After reading the TIME Magazine article "Death Penalty Walking", Do you agree that the citizens of the U.S. are starting to oppose the use of the death penalty? Moreover, do you feel that the use of lethal injection violates citizens' 8th Amendment? Please post your response here.
"Our death penalty's continued existence, countering the trend of the rest of the developed world, expresses our revulsion to violent crime and our belief in personal accountability. The endless and expensive appeals reflect our scrupulous belief in consistency and individual justice." Davide Von Drehle, Time Magazine. Jan 3rd 2008.
109 comments:
I agree that many citizens of the U.S. are opposed to the death penalty since lethal injection violates citizens' 8th Amendment rights and is very expensive. The 8th Amendment states that no one shall be given a punishment that exceeds the crime committed. Some people feel that prisoners who have murdered people and are sentenced to Death Roe deserve this punishment for they have killed someone and are potentially dangerous to others. This however is wrong for killing is wrong no matter who does it and death is too extreme to be a punishment for any crime.
The lethal injection is also highly expensive. The materials the human body is made of only cost a little over $100 but the elements to kill a human cost close to $100000. Many people also believe that the "three drug cocktail" that is used causes the victim extreme pain though that is not proven. For these reasons and many more, many people think that the death should be abolished in the United States.
The death penalty is a seldom-used punishment that characterizes more of an empty threat than a real consequence. Part of this is logistically based as the cost of an execution is considerable. Also, moral ideologies have changed since the punishment was implemented an peole are refusing to use it in more and more circumstances. A major part of this is the prominent idea that the Death Penalty violates the VIIIth Amendment, which is increasingly debated.
However, all in all the Death penalty is something that is necessary, even if only under the
most extenuating circumstances. As paiful as it is to think about, the Penalty is the only way to make sure these poor people won't kill again and will, on a more morbid note, decrease costs in prisons. We must remember that even though killing is wrong, What goes around comes around and that these murderers are being served justice.
I disagree that many citizens of the U.S are opposing to the death penatly. The people that are being put to the are the worst kind of human behaviors. The only way to give the victims parents or others is to have the murderer repent for their sins. They need to suffer the consequences of their actions. The victims families suffer greatly for their loss. The killers deserve their punishment.
The lethal injection is very expensive. It does not violate the Consitution. Before, the electric chair and hanging were not unconstitutional. Right now, this is best way for a death penalty. Until something better is developed, the lethal injection is constitutional. The "three drug cocktail" should be tested on whether the death causes extreme pain or not. If it does, then they should add another drug to make patient not be able to feel the pain. That way the patient dies in less pain.
i think that it is not the deathpenalty that people are morally opposed to but rather the method of execution. People keep hearing the the three drug cocktail is painful even though we have no actual proof of this so people feel it is cruel/unusual to give this drug to people. People still believe that some people deserve to die for what they have done like killing one or more persons but they just dont think that killing someone in such a painful way.
I have no idea whether the death penalty is a good idea or not and honestly i think that it should be decided on by a person by person basis as well as by case. However it is not really possible to check every person who is tried in court and see what their real feelings are and how they really act and it is also not possible to devote that much time to this procedure.
The people of The United States are slowly but surely beginning to turn a corner and are exhibiting an opposition to the usage of lethal injection in means of Capital Punishment. These people are beginning to empathize with the felon because such a punishment is irreversible, expensive and wrong. The death penalty cannot be reversed in cases of later acquittal. Many times, with the innovations and evidence, "felons" are proven innocent. But what if it was too late? These innocent people died mercilessly at the fingertips of the federal justice system. The effects that this poses on the prisoner's family are so devastatingly painful that since all capital crimes cannot be immediately resolved, the usage of the lethal injection is cruel and irresponsible until such technology presents itself.
An execution is known to cost more than 1.4 million dollars per inmate. This fee out weighs what it would cost to keep the prisoner in a federal penitentiary for the rest of his or her life. If the death penalty is allowed across The Nation, the already bulging National Debt will suffer. The Holy Bible says, "Thou shall not kill," The Torah reads, "Thou shall not murder," and The Q'uran says, "Kill not." These holy sacraments encourage us not to kill our own species and even though the crime in question probably included killing, we shouldn't fight fire with fire because what will that do? If the felon is executed, will the poor victim come back? No, she won't. In the log run, nothing can be gained from allowing the death penalty.
The Lethal Injection violates the Eighth Amendment because the means of death are certainly cruel and unusual. Paralysis means that you can feel every single muscle in your body slowly shut down. You become a prisoner trapped in your own domain. Because it is in question whether the actual execution hurts, we should not use it without fully comprehending its effects. That would be like releasing a product onto the shelf that hadn't been tested. Its simply irresponsible and cruel and therefore violates the Eighth Amendment and should no longer be practiced.
I believe that lethal injections does not violate the 8th amendment because it seems to be and may be perhaps the most humane way of putting people to sleep, Thus not cruel or unusual. However I believe that the death penalty is scarcely used and should be only used for extreme cases such as incredibly heinous or unthinkable cases, such as mass murders or likewise cases. Most criminals on death row would be exempt from this punishment.
I believe that more and more U.S. citizens are leaning toward abolishing the death penalty because the moral beliefs of the people have changed since the punishment was implemented.
Though there are strong proponents and opponents of the Death Penalty, I really have no stronger opinion for one side or the other. There are many bad things about the Capital Punishment. First of all, it is killing another human, which is almost always painful. I'm not sure if it is okay for the Government to be executing its own people. Many say that it would just make us the murderers for executing someone. That seems true, but the victims families might say otherwise. Also, Capital Punishment cases cost a lot of money. Cases regarding execution must go through a number of Appeals Courts so there is no doubt that the man or woman who is being executed is guilty. These Courts are not only very lengthy, but they cost much government money, so that is another tedious part of the Death Penalty Process.
Having said that however, sometimes it seems like the Death Penalty is a good process. The only comfort for some of these victims family is to see their family member's murderer executed. It seems that murderer's deserve to die, because of their gruesome acts against others. Some say that life behind bars would be better, but the convict might be very dangerous to the guards, and maybe that punishment behind bars would not do justice for the victim's family. We cant just assume how it feels to be part of a victim's family; the pain that they feel is much worse than anything we have ever felt.
There are strong arguments on both sides, but when it comes to the Death Penalty I really don't know.
I agree that the felons who are put on death row are the worst type of felons and commit the most disturbing crimes. However the death penalty is the one punishment you can't take back. Many people today are being taken off of death row after DNA testing proves they did not commit the crime. This is a seldom used punishment because people are constantly being found innocent but also because of the cost involved in an execution. It costs more than $1.4 million to execute someone which outweighs the benefits of having them dead in my opinion. Another reason this punishment is rarely used is because of the question as to whether it violates our 8th amendment.
