers. Finally he finalizes his argument by asserting that the electric chair was made by a governor who was in favor of lynching to bring justice.

Worded perfectly by The Scientific American, a magazine analyzing controversial issues in America said, “About two thirds of the states use a combination of barbituric, paralytic and toxic agents for executions, despite a lack of scientific evidence supporting their effectiveness.” The procedure is still subject to FDA approval, the agency has avoided questions ruling on the mixtures efficacy in “delivering a merciful death” (citation). This brings to light a harsh topic: is lethal injection truly cruel and unusual? Human Rights Watch is an international non government aided organization dedicated to protecting and establishing the appearance of human rights around the world. The report the HRW released, “So Long as They Die: Lethal Injection in the United States” (citation) The report highlighted a fact not a lot of people consider, “Prisoners in the United States are executed by means that the American Veterinary Medical Association regards as too cruel to use on cats and dogs.” A lot of the civilians who simply only read about death

In the book Eligible for Execution: The Story of the Daryl Atkins Case, the author Thomas G. Walker, a Professor of Political Science at Emory University provides a thought provoking analysis of the case Atkins vs. the commonwealth of Virginia. Walker has written his book is such a way that piques his reader’s interest and grabs the attention. He begins with a basic detailed summary of the case at hand, the murder of Eric Michael Nesbitt. The defendant, Daryl Renard Atkins is described as a body-abled young man who unfortunately did not have an opportunity to experience a close family relationship. His parents divorced at the age of 9 which acted as a milestone in his life. He struggled to complete his school and struggled with maintaining

Anthony Graves was living on death row for almost two decades while being in solitary confinement. While he was proven un-guilty of murder he still has the punishment of eighteen years of living while being mentally and physically dead. After Mr. Graves was let out of prison, he still has to rethink about almost being killed because of a prosecutor that didn’t want to lose her case. How unprofessional could that be, letting someone rot in jail for a crime he didn’t commit, while the prosecutor knew of doubts, but went along like he didn’t hear it. The cost of one’s life is more than all of the money in the world, because once someone is lethally injected, no one can bring them back. Now I am starting to wonder about the death penalty and questioning myself is it fit for the worst of crimes for is it not fit at all. Kerry Max Cook was a former death row inmate that had conversations with Robert Earl Carter, "Anthony, I really believe, is innocent. I'm stunned that an innocent person is this close to execution (Rice,2005), was stated by former death row inmate Cook, that was let off for being proven

Born in Hampton, Virginia, Steve Earle wrote an astounding piece of information that shocked thousands of people. The story, “A Death in Texas,” changed my views of the death penalty, and really put some things in perspective. Starting in 1608, the death penalty became present, and it is a sanctioned practice where a person is put to death by the state as a punishment for a crime. Although people make mistakes, the death penalty should be abolished due to inhumanity, taking away precious lives, and it is an ineffective tool.

Although lethal injections and juvenile criminals seem unrelated topics, they both deal with problems in the criminal justice system. The titles are “Should Juvenile Criminals Be Sentenced Like Adults?” by Abigail Pesta. Pesta is an award-winning journalist and an author; she was also a graduate from the University of Notre Dame. “Lethal Injection for Execution: Chemical Asphyxiation?” by Teresa A. Zimmerman, Jonathan Sheldon, David A. Lubarsky, Francisco Lopez-Munoz, Linda Waterman, Richard Weisman, and Leonidas G. Koniaris. These writers graduated from the University of Miami. However, all were medical majors, but in different areas. In Pesta’s article she tells the story about a young man named Sean, who spent time behind bars in Riker’s Island, NY. In this article the authors gave specific information about the effects of lethal injections and whether if they act as intended or not. The audience for both is the public, justice system, and people in the medical field. The purpose of the first article is to inform the audience on someone’s perspective behind bars and how it affected them. Also, this article was thesis driven. Then the second article’s purpose is to show how unreliable lethal injections. The format of this article is IMRAD. These two articles show us how the justice system is flawed.

