Why The Opposition Will Never Win : Death Penalty

Though it may seem that the debate over the death penalty only most recently surfaced, the dreadful tradition of capital punishment arrived in the United States at the time of the colonists. In the 17th century, most people were hung, beheaded, burned alive, or crushed under stones. All of these were in public, where a large crowd gathered to watch the horrible sight, similar to the tradition in old Europe. Eventually, the 19th century favored hanging as the most common form of execution. This marked the start of a more humane approach accepted as constitutional as executions moved away from the public eye. More developments came in the 1800’s as a movement to abolish capital punishment arose. This effort was stalled for a time during the Civil

Capital punishment has been a controversial issue that still exists in America today. Capital punishment is a law passed by the government to punish any individual that has been convicted of committed a heinous crime. The death penalty has been a method used throughout history as punishment for criminals. The punishment also known as the death penalty is a scheduled execution, which would be done with lethal injection. The reason why this punishment is chosen is because when crimes are committed that shock the conscience, the immediate emotional reaction is to retaliate with severe punishment (Schnurbush 2016). The death penalty is debated when it is brought up, opinions vary from one group of people to another, one side says the execution is murder, and the other saying that it is justice being done. Each side presents valid arguments to why people should be for it or against it; people’s opinions are formed by personal beliefs.

The death penalty has been around since the time of Jesus Christ. Executions have been recorded from the 1600s to present times. From about 1620, the executions by year increased in the US. It has been a steady increase up until the 1930s; later the death penalty dropped to zero in the 1970s and then again rose steadily. US citizens said that the death penalty was unconstitutional because it was believed that it was "cruel and unusual" punishment (Kurtis 67). In the 1970s, the executions by year dropped between zero and one then started to rise again in the 1980s. In the year 2000, there were nearly one hundred executions in the US (Biskupic 34). On June 29, 1972, the death penalty was suspended because the existing laws were no longer convincing. However, four years after this occurred, several cases came about in Georgia, Florida, and Texas where lawyers wanted the death penalty. This set new laws in these states and later the Supreme Court decided that the death penalty was constitutional under the Eighth Amendment (Biskupic 34).

The question has been raised whether it is moral for a physician to participate in the administration of the death penalty. This is an issue that many professionals in the field have strong opinions about, regardless of their own personal beliefs about the death penalty in general. Physicians are traditionally practitioners of the healing arts; is using this knowledge to put someone to death a corruption of their professional ethics? In order to fully understand the issues surrounding physician participation in the death penalty, it is necessary to explore three main areas of analysis. First, we must survey the ethical justification for the death penalty. If the

Death penalties are first recorded in the eighteenth century B.C.E. In the eleventh century C.E., William “the Conqueror” would only allow people to be hanged in cases of murder. In 1608, Captain George Kendall became the first recorded execution in the U.S. As the U.S. emerged as a sovereign nation, many questioned the use of the death penalty. By the nineteenth century, abolitionist believed that America had evolved morally and petitioned to have it repealed(DPIC). They had no success. Now, about 60 percent of the states in the U.S. have a death penalty, but some want it declared unconstitutional. In court cases, though, the Supreme Court has upheld the death penalty as constitutional. The debate will continue.

The first thing to remember is that all doctors must adhere to the Hippocratic Oath which requires them to do no harm to their patients. However, the bounds of this oath are widely debated on cases that span Do-Not-Resuscitate directives, physician-assisted suicide, executions, and anything that results in the death of a patient. In the case of executions, AMA policy states that it is “unethical for doctors to be involved except in a peripheral way” (Tanner). The AMA’s stance prohibits doctors from “supervising or contributing” in any way even if it is to help ease the inmate’s pain

Capital punishment has been in existence since the beginning of society. According to "Capital Punishment", of the Crime and Punishment in America Reference Library, capital punishment has been a part of the history of The United States since the seventeenth century. While the procedures and methods have changed throughout the years, the act of capital punishment, itself, has come under scrutiny. Some will argue that the death penalty should be dismantled because it is ineffective, costly, and unconstitutional, but those are the same reasons capital punishment should be reevaluated, not dismantled. The death penalty process should be reconstructed as it is currently ineffective, costly, and unconstitutional.