I think that the method of execution is cruel and unusual. As Emma said, the paralysis part of the three drug coctail allows you to slowly feel your muscles shutting down so you are stuck in your own body. There have also been claims that part of the injection causes pain but because you are paralyzed you can't tell anyone. Courts ruled there wasn't enough evidence of this to stop this form of execution. Well there was still that one person who said it causes pain and we shouldn't continue using that method if there is even the slightest possibility it causes pain. Finally the origins of the drug makes it very unusual. The three drug coctail we use in these executions is the exact same mixture some guy in Texas used to put down his horse. That is unusual in the most basic sense of the word. The use of the three drug coctail is very cruel and unusual and it is irresponsible of the Federal Government to not listen and really think about the effects of the drugs.
Meaghan James
I think that the death penalty is becoming less and less common for two reasons: morals and economy. People are beginning to consider the effects and morality of the death penalty more. The evolving standard of decency has evolved to a point where we are just too decent to kill people. America, as a whole, has run out of socially and politically acceptable ways to kill its citizens. Since questions have arisen over the use of the 3 drug cocktail, the government is less willing to put itself in the dangerous position of using a debatably cruel method of capital punishment. Also, the cost is ridiculous. Just to kill someone costs an enormous amount, and when you add to that the cost of caring for prisoners for decades prior to their execution, the bill is staggering. Taxpayers just don't want to spend their money on prisoners when they could be building schools of maintaining national forests.
I think that the death penalty is cruel and unusual. Just setting aside the actual procedure, there is always the psychological torture as inmates wait days alone in tiny cells, waiting for their execution to arrive. Forcing anyone to go through that amount of anxiety and fear is cruel, no matter what the physical effects are. Also, I just don't think it's possible to kill someone without causing them any pain. I know that there is no evidence to prove that the 3 drug cocktail causes pain, but there is also no evidence to disprove it. Also, especially when the drugs are not administered by doctors, there is always the possibility something will go wrong. Unsterile equipment, untrained killers, and allergies could all potentially interfere with the procedure and cause enormous pain to the victim.
I don't really know my stance on the whole death penalty issue. If a member of my family or one of my close friend was killed or raped, i would certainly want to see the person who committed the criminal to be punished, but maybe not killed. The forms of punishment have surely become more humane. The lethal injection is probably the least cruel of the punishment methods. The thought of the death penalty i would think would be a deterrent for criminals. They might think more about the crime they were thinking about doing. I'm sure that it would deter me.
The death penalty has for centuries been seen as a justifiable way to deal with criminals that have committed crimes such as murder and other serious crimes. It goes way back to egyptian times through the Romans,medivil europe all the way to today. the reason for people nowadays wanting to abolish the deeath penalty is that it is very expensive and it is corrupt or barbaric.
i dont know why, but killing someone is expensive for the government and wastes valuable hard earned tax money. also many people believe that it is corrupt and violates human rights. Granted that the victims friend and family may disagree but peoople are realizing now that we are in too advanced and age for the government to be killing people.
"Killing people to show that killing people is wrong?" vs. "An eye for an eye..."
The death penalty,
Oh dear oh my.
It’s unconstitutional. This is true for many reasons: it’s permanent, costly, and possibly hurtful.
1- If one were to be proven innocent and had already taken the three drug cocktail, that would be devastating, ghastly, and disgustingly iniquitous. Simply wrong.
2- It's outrageously costly. The cost of the three drug cocktail isn’t nearly balanced to the cost of ones life in prison. Approx. the cost of the Capital Punishment is $1.4 million.
3- It's possibly painful. It isnt proven to be painful but it isn’t proven to be painless. Which is considered unconstitutional because it’s likely to be painless when your nerves aren’t deadened and you can feel every muscle shut down in your body, slowly but surely (kind of sounds like torture to me, especially when the victim is unable display such pain and emotion.)
But to be the devil’s advocate, I also believe it’s the least bit you can do for the victim’s family, as a method of slight reimbursement. And this is utterly unconstitutional, but ever thought of killing the felon the way they killed the victim? It’s a horrible thought and somewhat insane, but just think “an eye for an eye…” (This phrase basically means in which a person who has injured the eye of another is instructed to give his or her own eye in compensation. At the root of this principle is that one of the purposes is to provide equitable retribution for an offended party.)
Thanks,
Kyle Havlick
I agree many citizens of the United States have started to see the immorality of the death penalty and are beginning to oppose to it. Even when knowing the case, and knowing both the for and against arguments on the case, it still gets to you when you think about artificial substances, injected by machine, killing someone. Death is wrong. If I could have my way, humans would be immortal, but that wont happen. My next best hope is everybody would just get along, a world of peace without the thought of murder as a choice. I believe with some work we may get there, but in the present day there are people who resort to murder to relieve anger. But, in the actual case of murdering the murderers, it seems as if we, as a country, are dropping to the same level as the murders. It is wrong, and we are just as bad as the criminals we are using lethal injection on.
The act of lethal injection for the death penalty seems a bit much. When inserting the needles into the criminals arms, Alcoholic anit-bacterial wipes are used, which is ironic because the reason for the needles is to push the killing liqids into the criminals body. Also, lethal injection is very painful. The first drug paralizes you, the second implodes your lungs, and the third stops your heart. If the government wanted to kill people they could easily use ONE drug instead of torturing people with three. Torture is a form of cruel and unusual punishment, which violates the 8th Amendment. The death penalty should be illegal in all US states.
I believe the death penalty in of itself is cruel and unusual punishment. If I was pro death penalty i would only support a method of execution that doesn't inflict and that doesn't violate the 8th amendment. The only method that is currently accepted is lethal injection, which consists of three shots. The first paralyzes the body, the second takes out the lungs and the third takes out the heart. As painful as that may sound there is no proof it is painful or not. Lethal injection violates the 8th amendment because there is no proof that it doesn't cause excruciating pain so even the risk is not worth taking. Remember, this is only if i were pro death penalty but I'm not so I don't think we should be having this discussion in the first place.
I am against the death penalty because it serves no purpose that life in prison doesn't, it doesn't act s a deterrent for crime, it invades the personal rights of the victims, and it is not morally correct. Instead of capital punishment the government should invest in more rehabilitation programs or sentence life in prison instead of the death penalty. I wish the methods of execution issue didn't exist but sofar no method of execution does not violate the 8th amendment, including lethal injection.
I can clearly see both sides of the argument. Personally I don't think you can make a set rule about who gets the death penalty and who doesn't. Each case is different, and must be decided differently. In some cases I believe that the death penalty is appropriate, however, i think the form of execution violates the 8th amendment. The three-drug cocktail paralyzes the victim so they cannot express if they are in pain during the second and third shots. We can not assume that it is not painful. There has to be scientific evidence about whether or not it causes the victim pain. Taking a human life is irreversible, but some people deserve it. I also think that only advanced lawyers should have the responsibility to take on capital cases. Every persons life deserves equal representation, and a person shouldn't die because they have a bad lawyer. For these reasons i think that the united states should not abolish the death penalty, but find a safer process of execution, and be very selective about who they put to death.
I have very mixed emotions toward this issue. I believe that it violates the 8th amendment if it causes pain to the patient. Yet we have no proof it does, which does not help this case. I think that we should try to test it somehow by separating the 3 stages of the injection. If we were able to do this then we will be able to see if it violates the 8th amendment or not.