In continuation, Lithwick compels readers with logical facts about Arkansas’s procedures to put eight men to death in less than two weeks. She wants readers to focus on not just the issue of the death penalty, but how the act is conducted. She then explains the given reasoning behind the executions being rushed. A quote from Arkansas’s governor, Asa Hutchinson, says, “The state needs to kill these prisoners before the end of April because one of the three drugs in the lethal injection ‘cocktail’ expires at that time…” (2). Lithwick mentions this quote to make readers aware of the reasoning behind the rushed deaths. Also, Lithwick mentions a past Supreme Court case that pertains to the lethal injection drugs and facts about other states’ poorly performed executions she found from Justice Sonia Sotomayor. She says, “She notes that since 1997, no state has attempted this many executions at this pace. She includes the testimony of prison workers

Inmates in Oklahoma State Penitentiary, located in McAlester, Oklahoma, sued state officials after the botched execution of Clayton Lockett on April 29, 2014 led to Lockett laying in agonizing pain for 40 minutes after receiving the lethal injection cocktail, waiting for his heart attack to kill him (Konrad, Web). Richard E. Glossip and the other death row inmates petition the Court, believing that the use of midazolam as the initial drug of execution violated the Eight Amendment’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment (S. Ct, p.1). The Supreme Court of the United States of America denied the motion in a 5-4 ruling, stating prisoners “failed to establish a likelihood of success on the merits of their claim that the

South Carolina is one of thirty one states in our country that utilizes the death penalty (DPIC, 2015). There are currently forty-four death row inmates in the state of South Carolina as of July 1, 2015 (DPIC, 2015). This population resides at Lieber Correctional Institute, a level 3 maximum security prison, in Ridgeville South Carolina (SCDC, 2015). There have been a total of 684 individuals put to death in our state’s history (DPIC, 2015). A choice between lethal injection and electrocution are the two active methods used in South Carolina by a means of execution for death row inmates (DPIC, 2015). This population consists of murderers, physical and sexual assaulters, abusers, and the aggressors of our society. They have made choices and

When discussing the death penalty, rarely do we acknowledge the impact executions have on the men and women who facilitate the process. Although this process is solely voluntary, the side effects are not. According to several executioners, the first experience is far from what they had anticipated. To bring to light the stories of these men and women, Jim Willet facilitates an audio recording which covers the process of executing an inmate and the aftermath which is often felt by the executioner.

The authors then support it that "the faces of witnesses and executioners could be edited out... before a video was released." The authors argue that "voters should not have to rely on media accounts to understand what takes place when a man is put to death." Other people argue that "... people might come to equate human executions with putting pets to sleep" and that "... it offers an unbalanced picture- making the condemned seem helpless and sympathetic…." In other words, making executions public will make it look like it is as simple as "putting pets to sleep", or common, and that it makes it look cruel. The author refutes that they "are deeply conflicted about the death penalty and how it has been administered, [their] focus is on accountability and openness, and ‘the product of habit and inattention rather than an acceptable deliberative process that weighs the cost and risks of administering that penalty against its identifiable benefit.'" The authors want the public to be notified about how executions are

The death penalty is a very controversial topic that has been the top of discussion for years around the world. Christopher Hitchens, a political journalist in Washington D.C., writes an essay entitled “Scenes from an Execution” in which it is clear that he is against it. To get his views across in the essay, he uses light humor rather than very serious scenarios directed toward it, although it is a very serious topic. For example, he says, “it is quite easy to book an appointment with death, and see for yourself your tax dollars at work” (Hitchens96). Christopher Hitchens uses rhetorical diction such as ethos, logos, and pathos to attack capital punishment also known as the death penalty.

Pitts begins the essay by questioning the term cruel and unusual and the very amendment that protects American citizens from it. He then creates the argument that the death penalty violates the rights of the American people, especially those sick with mental illnesses. For instance, a man who was so profoundly impaired that before his execution he saved his last meal to eat afterwards was criminalized instead of treated as a sick patient. Several more examples were named where incarceration and death row became the solution instead of medical intervention. The process of the death penalty is also brought into question and whether it kills innocent people executed primarily because of race, gender, geography, or class. The ironic idea that “Most of the western world has left this savagery behind…”

The article was well written and organized thought. However it did had a bit of deficiencies. Although the usage of personal experience and opinions are existing but she also used a lot of rhetorical strategies. This overreliance made the argument and the tone sound little bit emotional. The introduction of

To me, those are the main points of the article by Nanette Salomon. I think that she made a very good historical and psychological approach on the subject. The strength of this article is that she provides a lot of historical facts, and blends it together with her words and opinion.