Imagine sitting in a room. You are strapped tightly to a chair, with an IV jutting out of each of your arms. Your mind is racing, your heart pounding as a saline solution courses through your veins. Your time on Earth is about to end and you prepare yourself for this fate, bracing for the first of three drugs that will end your life. As you turn to look upon your loved ones for a final time, you realize you can’t: the leather straps around your head prevent you from seeing your family members, who stare at you through the small window and wait for you to die. This fate, although fictional for you, is a very real experience for people who die by lethal injection, the most common method of execution for criminals given a death sentence …show more content…
It is further beneficial to establish the definition of “cruel and unusual punishment.” The American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy states that cruel and unusual punishment is “torture, deliberately degrading punishment, or punishment that is too severe for the crime committed” (citation). For example, in the Supreme Court case Hope vs. Pelzer, the justices determined it was not lawful for the prisoner to have been handcuffed to a hitching post for 7 hours, mocked, and given no opportunity to use the bathroom (citation). While the death penalty obviously does not institute any of the aforementioned measures, in its own right it still constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, as maintained by Justice Brennan in Furman vs. Georgia: “Death is today an unusually severe punishment, unusual in its pain, in its finality, and in its enormity. No other existing punishment is comparable to death in terms of physical and mental suffering” (citation). In light of the fact that the death penalty violates the Constitutional concepts of the value of human life and cruel and unusual punishment, there are several reasons why one might disagree with this viewpoint. Foremost, not all people view human life as having purpose or meaning. For those who hold to this philosophy, there may be no purported reason
Constitutional. The death penalty itself has been proven unconstitutional through in depth studies. There has been a number of cases in which the convict is improperly executed. For instance, the case Glossip v. Gross was created because of a botched execution, unfortunately it was not ruled as a violation of the Constitution. “In June the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Glossip v. Gross that Oklahoma's use of the sedative midazolam in lethal injections did not violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of "cruel and unusual punishments” (Heyns and Mendez). There has been many other cases with a similar situation to this. The death penalty is not considered cruel and unusual, but due to circumstances in the past there is reason to believe that is not true. Many of the most recent incidents of cruel and unusual punishment was caused by lethal injections. The injections are meant to be the most humane way of killing the inmate, however it obvious in many situations that the killing is not humane. For example, cases have been reported of botched lethal injections, “The cross-country battle over lethal injection methods has taken on added importance since last year, when inmates in Ohio, Oklahoma and Arizona gasped, moaned or writhed in pain during the administration of a three-drug cocktail including the sedative midazolam” (Wolf and Johnson). Due to what those inmates went through during their
Secondly, I believe the execution methods the death penalty utilizes make it cruel. In the US, there are five methods of execution currently in use. These methods are: electrocution, lethal injection, the gas chamber, the firing squad (used only in Utah), and hanging (Bailey). Problems with capital punishment methods stem as far back as the ritual itself. The eighth amendment, which is supposed to protect its citizens from torturous treatment and punishment at the hand of law enforcers, lets the enforcers inflict these methods which are cruel, slow and painful upon the person being executed.
The eighth amendment states that cruel and unusual punishment can not be inflicted upon anyone. Although the eighth amendment does state that cruel and unusual punishment can not be enforced the eighth amendment does not state what “cruel and unusual punishment” actually should include. It is hard to decide what punishments should be identified as cruel and unusual. I believe that there should not be any terrible punishment that is pushed too far to handle although that is my stand I also believe that some things have an excuse to enforce a cruel and unusual punishment. Is death penalty cruel and unusual or should it be enforced on certain people is a question that is commonly asked. Some people can do the unthinkable crimes such as killing someone or even multiple people something that you believe could never happen or maybe should never happen. Or maybe something you think there should even be the possibility for it to happen. Or maybe they raped or molested someone, or maybe hurt a kid or teenager. I personally do not want people that can do this with no regret or thought to be able to be in my life or even my world. I believe that there are certain cutoffs on who should get the death penalty and who should not get the death penalty. People who killed another human being or hurt a child in any severe way deserves the death penalty. If that child or person does not have the right to live or even live a normal life anymore then the person who did it should not have the right to live a normal life or even a life at all. Someone who rob someone or even robs a bank or stole something from a store should be locked up or put in prison. I believe that walking a certain great amount or being forced to do hours of laborious work is cruel and unusual but having a prison job and cold showers are not. Anyone who is in a prison is most likely in there for a reason. The reason being they broke a law of some sort. Or that person did something that they knew would end them up in jail and still decided to do it anyways. If you can not stop yourself from doing something that is harmful to yourself or others then you get to spend some time working like everyone else does on a daily basis. Another common question asked is
In the United States Constitution, the Eighth Amendment prohibits the use and practices of cruel and unusual punishment. What exactly is considered to be cruel and unusual punishment? This question is a hot topic among America 's many different current controversies. Many people are saying that the use of capital punishment to be sentenced to death as a penalty in the eyes of the law. An execution or capital punishment is a direct violation of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. (84)
To understand the topic of my paper we have to understand what cruel and unusual punishment means. Dictionary.com states that it is “punishment prohibited by the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution. Cruel and unusual punishment includes torture, deliberately degrading punishment, or punishment that is too severe for the crime committed. This concept helps guarantee due process even to convicted criminals. Many people have argued that capital punishment should be considered cruel and unusual punishment” (Dictionary.com 2017).