The actual Death Row is even harder to come to a complete feeling towards one side. I see both sides... I don't believe anyone should have to die no matter the punishment, yet if I place myself in the family’s shoes, for who lost the person who was killed I would want that person dead. This is a very hard decision that I am not sure on what to support at this moment in time yet believe in both sides of the case.
I honestly can't pick a side in this issue. The death penalty maybe considered cruel and unusual thus violating the 8th amendment,however so were the crimes that landed the people there. Then if we do chose to use the death penalty that makes us no better than the people who originally committed the crimes.
Still, If i had to pick a side i would probably chose against it. "An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind"-Gandhi. This basically states that it is not right for us all to correct wrong with wrong which is exactly what were doing in this case. Additionally It costs tax payers massive sums of money to have all the extra legal work done that wouldn't be spent if there were no death penalty.This issue is only getting more heated and isn't going to go away unless we get rid of it.
The use of lethal injection for the execution of criminal should not be abolished. Although the lethal injection is very expensive and costly, I'm thinking that its worth it if a child rapist or a mass serial killer gets what they deserve by getting killed. The people got into the death row because they deserved it. Nothing less, nothing more. Letting them suffer in the cell? Giving them a life sentence in the prison for what they did? Please, the dangerous people like them has to be erased quickly before they make another one of the murders forty years later after their term. And in forty years, who will die? It could be you, me, your sons and daughters or grandkids. Point is that somebody might get killed if the mentally unstable guys get free.
About the violation of 8th amendment, I have to go with the Supreme Court. Nobody can prove that the shot hurts or anything so I say shut up and take it. Like I said before. They deserve it. They don't go into Death Row for nothing. Think of the poor parents of the Dead Men Walking, except that its real and there is no spiritual advisor to take you to heaven. I believe that having the Death Row is fine as it is.
I believe that it is true that many citizens are beginning to be more and more apposed to the death penalty. While those who have lost someone to a violent crime may feel strongly it is hard for others to justify killing people no matter what they have done. That is why people are starting to appose such a penalty.
Although i personally am apposed to the death penalty, i think that lethal injection is one of the more humane ways to go about killing a person. I think that seeing as you are not able to kill someone without causing a little dis-comfort lethal injection is the best way.
I think that the citizens of the US are starting to oppose the death penalty for several reasons. One being that we do not know if the three drug cocktail hurts, A second being that the government has executed people without making sure they were entirely innocent. If we found a way to make sure the way we kill people does not hurt and that they are guilty people would not oppose the death penalty as much.
I do not think that the actual action of killing people because they killed people is against the 8th amendment. I think the part about the death penalty that makes people question it is how we put them to death. With all our technology there should be a way to figure out how to put them to death painlessly. I oppose the three drug cocktail but not the death penalty because most of the people on death row are crazy and what they have done is terrible and they must answer to it.
Executions in the United States of America are definitely decreasing. It is widely believed that this is cruel and unusual and violates the eighth amendment. I do not believe this violates the eighth amendment because the constitution says that the punishment shall not exceed the crime. Capital punishment for a murderer is not violating this standard but is simply withholding it by enforcing a punishment that is equal to the crime.
In order for criminals to really fear the law the death penalty must be used more consistently. Criminals simply do not fear the law and in order for the death penalty to achieve the deferment in which it desires, it must become more consistently used.
I don’t think that very many citizens of the US oppose the death penalty because of the new method, but I do think that the death penalty no matter what means is cruel and unusual punishment as stated in the 8th amendment. If torture is cruel and unusual how is killing (the next step in the cycle of violence) not cruel and unusual? It is wrong to kill someone, and that goes for both ways.
The classic argument: why should we kill people to show that killing people is wrong? It is very hypocritical. Also, while there is no evidence for the three drug cocktail causing pain, there is no evidence that it does not cause pain because of the paralysis aspect. Over human existence the evolving standard of decency has become more and more decent. If we were to abolish the death penalty once and for all, this would be one of the greatest feats of mankind.
Tim Driscoll
I know that many U.S. citizens are starting to oppose the death penalty, claiming that it violates the 8th amendment. But I believe that lethal injection, the current form of execution in the U.S., is not cruel and unusual punishment. This is because the people who committed crimes so heinous that they were put on death row (for murder, rape, etc) are very deserving of the death penalty because of the crimes they committed. It is fair to take someone's life who took another person's life, and this is especially fair in the eyes of a family member of the victim. These criminals are serial killers, rapists and terrorists and usually do not deserve to live after they commit these crimes.
Furthermore, the death penalty is not cruel and unusual punishment because of its methodology. Lethal injection is the most modern and humane way to kill these criminals. Many precautions are put into place so the people who go through lethal injection die with as little pain as possible. For instance, lethal injection shots numb and paralyze the person before stopping their heart so they don't feel the pain. Sounds much better than executing someone in an electric chair or by beheading them, doesn't it? The death penalty is very fitting for the criminals who are proven to have committed the most heinous, unforgivable crimes, and it is not a violation of the 8th amendment because of the nature of the crimes committed and by the method of execution used in most states today.
Although some people are beginning to oppose the use of the death penalty, I doubt that the use of the death penalty will ever actually be eliminated, since a select number of people will always be there to believe that it is an effective way to fight back.
Obviously, we have no idea if the death penalty actually violates the 8th amendment, because anyone who has ever known is unable to tell us. But it's important to recognize that there really is no form of punishment that isn't "cruel and unusual"... that's why it's punishment. Even if you think that the death penalty is unconstitutional... what about being sentenced to prison (23 hours of isolation a day)... for LIFE? Is that cruel and unusual? If that is cruel and unusual, how is the government going to keep prisoners from committing crimes again? And just how cruel is the death penalty compared to the crime they committed that got them there in the first place? ... And is punishment SUPPOSED to be painless? It's very difficult to say what's cruel and unusual when it comes to punishment...
Whether or not the death penalty is effective is another story... There have been studies conducted that demonstrate that the death penalty is effective, but people have argued that these studies are erroneous and that the death penalty is not effective at all (look at Texas).
That is why I am completely confused and clueless about what to believe when it comes to the death penalty.
Many Americans in the United States oppose the death penalty because they believe that it violates the 8th amendment. The death penalty does not violate the 8th amendment because the people who have been sentenced to death row knew beforehand that if they were caught, that would be their sentence before they killed someone else.Therefore they made a choice to die, and it is not cruel and unusaula if it is a choice made by the person.
However, many Amreicans don't just oppose it because it is cruel and unusual. Lethal injection is also incredibly expensive, and it has been said that it is more expensive to keep them in jail. Lethal injection, therefore, is the wrong way to enforce the death penalty because of the cost and the pain that the people have been said to endure.(However, that has not been proven.)
The death penalty both violates and does not violate the 8th Amendment, depending on the circumstances. If a criminal commits crime heinous enough, such as multiple rapes or violent homicide(s) (homicide: premeditated killing) or is a terrorist, i.e. the men on trial for the 9/11 attacks, he/she should be executed because what they did was cruel and unusual to multiple people. However, if said criminal is found guilty of less extreme crime, such as armed robbery, assault, or manslaughter (unintentional killing, often as a part of another crime). In other words: if the crime is cruel and unusual enough in itself, the death penalty does not violate the 8th Amendment.
