Is Lethal Injection More Humane Than Hanging Or Firing Squad?

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.

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

The death penalty is the punishment of execution, administered to someone legally convicted of a capital crime (law.cornell.edu, 2015). The first Congress of the United States authorized the federal death penalty on June 25, 1790 (deathpenalty.org, 2011). The death penalty can also be referred to as capital punishment, however capital punishment also includes a sentence to life in prison, as opposed to strictly executions. A convict can be sentenced to death by various methods including lethal injection, electrocution, gas chamber, firing squad, and hanging. After the death penalty was established, many debates have arisen arguing that these methods violate several of the United States’ Amendments. Select cases have been accused of violating the Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments. It is important to note that the judiciary goes through a series of processes prior to deciding a sentence for a capital crime. Many factors influencing the verdict include proportional analysis, individualized sentencing, method of execution, and classes of people not eligible of the death penalty. This paper will discuss brief descriptions of the methods used for executions, economical issues, the Supreme Court’s opinion regarding the death penalty, as well as important factors that make up the proportional analysis, individual sentencing process, method used, and determining classes of people who are not eligible for the death penalty.

Compared to previous uses such as firing squad, gas chambers, electric chair, and hanging, lethal injection is what the average joe would think as “most official” leaving a small window of thought for the complications and ill proof of its efficiency. The HRW combined an assortment of evidence justifying the thought that lethal injection can indeed be a painful process. In the court case Hill v. McDonough, Hill, a convicted murderer after killing a police officer, challenged Florida’s procedure for lethal injections. This brought much needed light to the discounted topic. Hill’s lawyer claimed that the three drug “mixture” may cause "wanton and gratuitous pain" that would cause him pain, Hill would be unable to express during his scheduled execution (Citation). This three drug system that was the main argument for Hill's case, contains, sodium thiopental, to sedate the inmate and put him to

Lethal injections have been around for many years with the same basic idea and procedure. Lethal injection uses three drugs, a fast acting barbiturate that sedates the inmate and the drug Tubocurarine that paralyzes the inmate, and finally potassium chloride is used to stop his heart. These methods have been a controversial issue for many reasons. People that supports lethal injection believes that it is more humane method of execution than any other because it cause little or no pain. It also argued that it is less expensive than detaining or placing someone in jail for life. As far as lethal injection been unconstitutional because the procedure causes unusual pain and suffering, some people believe that someone who has kill countless people deserve to physical

“And despite scientific efforts to implement capital punishment in a "humane" fashion, time and again executions have resulted in degrading spectacles, including the botched lethal injection in April 2014 that took more than 40 minutes to kill Oklahoma inmate Clayton Derrell Lockett and prompted Glossip v. Gross” (Heyns and Mendez). Capital punishment is an inhumane and outdated way for punishing criminals. The use of capital punishment is hundreds of years old in America. It is used as a punishment for criminals who have committed a violent crime in which they physically harm others. The point of the death penalty is to show that these kinds of crimes are not tolerated, and to deter criminals from committing these kinds of crimes. Unfortunately

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.

Lethal injection is the practice of killing a death row inmate by using a lethal dose of drugs, however, the many problems with lethal injection include it not resulting in an immediate death, the lack of available drugs, and complaints from inmates. In fact, executions using lethal injection have lasted over 20 minutes, with the inmate moaning, convulsing, and gasping for air. A federal judge in Mississippi blocked lethal injection executions after 2 death row prisoners claimed it to be "chemical torture." Also, lawyers of death row prisoners in Tennessee argued that lethal injection is unconstitutional because of the horrendous and painful deaths that results from this method of execution. On the other hand, the Supreme Court ruled that "the Constitution does not require the avoidance of all risk of pain." The opposition argues that there is no right or wrong way to execute death row prisoners, whether or not lethal injection is humane, these prisoners are going to and should be executed for the crimes they have committed. In this case, the most sense would to be to choose the cheapest and most effective method of execution, which is not lethal injection. Drugs can no longer be purchased from European drug makers but now have to be purchased from American pharmacists where these specific drugs are not subject to the Food and Drug Administration. These pharmacists are also displeased with trade

“About 80% of Teas executions have had one problem or another. In the final analysis, it looks disgusting”, says Fred Leuchter, inventor of the Lethal Injection Machine. The death penalty is nothing but a violent crime, an act of petty revenge, and most importantly, a violation of the eighth amendment. It is a cruel process, and causes unnecessary pain for the relatives of the executionees. On April 12, 1983, a one Mr. Evans was sentenced to be put to death by the electric chair. But, the technicians erred, and the total length of the procedure expanded to fourteen minutes. Many problems such as the one of Mr.Evans, happen while the execution is taking place. Additionally, every year, many innocent