The use of capital punishment in the United States can be traced back to the colonial period as the initial execution took place in 1608 in Jamestown. Throughout the history of the United States, the death penalty has often been enforced different across various states. However, the use of capital punishment was temporarily banned in 1967

The death penalty is an obvious form of cruel and unusual punishment. On April 29, 2014, Clayton D. Lockett was set to be executed by lethal injection. Lockett’s lawyers repeatedly questioned the use of the experimental drug set to be used in his execution, but the state of Oklahoma decided to carry it out as scheduled. First, the executioner had a problem finding a suitable vein to inject Mr. Lockett. After an hour, a vein was finally found, near his groin, and the execution was set to begin. The doctor who was supervising administered a sedative first, and announced that Clayton Lockett was unconscious, and for the lethal drugs to be administered. At this point, two things were wrong. First, just the sheer fact that a doctor was present was in violation of several ethical codes and standards which doctors are set to abide by, the American Medical Association’s code of Ethics states that doctors are not allowed to participate in the killing of an individual, and may only be allowed to provide a certificate of death after the individual has been declared dead by someone else (Black). Second, Mr. Lockett was not unconscious. The drugs used in lethal injection are known to cause excruciating pain if the victim is not properly sedated. No more than three minutes after the administration of the drugs,

The Death Penalty has been used in the United States since the very foundation of our nation; the first recorded case was the execution of Captain George Kendall in 1608 in the Jamestown colony as it was believed Kendall was a spy (DPIC). Americans have seen executions throughout history and are somewhat exposed to the idea but the 21st century is a very different place than the 17th century. This century is a time of equality and rights for people of all

The origins of capital punishment, or the death penalty, can be traced back to eighteenth century B.C. Babylon during the rule of King Hammurabi. For centuries after, the death penalty has been an accepted form of punishment in almost every society since. We can trace the origins of the death penalty in the United States to 1608 when Captain George Kendall was executed making him the first person executed in the colonies which would eventually become the U.S. (Death Penalty Information Center [APA], n.d.). The concept of the death penalty isn’t a new one yet there is still a large amount of controversy surrounding this form of punishment. Deciding if it is the government’s job to take one’s life can have rough edges and be

The use of capital punishment in the United States has been the center of a heated debate for nearly six decades. Prior to the 1960’s society accepted the idea that the interpretation of the fifth, eighth, and fourteenth amendment permitted the use of capital punishment; however, it was suggested in the 1960’s that capital punishment constituted “cruel and unusual punishment”. (www.deathpenaltyinfo.org) “In 1958, the Supreme Court had decided that the Eighth Amendment contained an "evolving standard of decency that marked the progress of a maturing society." This prompted abolitionists to advocate for the dismantling of the use of capital punishment, based on the idea that “the United States had, in fact, progressed to a point that its

Capital Punishment has been around for centuries, however, they have been far worse than they are now. Before people who commit the littlest of crime were put to death in very inhumane ways. Many countries over the years abolished capital punishment, however, the United States is very well known for still not abolishing the death penalty. During American history, there have been rates of high and low executions, and states have dealt with it, their own ways. Most states have abolished it right after the First World War, others after the civil war.

Capital punishment and the practice of the death penalty is an issue that is passionately debatable in the United States. There have been many contradictions on whether states should abolish the death penalty and continue with putting people in jail for the crime they have committed since those that did the crime will no longer be able to harm anyone. Although opponents of the death penalty believe that there is nothing solved from enforcing it, there are many supporters who believe the death penalty is a great solution to those who “deserve” it, like murderers or child rapists. As many surveys and different polls are done in different states and even countries, there will probably never be an agreement between those who oppose it and those who support the death penalty. In today’s society, we all have different opinions and believe in different ideas of solving an issue, but what it comes down to when speaking of a criminal issue is our justice system. The U.S. justice system isn’t always fair, and we all see it every day whether it’s reading an article, researching on an issue for a class, or most commonly watching/reading it on the news or social media. When speaking on reasons and different opinions of those who oppose the death penalty and those who support it, the topic becomes so controversial because both sides believe that they are right and because death is so permanent. This issue is one that sparks up a lot of trouble because everyone’s opinions differ

Capital punishment has grown into a bigger problem year after year in the United States. The inhumane treatment of prisoners, racial problems, and the innocent killed every year has begun to affect the prisoners mental and physical health. The act of capital punishment or killing as retribution for one's crimes has dates back to the dark and middle ages. Approximately eighteen out of the thirty states in America have banned the death penalty, but the other states still use capital punishment frequently. There are a lot of issues surrounding the death penalty that needs to be eliminated as fast as possible. Capital punishment is a social justice issue in the United States because of the inhumane treatment of prisoners, racial problems and the innocent that are killed.