The American people are as undecided as ever about the death penalty, I feel. The decrease in executions in recent years indicates fewer death sentences rather than a shift in public opinion. Furthermore, America's advancing "sense of decency" is causing a rise in opposition to lethal injection, the only legal way to execute someone (except in Nebraska).
I disagree with the citizens that are opposing the death penalty because the person who is on death row deserves to die. That person murdered or did some other foul crime and the victim didn't have a choice in dying or being hurt in some way, while the criminal had a choice to do the crime or not. They could've chosen to not do the crime and then they wouldn't be sentenced to death. The death penalty also gives relief to the victim's families knowing the criminal is dead.
I don't feel that lethal injection is unconstitutional and it doesn't violate the eighth amendment because right now this is the only method to kill people. If some other way is found to execute people, then that will be better, but since lethal injection is the only way right now it is constitutional. I think that another way to kill people should be found because lethal injection is very expensive.
The death penalty is an incredibly touchy issue. It's very hard to ethically support it. On the other hand, it's very hard to think about the heinous crimes some convicts have committed and not agree with the death penalty. Basically, it has to happen, but there should be far stricter restrictions on it as well as conditions that must be met before the criminal is given the death penalty. For example, all evidence should be examined by at least 2 separate courts, the families of the victims should be consulted and given a chance to forgive the convict.
Anyway, the death penalty will always be more of a threat, because with various court appeals and expenses, it's hard to carry out.
It doesn't violate the 8th Amendment IN SOME CASES. When the punishment fits the crime, then yes, death row is a perfectly viable option. However, it should only be given as a punishment in the worst crimes. In many cases, it would be too cruel, or very unusual.
I miss read the question before. I disagree that many citizens oppose the death penalty, but they do oppose the method of execution. Citizens are happy that the criminals are being paid back for the misery they caused the families of victims. Citizens are glad that the criminals are being killed because they murdered someone without giving the victim a choice of living and now the criminal is being paid back for their crime.
Citizens do oppose lethal injection because is is highly expensive.
I don't feel that lethal injection is unconstitutional and it doesn't violate the eighth amendment because right now this is the only method to kill people. If some other way is found to execute people, then that will be better, but since lethal injection is the only way right now it is constitutional. I think that another way to kill people should be found because lethal injection is very expensive.
More and more citizens are beginning to oppose the death penalty. However, there’s still enough supporters of the death penalty to keep it going. The death penalty is unnecessary and it violates the citizens 8th amendment right because the death penalty is cruel and unusual. Anyone who disagrees is wrong. People who support the death penalty are murderers. Even if the criminal is a murderer, we shouldn’t fight back by murdering them. Martin Luther King Jr. quoted something very similar, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
People may argue that the death penalty is a punishment to those who made horrible decisions. Of course that person should be punished, but death penalty only puts them out of misery. A much more effective punishment would be forcing the criminal to live a life of solitude by keeping them in a cell for 23 hours a day for the rest of their life. In other states, another form of death penalty would be firing squads, gas chambers, or electric chairs. Some states still use those cruel punishments. Our form of punishment by drugging them could be seen as uncruel, but the first serum that is injected into the patient paralyzes them and the second is suppose to take away pain. So when the third serum is injected, it looks like they’re dying a peaceful, non-painful death, but inside their organs are being burned away and they are really dying a slow, agonizing death.
More and more citizens of the United States are starting to oppose the use of the death penalty. This is because of a variety of reasons. One of those reasons is the cost of enforcing the death penalty. It is more expensive to execute someone, than to keep them in jail for the rest of their life. Also the number of executions on Death Roe in the past few years has decreased. There were not many states that even utilized the lethal injection at all in the past year, and even for the states that did utilize it, there was a low execution rate. To add to that the level of decency has evolved. In this day and age the way cruel and unusual is categorized, is changing. What was once considered a normal way of punishment would now be considered cruel and unusual.
The use of the lethal injection does not violate citizens' 8th amendment. A long time ago beheading and hanging people was considered to be normal, but now those punishments would be categorized as cruel and unusual. Compared to these punishments and the electric chair (which only recently has been considered to be cruel and unusual), the lethal injection is by no means cruel and unusual. According to the Supreme Court, there is not enough evidence to prove that the lethal injection is excruciatingly painful. Another valid point, is to be placed on Death Roe, someone must have committed a truly heinous crime. The lethal injection should not be really nice and comfortable. That person needs to take responsibility for the crime they committed, and face the consequences. It is becoming harder and harder to have someone executed on Death Roe because of the process. Although it does not violate citizens' 8th amendment, executing the felon does not undo the crime that was committed. You can not fight fire with fire.
More people are infact starting to oppose the death penalty because people are starting to think of how there is a chance lethal injection might be painful. There is a lack of evidence of this (according to the Supreme Court). The death penalty/lethal injection does not violate the 8th amendment. If a murderer is sentenced to the death penalty, having them go through lethal injection is not any worse or cruel than killing someone innocent.
Picking a side on this issue can be very difficult. After studying about the death penalty in class and watching Dead Man Walking, i have been thinking a lot about where i stand. I have to say i lean more towards be opposed to the death penalty rather than for it. I see both sides, but i can't help thinking that of the saying we are killing people to show that killing people is wrong.
I do believe that if someone commits a terrible crime, they should pay. Personally i think sitting in a jail cell for a long amount of time is worse than dying. You have to live with what you have done and that is heavy on your mind. Also, keeping a person in jail is less expensive than the 3 drug cocktail. I don't see the point of spending that much money. I also believe that this way of killing is painful. Even though there is no real proof, i find this issue to be unconstitutional and violate the 8th amendment for cruel and unusual punishment. Some people think that the death penalty will scare murderers out of doing crimes...but murderers usually have brain issues and don't always tend to think of what will happen. For these reasons i think that the death penalty should not be allowed in the US.
The people of the United States are definitely becoming more opposed to the death penalty. The main cause of this is our evolution into a more concious race. Back in the 1700s, there were rarely human rights activists to fight for the heads on the chopping block. Personally, I don't know whether capitol punishment violates the eighth amendment or not. The lethal injection, the electric chair, and all these other forms of execution are quite unusual and cruel, but what these people did was ruthlessly terrible and they deserve to be punished. Furthermore, there are debates about whether staying in high security prison for life or dying is worse. Capitol Punishment is an issue many in America are conflicted about and will continue to be a very controversal issue.
Picking a side on the death penalty issue can be very tricky, first we have not refined a completely humane pain free way of killing someone yet.Second, who are we to dicide who lives or dies because of what they did to someone else, if we kill them, isn't that just as bad as them killing someone?
But, having watched Dead Man Walking I am conflicted because the people on death row have committed awful crimes, and some might say that they deserve it. However there are some on death row that are completely and truly innocent, we hear about them all the time but what we don't hear about all the time, is all the people and death row who committed horrible crimes and wish they could start over on their life for one act they committed in madness. For me the cons of the death penalty far out way the pros, I think the death penalty should be abolished as soon as possible.
