Capital Punishment: Justice in Retribution The American government operates in the fashion of an indirect democracy. Citizens live under a social contract whereby individuals agree to forfeit certain rights for the good of the whole. Punishments for crimes against the state are carried out via due process, guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. The use of capital punishment is decided by the state, which is legal in thirty-seven states. It is a moral imperative to protect the states' rights
Death penalty violates the eighth constitutional amendment. Death is both unusually severe punishments, unusual in pain, in its enormity and its finality. It does not serve as a penal purpose effectively but a less severe punishment. The constitutional infirmity in the death punishment is that it treats human race members as nonhumans and as objects that need to be toyed with and discarded. It is thus not in consistent with the fundamental premise of the Clause that even the criminal who is the vilest
The debate over capital punishment is in regards to whether the death penalty contradicts the Eighth Amendment. If the death penalty does contradict the Eight Amendment, then the State should not have the power to sentence criminals to death for capital crimes. However, if capital punishment is not against the Eighth Amendment, then the State has the right to sentence criminals to death. In this essay I will first summarize Justice Brennan’s argument on why the death penalty is beyond the power of
capital sentence was a cruel and unusual punishment, which violated the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. However, the question revolving the case is that is the imposition of death sentence prohibited under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments as cruel and unusual punishment? However, upon a guilty verdict or plea, it is required that a presentence hearing is held where the jury or the judge hears additional extenuating evidence and evidence which is in aggravating of punishment of made known to the
Introduction: Capital Punishment is usually reserved for the country's most vicious and non-rehabilitatable murderers. These men and women actually will know the day they die; albeit not naturally. These Inmates will be put to death by a U.S. state, the federal government, or the U.S. military. The most common method of execution is lethal injection. Lethal injection is used in some states in conjunction with the less popular hanging, electrocution, lethal gas, and shooting squad methods. But
fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” Which brings me to the case of Thompson vs. Oklahoma. The debate is on whether or not capital punishment should be given to minors. On one hand, some may argue that Thompson should have been charged with capital punishment because “his acts were heinous and cruel” (Pearson Prentice Hall: n.d.). On the other hand, others such as Oklahoma argue that it is a violation of the 8th amendment under “cruel and unusual punishment.” This creates the
In regards to the argument in support of capital punishment, the means do not come from thinking about the death penalty in theoretical ways, but is justified as a form of retribution for individual cases. Certainty, instances of individual stories are important, however, dangers do exist as a result of such stories dictating the overall thinking about an issue that has profound social consequences. Abolitionists argue that capital punishment has never been proved to be effective in deterring others
Capital Punishment is Not Only Unusual, But Cruel The most widely known aspect of the eighth amendment is the fact that it prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Cruel and unusual punishment is perceived as punishment that causes “an unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain” (Bailey). Is capital punishment cruel and unusual? It is one of the most controversial topics in America today. In effect since the 1600s, the US Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty was
The question of unusual and cruel punishment is one that is undeniably at the forefront of the debate relating to the death penalty and whether or not, as well as how, it should be administered. Unusual and cruel punishment is prohibited under U.S, Const. Amend. VIII. As such, in the administration of the death penalty, there must be no element of cruelty or unusual punishment. The three-drug sequence used today in lethal injections was developed almost three decades ago and then, over the following
Capital Punishment, they believe that capital punishment should no longer be in existence as it is “violating the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishments” (Editorial Board, “Capital Punishment Deserves a sick Death”). Although capital punishment may be a cruel and unusual punishment and viewed as unnecessary in certain situations, I believe the Editorial Board fails to connect their supporting points to their conclusion and understand the reasoning behind capital punishment in today’s