That question is a debate that has been occuring for years. The supreme court has previously ruled that the dealth penalty is not cruel and unusual punishment there for it is not violating the eighth amendment in any way. Despite how the supreme court has ruled the death penalty, there is still many arguments till this day on whether or not it should fall under cruel and unusual punishment. In 1972, the case Furman V. Georgia was brought in front of the supreme court to rule whether or not they believed the dealth penality was cruel and unusual. This case almost ruled out the death penalty, but that didn't last very long. In 1976, the case Gregg V. Georgia came in front of the Supreme Court and the earlier decision was changed because a majority vote believed that the dealth penalty was not cruel and unusual. Eventually four principals were established to decided whether or not punishment was cruel and unusual. The four questions were, is it degrading to human dignity? Is it arbitary? Is it rejected throughout society? Is it unnecessary? Which many states ended up believing that the death penalty were along the lines of those four principals. Clayton Lockett might be a tragic example of the death penalty going bad. He was getting injected, but the injection didn't kill him up until an hour after it was injected. He had to sit there and suffer and many would of
The death penalty is a cruel and inhuman death, “no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”. Death penalty violates the right to life. (2004)
Could that be considered cruel and unusual punishment? This is one valid argument that people make. That is why it is important for the commission to look at the constitutionality of the death penalty. If lethal injection truly is cruel and unusual then that would be illegal in the eyes of the federal government. Nobody has the authority to go
I think it can go both ways there have been instances where it can be cruel and unusual punishment. Such as a botched lethal injection as was the case of three different gentlemen who were facing the Death Penalty. The cases involved Clayton Lockett, Charles Warner, William Happ. Clayton had been on death row for 17 years for committing a murder of a 19-year-old female who witnessed a crime Locket had committed. There had been some suspicion of criminal acts going on in the prison system with administration. Such as allegations of the prison officials smuggling illegal pharmaceuticals that were used for lethal injections. They had been purchasing unapproved medications too use for lethal injection sentences.
In the United States Constitution, the 8th Amendment prohibits the use and practices of cruel and unusual punishment. What exactly is considered to be cruel and unusual punishment? This question is a hot topic among America's many different current controversies. Many people are saying that the use of capital punishment (to be sentenced to death as a penalty in the eyes of the law [a capital crime]. An execution [capital punishment]) is a direct violation of the 8th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States (Capital Punishment). They say there should be another way to deal with these criminals other than having them executed. The purpose of this paper is to give a brief history of the death penalty
Why is the death penalty used as a means of punishment for crime? Is this just a way to solve the nations growing problem of overcrowded prisons, or is justice really being served? Why do some view the taking of a life morally correct? These questions are discussed and debated upon in every state and national legislature throughout the country. Advantages and disadvantages for the death penalty exist, and many members of the United States, and individual State governments, have differing opinions. Yet it seems that the stronger arguments, and evidence such as cost effectiveness, should lead the common citizen to the opposition of Capital Punishment.
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
Moreover, it is argued that capital punishment may violate Eighth Amendment rights against cruel and unusual punishments. It is cruel because it is a relic of the earliest days of penology, when slavery, branding, and other corporal punishments were commonplace. Like those barbaric practices, it can be argued executions have no place in a civilized society. It is unusual because only the United States of all the western industrialized nations engages in this punishment. It is also unusual because only a random sampling of convicted murderers in the United States receive a sentence of death.
I know that it is in the eighth amendment that prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, and I can’t think of a greater punishment for a crime than death, but I believe that exceptions should be made.
The debate on whether or not the death penalty should be abolished has been ongoing for quite a long period of time. While there are those who believe that the death penalty does not serve its intended purpose, proponents of the same are convinced that the relevance of the same cannot be overstated and hence it should not be abolished. In this text, I examine the arguments for and against the death penalty.