The death penalty is a scar on the face of our country. Even though we are a lot less violent than many other corners of the world it is still a horrible policy. It is a very difficult issue that makes it hard to make a final decision. There are some criminals that committed crimes so heinous that the only right thing we can do is put them to death. The issue is the manner of the execution. The current method is cruel and unusual, violating the prisoners 8th amendment rights.
Lethal injection is the current method of inmate execution. Many say that it is a more humane way of ending someone's life, many disagree. Even though it has not been scientifically proven that the 3 drug cocktail causes its victim pain it must, how can the shutdown of your entire body not cause pain. That is added to the emotional turmoil of living on death row. An inmate can spend anywhere from a few months to 30+ years contemplating their own death in solitary confinement. If that is not cruel and unusual punishment I don’t know what is.
The solution is to find a better method of execution. It would cause the prisoner less physical and emotional pain to kill them suddenly by a gunshot or decapitation than the current way. The cases of the prisoners on death row must be greatly scrutinized. How can it be a just system if an innocent person is put to death? Together the government needs to take a close look at the methods and procedures of the death penalty to make it a system that truly does its job fairly.
We are just barely getting out of this depression and were spending millions on sentencing people to death. Why not obey the 8th amendment and save money, sounds like a good idea to me. Killy any one is cruel. How are we any better then the criminals if we kill them as well. I believe that lowly killing some one using three kinds of chemicals is definitely unusual.
Even though it is not scientifically proven, the "three drug cocktail" most certainly causes pain. it is not always effective too. One time it took three goes to kill one person. why not just rocket-launcher to dome instead (that was meant to be sarcastic not taken literally)?
I hope one day we as a nation evolve and stop killing anyone any where anytime.
I strongly oppose the death penalty. It isn't just costly, it is also completely wrong. Also, this punishment is cruel and unusual. Not only do we not know if the victims are in pain while they are enduring the treatment, also the weeks leading up to the execution are sure to be incredibly traumatic. No music? and you can't even hug your family. You know you are going to die and you can't even give your family a hug goodbye. To me, that is the worst of the whole thing. Also, the death penalty violates your fourth amendment, your right to privacy. It is your body and you should be allowed to do what you like with it. Being in jail for life is one thing, but being forcibly pushed onto a table so the government can kill you, that just isn't right.
Also, the three drug cocktail is incredibly expensive. About 1.4 million is spent per subject. That is tax payers money. Abortion isn't on the public option because abortion is against some peoples morals. But the death penalty is also against peoples morals, so isn't it hypocritical that tax payers don't have to pay for abortion, but they do have to pay for the death penalty. Speaking of hypocritical, It is incredibly hypocritical of the government to kill. Even if the people that are being killed are killers, the government is just stooping down to their level. And what happens when the person the government killed turns out to be innocent. Then there is nothing else to call the government than murders. One of the strongest countries in the world shouldn't have the government murdering people.
It is important to remember that there are cases where criminals are killed and then shortly after, they are proven innocent. Imagine being the family of the innocent person that the government put you through.
The death penalty is an issue that it is extremely hard to pick a side for. Citizens of the U.S. are starting to oppose the death penalty and it is being used less and less. This is happening for many reasons. One reason is simply that it is less expensive to keep someone in prison for the rest of their life than it is to execute them. But, this issue is not just about cost. For some people it is religion that decides their view points on the death penalty. For others, it is the constitution. The eighth amendment prohibits any cruel and unusual punishment from being inflicted. It can definitely be argued that the three drug cocktail used in the lethal injection is cruel and unusual. Although there is no evidence to prove that the lethal injection is painful (everyone who's gotten it is dead), these drugs are very obviously painful. Some would say that the criminals being executed deserve the pain, but isn't killing them punishment enough? This is such a difficult issue to take a side on, and I am really struggling with it. I am, like many U.S. citizens , leaning towards opposing the death penalty. Solitary confinement is more miserable than death, for you must be alone with yourself and your thoughts and contemplate every day what you have done. Two wrongs do not make a right, and killing someone to show that killing people is wrong doesn't really make sense. Of course, killing someone is the only way to make sure they never commit the crime again. This is an issue that requires a lot of thought, and Americans all need to take it very seriously.
The death penalty... There has been so much controversy over an issue that, sadly enough will probably always need to be dealt with. It is hard to choose a side since there are many valid arguments for both sides. on one hand the death penalty could be considered unconstitutional because it could be cruel and unusual, it is expensive and there have been studies that show the states that use the death penalty more often don't necessarily have a decrease in capital punishment. On the other hand it seems right to have " Liberty and Justice for all" in this case we would be dealing with justice. The families of the victims are permanent loss its only just that the family of the person who committed the crime should too. No one can really argue that the cocktail is painful because there is no proof to support it, but how can anyone be sure that it is constitutional when the victim cant show any sign of what they are feeling.
Many people in the United States are starting to be more opposed to the death penalty because we are improving in technology and we are starting to realize the possible flaws with it more and more.
I believe that the death penalty does not go against the 8th amendment. The 8th amendment states that "excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted". Nowhere does it say that we won't punish criminals based on their crimes. If a criminal does something terrible and deserves to be sentenced to death, then it isn't cruel or unusual. It would be cruel and unusual to sentence someone to death for stealing, but if the punishment fits the crime, it isn't cruel or unusual. It would also be cruel and unusual to let that person go or be put in jail for life where they could possibly escape and murder more people. That would be cruel and unusual to the rest of society because they didn't do anything wrong and yet they are being killed. It is also unfair for the victim's family if the criminal is given anything less than death because they will have to live their life in agony and fear that they could be next, or anyone around them could.
Citizens of the US are starting to oppose the death penalty more and more as its being used as a threat. People are starting to think more about how it might be violating the 8th amendment by being cruel and unusual. Even though there is no proof that it is in fact painful for the person, people are beginning to think that there is a high chance that it is very painful. And for that reason alone many people are starting to oppose it.
I don't think that the death penalty should continue to be allowed and used a a punishment for any crime. Yes, a person may be some crazy murderer but what are we doing by showing people that a way to punish someone is to kill them? It is also extremely expensive. It costs more money to pay for an execution then it does to keep an inmate in jail for life. And people like us end up paying for it....which is lame. I understand that the family of victims totally disagree with this, but killing someone for doing a crime such as killing someone, is just unfair and "cruel and unusual".
I think the death penalty is cruel and unusual and that, as many citizens of the US are beginning to think, we should have an alternate form of punishment for criminals.
I do agree that criminals who have committed unthinkable crimes need to be punished somehow, and the only two options seem to be jail and execution.
I don't think we have to kill people for crimes, though. Firstly, it is far less expensive to keep someone in jail, even if for life, than it is to go through the lengthy appeals process to find a criminal guilty and to sentence them to death. Secondly, it is cruel and unusual both psychologically, by making criminals wait to be executed, in isolation, without even being able to hug their families goodbye, and possibly physically as well, if the death penalty causes excruciating pain as some people think. Also, there is the consideration that the court may rule a case incorrectly and find someone guilty who is not, and the death penalty is irreversible even if they find this out later.