2014 was the worst year in the 37th year history of the lethal injection. That year four executions were reported as problematic. For example on the evening of July 23, 2014, Joseph Rudolph Wood III was killed at the Florence State Penitentiary in Arizona. Wood was first convicted in 1989. He awaited the day of his execution for over 15 years. The day finally came. The execution of Wood began at exactly 1:52 MST. His death was supposed to be fast, painless, and most importantly, instantaneous. This did not actually happen that day. What was supposed to be a ten minute procedure, lasted over two whole excruciating, agonizing, two hour, of his life. The “deadly” drug cocktail that was injected into his body that

Lethal injection is now almost the main method of execution in the US, with all but one of the 39 executions carried out during 2013 being by this method. Deadly injection changes from state to state.Normally, the prisoner is strapped to a gurney or a fixed execution table, rather than an operating room table by leather or webbing straps over the body and legs. All the chemicals used in the USA are standard medical drugs. Sodium thiopental is an ultra short acting barbiturate which was used widely as an anaesthetic and causes unconsciousness very quickly if injected into a vein."Capital punishment is supposed to serve the purposes of social defense and retribution. The argument that it deters or incapacitates dangerous offenders was not conclusively supported, and analysis of data herein failed to provide solid evidence for the death penalty as a mechanism of social defense."(Sorensen & Pilgrim,2006 , p.159)

Many states have been executing fewer people in the past decade and some states like Maryland and the District of Columbia have abolished capital punishment altogether. Many people shake and are repulsed by the live executions they see on television from the Middle East. From all the Western Countries, the United States is the only country that still upholds the death penalty. Even though the death penalty is legal in most states, just a few of them do still carry out executions. Reason for this could be that Americans are somehow okay with the idea of the states using the lethal injection as the best way to put a sick human being to endless sleep. Botched executions have also been exposed as a large problem seemingly unknown to the American public. The drugs that have been used for the lethal injections also seem to be experimental, untested and are sometimes proving to be ineffective at killing prisoners without some form of excruciating pain. Just because the prison is using pharmaceutical drugs does not necessarily mean that this is a painless process. Richard Dieter, Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center, says sceptism of lethal injection is “not driven by sympathy for the defendants, who committed terrible crimes,” but rather, “(the public) doesn’t want to hear gruesome facts,” such as prisoners writhing in agony while strapped to a gurney as their loved one’s watch. When the procedure is botched, it is anything but

Death penalty, or capital punishment, is the execution of a person as a punishment for a crime. Throughout history, the death penalty has been a prominent part of society. In ancient Mesopotamia, the death penalty was seen as retribution for certain crimes, and to this day, is now a common practice in the United States. Before, when the United States were still colonies, the death penalty had been carried out by hanging and other various methods but today in the modern age, the Unites States’ method of execution in most states is lethal injection (Issitt). Unlike previous methods, such as electrocution and the firing squad, the lethal injection is virtually painlessly due to certain drugs being injected into the patient that put the patient to sleep during the process. Due to its medical nature, medical personnel, such as anesthesiologists are needed to administer the drugs, but is it ethical for them to participate in the execution of people?

The way we carry out these executions is by lethal injection, which is much more humane than any ways we have carried it out in historical times (McCuen 27). A prison official had claimed, “The guy will just go to sleep forever. It will be easy-real easy” (49). He says said this when referring to a man who was on death row. By using lethal injection, the United States is ridding itself of criminals, and is carrying it out in the most humane way possible (Kurtz). Professor John McAdams of Marquette University said, “If we execute murderers and there is in fact no deterrent effect, we have killed a bunch of murderers. If we fail to execute murderers, and doing so would in fact have deterred other murderers, we have allowed the killing of a bunch of innocent victims. I would much rather risk the former. This, to me, is not a tough call” (Marzilli 21).

In 1879, the United States Supreme Court ruled, by a vote of 9-0, that execution by firing squad was not cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution. This began a long debate on whether or not a government reserves the right to punish those who have taken a life by taking their lives. There are many reasons as to why someone would be against capital punishment: it is not our right as humans to play God, it is against the constitution, the threat of capital punishment is not a valid deterrent, it is morally corrupt to take a life. All of these points are valid, and they represent the mindset of millions of Americans; however, capital punishment is a valuable asset to be reserved for only “the most heinous murders and the most brutal and conscienceless murderers” (Alice).