Zea Robinson. Ap Seminar. Mrs. Frye. Period 3. 6 January

Firstly, the risk of executing an innocent is a frightening fact. Wrongful execution is a miscarriage of justice. To execute an innocent person is reprehensible; a risk that should not be taken. What did these innocents get out of their life? They have a right to live. Secondly, there is a better alternative to capital punishment: life without parole. Capital punishment is usually quick. Citizens that commit such serious crimes should realize

Capital punishment, otherwise known as the death penalty, is a controversial subject which has been argued for decades due to the ethical decisions involved. People believe the death penalty is the right thing to do and that it is the perfect example of ‘justice’ while others believe that it is immoral and overly expensive. The death penalty is not a logical sentence for criminals, it doesn’t give them the right type of justice and it is immoral.

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

¨The taking of even one life is a momentous event.¨ (Bernardin, The Consistent Ethic of Life). The consistent ethic of life is founded on the belief that all life is sacred and worth protecting, while the reasons for capital punishment may seem similar-- retaliation for a life lost-- the death penalty directly goes against everything the consistent ethic of life teaches. As proven through these presentations, capital punishment cases are often inaccurate and biased, while the act of the Death Penalty has proven to be painful with many examples of botched executions. Not only is killing immoral, but how can we go through with these executions when evidence has shown the death penalty can be inefficient and some

It is cruel to kill a person no matter how horrible the crime they committed is. It shows people that if you do something, the same will be done to you, it is an eye for an eye. This type of justice is completely wrong. The punishment should be geared not only towards scaring others from committing a similar crime, but also to correct the offender and reintegrate him/her back to the society. Therefore, punishment by death does not achieve this objective in any way.

For centuries capital punishment has been used to “punish” criminals for a severe enough crime that they committed. It dates back to hundreds of years ago and has been enacted in many different countries, some that still have it today. Death penalty/capital punishment is the punishment of death an offender receives after having a court hearing and being convicted of a crime (ProCon.org, 2008). Once someone receives a death penalty sentence, they go on death row awaiting their execution. For a very long time, the controversy regarding whether or not the death penalty is ethical or just has been a topic of debate. I believe that the

The risk of innocent people being sentenced is high. About 14% of executions were of the innocent, and they weren’t found out until long after their execution. This supports my claim because too many innocent people are being executed against their will, and most of them aren’t even involved with the murder, just innocent bystanders who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. In conclusion, there is just too much risk of innocent bystanders being executed for doing nothing wrong, and we should get the facts and evidence straight before we go kill an innocent

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.

Throughout time, people were executed for various crimes such as: not confessing to a crime, stealing, cutting down a tree, marrying a Jew, killing chickens, being a spy, striking one’s mother or father, murder, and much more (deathpenaltycurriculum.org). In a study I did, 50% of them thought the death penalty was cruel and unusual. Out of the 15 that thought it was cruel and unusual, 11 said that murderers and or rapists should get the death penalty. Capital Punishment has been around for so long it doesn’t need to be outlawed, just revised a little more like it has been as the years passed.

The controversy issue is due to the medical moral dilemma (Maerz, 2009). Lethal injection requires the administration of professional doctors, nurses, and anesthesiologists. The U.S. constitution require the execution to be humane, the American Board of Anesthesiology prohibits anesthesiologists to participate (George, 2011). Medical professionals do not want to participate in the execution due to critics. Abolitionists think that it is against the medical professionals to administer lethal injection or to have any involvement as it is viewed as going against the Hippocratic oath, American Medial Association, and the American Board of Anesthesiology (Maerz, 2009). The distress faced by the medical team has led a few professionals to have any involvement with the death penalty. If professionals do not administer the drug then unqualified individuals will have to carry out the execution. The issue with allowing non-medical individuals participate is the little education obtained and little experience resulting in poor quality in the execution (George, 2011). Medical professionals know the amount of substance the inmate is to be injected with and where on the vein (Maerz, 2009). Anesthesiologists make sure the inmate is anesthetized before proceeding to the following step. States have tried to keep the identity of medical professionals involved confidential to

As Cass R states… “Capital punishment may be morally required, not for retributive reasons, but rather to prevent the taking of innocent lives”. Death penalty is one of those extreme punishments that would create fear in the mind of any person. If murderers are sentenced to death and executed, potential murderers will think twice before killing for fear of losing their own life.

Texas was the first state to use lethal injection for execution in 1982. Fast forward 33 years, the topic of medical professions participating is an intense debatable topic. There have been multiple attempts of execution that have failed terribly; however not all of the mishandled executions were due to the lethal injection, but also electrocution and asphyxiation. The moral question here is though, as a role in the medical profession who is dedicated in preserving life when there is hope, should they or should they not participate in an execution? Although it is necessary for doctors to check on people physically and mentally, it is not necessary for them to carry out the execution.

The death penalty can lead to the death of innocent people. For example, “…According to a new study, serious errors occur in almost 70% of all trials leading to the death penalty…”(Leibman). This shows that if 100 people were put on death row, 70 would have serious mistakes in their

The death penalty slowly rids the world of killers - or those worthy of being sent to death for their crime - but it takes a great deal of time and money to do so. Due to the unnecessarily expensive capital cases, the cost efficient availability of keeping these inmates in jail for life without parole, and the high price to execute prisoners on Death Row, the death penalty should be illegal.

No issue posed by capital punishment is more disturbing to the public than the prospect that the government might execute innocent people. Proponents to the death penalty are, of course, also against executing an innocent person (Hook and Kahn 91). Most everyone would agree that killing someone is wrong. Proponents and opponents agree that murder is a heinous act and should be punished. Despite their hatred for those who kill, proponents support the killing of murderers as a just punishment for their deviant behaviors. In this sense, execution can be termed, “legal murder” because “executions shares enough of the characteristics of murder to be counted as part of the general category: it includes a victim who does not want to die, and an agent that nonetheless kills [the victim]” (Yanich 98]. Murder is synonymous with kill, as found in the Britannica- Webster Dictionary. To kill is to deprive one of life or to put one to death and murder implies motive and intent or premeditation. With respect