I for one, am very opposed to the death penalty. Before watching Dead Man Walking, I had never thought a lot towards where I stood on this issue. I understand both sides of this issue and I do agree with the saying, "An eye for an eye" but I do not believe in sentencing human beings, who have the same rights as you and I, to death.
I believe that if someone commits a terrible crime, such as rape or murder, they should pay for their actions. I think sitting being locked up in a jail cell for a long amount of time is worse than being put to death. Also, keeping a person in jail is less expensive than putting someone to death. Some people think that the death penalty is a good scare tactic, but while people are committing these crimes, they are in their best state of mind and don't think of the consequences. I personally think the death penalty should be abolish in the U.S.
I agree that U.S. citizens have begun to oppose the death penalty. People have started to truly understand and respect people's 8th Amendment rights and that the death penalty directly violates those rights and this is why opposition towards the death penalty has increased.
I also agree that the lethal injection for the death penalty is violating citizens' rights in the 8th Amendment. I believe this because death is a cruel and unusual punishment no matter if there is pain or not. A lethal injection is also still not known to be painful or not and for all we know, they could be in pain. Also, some people think that the death penalty is a deterrent for future murders. This is completely untrue, statistics show that this is false and also when one is about to kill, would they really stop to think that they might die themselves? I do agree that murder and homicide is a very wrong thing but killing them for that is wrong too. Therefore, the death penalty is wrong and it should be outlawed in the U.S.
I know that many people in America have different sides to the death penalty as well as different opinions on this topic but I honestly do not have a certain opinion on the penalty.I am agreeing a little more that death penalty is wrong. I think this because if someone were to kill someone and then the government were to kill them it would mean that they are doing just the same thing as the criminal did. I also know that killing someone is very expensive and that it hurts our economy even more. Another reason I am more opposed to the death penalty is that you can't take back killing someone and if a 'criminal' was found innocent and now you have killed this person you have not only just killed this person but spent around 1.5 million dollars.
My other side of this is that if one of my family members or people that I knew was killed by a murderer, that I would probably feel as though that this person should be killed by the government. Then again just imagining a person being killed by an injection would be horrible and don't get me wrong I love my family dearly.
In the end I am more opposed to the death penalty but I am still pretty moderate when it comes to this topic.
-Shelby Reaves
Being considered inhumane and brutal, I would agree that more and more people are starting to oppose the death penalty. However, I do not think that saying the lethal injection violates the 8th amendment is a fair argument. In America’s history, there have been far crueler and unusual punishments, the lethal injection is like a kiss on the cheek compared to everything else.
The lethal injection is not a violation of the 8th amendment because it is neither cruel nor unusual. It is a punishment fit for those who murder on purpose. Being put to death peacefully is more than murderers ever did to their victims, and it is much more preferable than spending a lifetime behind the bars. Putting murderers to death through lethal injection also softens the Death Penalty’s image, it’s offering a painless death to those who’ve killed their victims through much more gruesome ways. Calling the lethal injection a violation of the 8th amendment is contradictory: it is a punishment perfectly suitable for murder, and it’s painless.
I do believe that the United States, as a country, is increasingly beginning to oppose the death penalty, and for good reason.
The death penatly was originally put into place to act as a deterrent for criminals. However, the rates of murders has not gone siginifcantly down since the death penalty was put into place which shows that the death penalty is not doing the main purpose it was meant to do. Also, no matter how bad a crime may be, the side effects of the death penalty are not worth it. It is very expensive and possibly painful.
Many criminals also have mental challenges and may be psychologically insane. In this state, they may not understand at the time of the murder what exactly they are doing, but may better understand it if they were to be sentenced to jail time. This punishment would better fit the crime, and therefore would not be violating the 8th amendment. Overall, I believe that we should not have the death penalty because we need to remember that all humans do actually make mistakes and shouldnt be sentenced to death, but instead a punishment more like spending time in jail.
I think that it is clear that citizens of the U.S. are beginning to oppose the death penalty, and that eventually it will not exist. The reason I think this is starting even thousands of years ago, up to a few hundred years ago, people were killed by decapitation. Throughout the last few centuries, the method of execution has been getting less and less gruesome. What this really means is that people care about what the prisoner feels. Eventually this will lead to the banning of execution in the US, and eventually the UN will ban it.
I dont know enough about it to decide if lethal injection violates the 8th amendment. I think that it does if they feel excruciating pain, but then again they are being killed anyways so I dont think that it matters.
I do believe that the people of the United States are starting to oppose the death penalty. For what reason I am uncertain. My idea is that they no longer think killing someone is worth the amount of money it costs. In this hard economic time people do not have the money to spare, therefore they are starting to oppose the death penalty. There could be many other reasons that this could be happening.
As to the question if I believe it violates the 8th amendment, definitely not. The 8th amendment says that no one shall be given a punishment that exceeds the crime. The death penalty does not do that, the people on death row have done such awful thing that the only punishment that remotely fits the crime is death. People who kill one person are put a life sentence in prison, so what about people who torture and kills say 15 people. This crime is obviously more severe than killing one person, therefore they need a worse punishment. The only other punishment that is not cruel and unusual is the death penalty. Therefore this is what Americans use as a method of punishment. The death penalty should not be abolished in the United States for it is the only option for some people.
I do believe that the people of the United States are starting to oppose the death penalty. For what reason I am uncertain. My idea is that they no longer think killing someone is worth the amount of money it costs. In this hard economic time people do not have the money to spare, therefore they are starting to oppose the death penalty. There could be many other reasons that this could be happening.
As to the question if I believe it violates the 8th amendment, definitely not. The 8th amendment says that no one shall be given a punishment that exceeds the crime. The death penalty does not do that, the people on death row have done such awful thing that the only punishment that remotely fits the crime is death. People who kill one person are put a life sentence in prison, so what about people who torture and kills say 15 people. This crime is obviously more severe than killing one person, therefore they need a worse punishment. The only other punishment that is not cruel and unusual is the death penalty. Therefore this is what Americans use as a method of punishment. The death penalty should not be abolished in the United States for it is the only option for some people.
It's clear to me that the death penalty will soon be gone in the U.S., and sooner or later all over the world. We have already seen it quickly vanish, it has become more humane, less painful, quicker,and the reasons for it have been studied way more for each specific case. Now a days, America uses lethal injections to take a extremely dangerous criminals life. In time, people will come up with better ways to take someones life, until humans ban the death penalty for good.
To me, lethal injections do not violate the 8th amendment because it is the most humane way to do what needs to be done, and to keep society safe. We have no way of knowing if this injection actually causes physical pain, but back a few years ago when they would chop someones head off with a rusty blade, is this less cruel and unusual? I think not.
I know this will spark up debate but I am going for the death penalty. People make decisions that are out of the ordinary and they chose to do it. They made other people suffer from, now it is time for the criminal to suffer it himself. What I mean by that is, if one chooses to end an innocent person's life, their life will end too. There are forms of capital punishment such as cough electric chair cough that are cruel and very bizarre, but what can a lethal injection do? You just fall sleepy and you die.
Also, would you rather stay in prison for your whole life or just die. You do nothing in prison but sleep and get into fights, even for those who have a life sentence for parole. Life is very dull now. If that were to happen to me, I would pick death.
From the class discussion today, Haus pointed out that it costs $45,000 for a convict to stay in prison/ death row per year (if I'm not mistaken). What if death row gets too crowded? People could escape! I say, the guys and girls who did the greatest offense in the U.S get the harshest punishment. Heck, if you count the cost of lifetime in prison to the lethal injection, I would say death.
Sure, there are some who oppose it. They make solid points. Anyways, back to the question prompt. No, the lethal injection is not cruel and unusual. I would say the unusual ones would be gas chamber and electric chair. If one chooses to do the most stupidest thing on Earth, lethal injection will be behind them. Lethal injection is humane in many ways. One dies in a chair, peacefully.Like I said before, the type of crime, a person does, will have different consequences. By the way, wouldn't this give a message to other potential murderers? Heck, I know there are some murderers, who want a better life, but have no choice but revenge. Don't left them get into the wrong path. Judgment is golden =D.
I realize that the citizens of the U.S. are against the the death penalty. I believe that this is occurring because of the U.S. economy has gotten worse past 3 years. The government and the people have bigger things to worry about than death penalties. So, people are trying to save money on things that are important for a bright future. And this makes complete sense to why the death penalty rate has been decreasing.
Secondly, the lethal injection is a not "cruel and unusual" punishment. If the lethal injection is considered cruel, then why isn't spending 40 years in lonely prison away from your friends and family in misery considered cruel? Also, the murderers are put to death while they fall asleep. It is the most painless way a person can die.
My opinion is that capital punishmant by lethal injection is a logical and less expensive response to dangerous and insane criminals who cannot be fixed.
with the overpopulation in jails, we need to enforce stricter punishment and use the penalty more often and with less trial time. if proven guilty, the person is almost certainly guilty. the detterent factor would also be much larger beacause those who think rationally and do lower-level crimes would be far more likely to recieve the sentence.
j.mcgarity
I do believe that citizens of the US are starting to oppose the use of the death penalty. As much of the rest of the developed world abandons the use of death as a form of punishment, I believe Americans are finally starting to question whether it is humanely right to kill other American citizens for their crimes. I am opposed to the use of the death penalty in all but the worst of cases, because this eye for an eye approach seems to do little more than legalize murder for the sake of justice, or get rid of unwanted people who cannot be rehabilitated. Neither of these reasons for the death penalty sufficiently justify it to me, and I believe many other Americans view this issue the same way as well.
I think that the use of lethal injection violates citizens' 8th Amendment rights in all but the most extreme cases, such as with pedophiles. The combination of ingredients used in the injection is unnecessarily complicated and includes three ingredients where one would do. The injection is usually administered by under-trained employees; this greatly heightens the chance of error in injection. I believe the injection violates the eighth amendment because the chance of paralysis and extreme pain is very high. I don't think this method of killing, and unintentional torture, fits any but the worst crimes, and I hope capital punishment is either abolished or a more humane way of killing is found.
By Kira Headrick
I believe that many US citizens are beginning to oppose the death penalty. As times progress, people are looking at it in a different way. They are beginning to oppose the death penalty. Personally I do not have an opinion on the death penalty. On one hand, I can see that people think that death is an easy way out. With the death penalty, murderers do not have to face the guilt they would endure in prison. However, I also see the other side's view. The death penalty is more expensive than keeping murderers alive in jail, but it prevents them from ever killing again. Prisons are becoming crowded, and people are being released before they should be. Murderers can kill again, even behind bars. They can kill other inmates. Regardless, I agree that many citizens are becoming opposed to the death penalty.
However, I believe that lethal injection is cruel, therefore violating the 8th amendment. As the article states, there is always that risk of the injection failing, and the inmate experiencing excrutiating pain and paralysis. And even when nothing goes wrong, no one can be absolutely certain if lethal injection is actually painful or not, or if it is humane or not.
I think that people convicted of murder should get the death penalty, but only murderers, we should not be killing anyone who hasn't killed someone else. The problem is that not many people are actually getting the death penalty, people are just waiting around for years while their lawyers appeal three times, which wastes money, and clogs up the court system. If it weren't for all of the money spent in court, the death penalty would save the government a lot of money. The death penalty system definitely needs work, to reduce the time and expense the system requires. Recently more people in the US have begun to become more opposed to the death penalty, some of this opposition has probably come from how ineffective the system is, in the article it said that only 3% on people who get sentenced to death, actually get executed. The government has tried before to fix this but has failed, I support the idea of the death penalty, but if this is as good as it will get, then it is just a big waste of time and money, and should be abolished completely.
I think that the people of America are slowly become opposed to the death penalty. I personally think that the lethal injection is cruel and it would be unusual but we use it so often in the US. The injection is not decreasing the crime rate in the US so I think that we should get rid of it. The government is a bunch of hypocrites for saying that murder is wrong and immoral so the murderer shall be sentenced to the death penalty, in which case they become the murder. So, shouldn’t the government all be sentenced to the death penalty then? I think that Americans are coming to the conclusion that the death penalty is cruel and unusual. We have gotten rid of hanging people, the gas chamber, and now the electric chair is an optional form of the death penalty in Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, and Virginia; in Kentucky and Tennessee they only provide the electric chair for Capital Crimes and is an option Illinois and Oklahoma is all other forms of the death penalty are found unconstitutional.
In my opinion, United States citizens are certainly beginning to oppose the death penalty and cruel and unusual punishment.
I believe that people are starting to doubt whether the death penalty by lethal injection is not really cruel and unusual. As the United States' evolves into a better country by learning from past mistakes, I think that they will be able to put themselves into a criminal's shoes. Do we really know that lethal injection is painful or not, and if so, that would be considered cruel and unusual punishment. Since the only person that could clarify this question would already be dead, nobody can really know if lethal injection is painful.
The United States of America is one of the few countries that uses lethal injection or the death penalty. With all of America's other problems and issues, the government is trying to make a change and create a better society. Since change is on everybody's mind, I do not think that killing people really makes a good impression on other countries.
As I stated before, we cannot really know whether lethal injection really violates the 8th amendment since we do not know if it is painful or not. Also, lethal injection generally costs less than prison because of all the costs for pre trials and death row appeals. In conclusion, I believe that more people are indeed starting to oppose the death penalty, and we cannot really be sure whether or not lethal injection can be considered cruel and unusual punishment.
I agree that more and more people are becoming anti-death penalty. From the tone of the article, it portrays the death penalty in a bad light, persuading many people to become anti-death penalty. I have noticed that many citizens are against the death penalty due to moral beliefs.
I, however, am still undecided on this issue but am starting to sway towards the anti-death penalty side. I understand and agree that these murder victims are the worst wrong-doers out there. The victim's families want to have closure and might only feel that way in an "eye for an eye" manner. If I had a family member murdered I would want the culprit finished and gone. The murderer did take someone's life, but does it make the government any better if they take theirs? An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. It does not help anything. Still, I am undecided. I can sympathize with both sides.
Many U.S. citizens are starting to oppose the death penalty, but why is that? People are coming to a realization that the death penalty is cruel and unusual. The death penalty has existed for hundreds of years, so is it outdated? Possibly so. If you see it from another point of view, the government is murdering people itself. Is this the message they intend to send? I believe not. This penalty is cruel and not proper to be administered to our fellow human beings.
While this may be my opinion, more and more people are starting to agree. As more information and statistics appear about the death penalty, the number of people against it goes up. This is because people finally have the true facts on the issue. This said, I believe the death penalty is wrong, and that everyone is slowly coming to the same conclusion. This is an outdated punishment, and with more time, will disappear.
The death penalty has been used for thousands of years, in many civilizations. Now is the most important time for the survival of the death penalty. Personally, I am fine with the death penalty. If someone commits a bad enough crime, they should be killed. The problem with the death penalty is the system. Every single reason that people don't like the death penalty besides morals is because of the system.
It costs too much, it takes too long, it hurts the person. This is all the system. It's not the issue of killing someone for a crime. Because of this, the only problem I have with the death penalty is how they do it. There are some easy fixes for this. The easiest one is reduce the number of appeals to 2 or 1. This brings down the cost and the time. With the third issue, doctors should be able to find a new injection. Maybe they should use what they use for euthanasia. No one says that that causes pain. In this debate, I am completely with the death penalty.
I do agree that many U.S citizens are beginning to oppose the death penalty. I do also think that it does go against the 8th amendment. although sometimes I do think that some people deserve it more than others but it depends on how bad the murder or act. But i also do not believe that anyone deserves that punishment. It is cruel to take someones life. Some think that they deserve to be put to death because they killed someone else, but I think that there punishment should just be to live with the guilt. Many citizens are opposing the idea because they are coming to a realization that it is cruel and unusual but people have been killing those who have done very bad things for years now and they finally realize that it is not very humane. It also goes against the 8th amendment because no one deserves a punishment that mean. Just because they took a life does not mean that they should die. like i said earlier they should have to live with the guilt.
Yes, I do believe that the citizens of the United States are starting to oppose the use of the death penalty. In my opinion we have no real way of knowing if lethal injection is "cruel and unusual". Not but 10+ years ago the electric chair was the main machine that was used to carry out the death penalty. People then said that the chair was not cruel and unusual, today most citizens agree that the use of an electric chair is.
In another 10+ years people will most likely be saying that lethal injection IS cruel and unusual and we probably would have already found another way to carry out the death penalty. So, saying that it violates the 8th amendment really depends on your point of view. You might say that it's wrong or that it's as humane as it can get. It all matters on your opinion.
I think that more and more people in the U.S. are opposing the death penalty beacuse they think that it is cruel and unusual. But at the same time, I think that giving someone the death sentence would be better than keeping them in prison for life. I am on the fence with the death sentence. On one hand I do think that it is cruel and unusual, but on the other hand it would save money than to keep a person in prison for life.
I also think that of course, the punishment must fit the crime. I do think that this would create an image to other to-be murders that is just isn't right to take someone's life. That is where i stand on this issue
Kevin L Chen
I believe that the death penalty is wrong, not because criminals don’t deserve to die for killing someone, but rather because there are too many flaws in how we determine someone deserves the death penalty. I believe that people who murder someone should be taken out of society and sometimes given the death penalty, however, there are too many cases in which the person is proved innocent after they are put to death. The death penalty is something that can’t be taken back. This is why I believe that the death penalty is wrong.
There are three basic reasons why we have the death penalty. One is to take the criminal out of society so nobody else gets hurt. A second reason is the death penalty is used to push the crime rates down because people may stop and not kill someone if they know they will also die. And a third reason for the death penalty is used to simply punish the criminal. I believe that all of these reasons make sense to having the death penalty, however, there are too many mistakes where the criminal is “proven” guilty by a jury only to find out later, after they are put to death, that someone else did the killing. Finally, the crime rate was expected to go down when the death penalty was put into action but time has shown that the crime rate hasn’t changed at all, even with the death penalty. Because of the possibility of innocent people being put to death and the death penalty not really slowing down violent crimes and killings, I believe the death penalty is wrong.
I agree that many Citizens of The U.S. are beginning to oppose the death penalty. I think that more and more people are starting to realize that it falls under a more cruel and unusual punishment, and that the message that it sends our kids is "fight fire with fire" and that could be used in many different settings. If we keep sending this message then people will react with equal force back if someone was to be mean/violent. Many people also believe that it sends a stronger message to keep the person in jail for life with no chance of parole because in the end both ways the person would end up dying, so out of the two the death penalty could be thought of as the easy way out.
Also the "Three Drug Cocktail" hasn't been proven to be painless and its believed it also could be extremely painful. That would Be against the 8th amendment, because it would be a cruel punishment. The Death Penalty is also extremely expensive and since people can get three appeals people can be on Death Row for even 30 years, so if you add the cost of keeping the person in prison and then the expense of the DP then you have a lot more expense than if they just get life in prison. The DP is in my opinion not very effective and breaks the 8th amendment, and since it has reasonable doubt that it could be painful that means that since we don't know for sure it would be cruel and unusual. That is my opinion on this article.
After reading the TIME magazine article, “Death Penalty Walking”, I believe that Americans are beginning to oppose the death penalty. The statistics in the article seem to prove that the death penalty is not being utilized as much. The US is one of the only countries to have a death penalty, as many other countries have abandoned the death penalty.
I’m undecided on whether or not lethal injection violates the 8th amendment, but I do support a death penalty. If a murderer decides to kill someone, then they should be killed, too. First of all, having a death penalty may deter some would-be murderers from killing: if they were sane, but on the verge of murdering, they might be deterred by the fact that they would be killed as well. Also, if the killer was insane, the relatives of the victim(s) would probably feel better that he was killed because “they would have revenge” and they would no longer be at risk if the murderer was allowed to live and escaped from jail. In addition, murderers really only get two options: to get the death penalty or a life sentence without parole, either way, they are going to die, but the death penalty can reduce the amount of prisoners in a prison and face murderers with what they did to someone else. However, if a murderer is mentally ill, and can be rehabilitated or at least helped, then they should be administered medical attention, not given the death penalty to be “rid of them”. On the lethal injection issue, I think that it isn’t really unusual because there have been only a few ways of execution: decapitation, hanging, and lethal injection, and the latter seems the least unusual. However, I cannot say if it is cruel, because the only people who could inform us are dead. In conclusion, I would say that if the lethal injection is administered by a well trained person, then the lethal injection does not violate the 8th amendment, but if not administered by a professional, then it would be violating the 8th amendment.
I do not believe that the lethal injection used to put down a killer criminal violates the 8th Amendment. These people have taken away another life, and I understand why other people want these murders to be killed. They want them killed because they have taken another person life away, and if he/she had such a problem with this person, they should have gone to the police. They should not have taken matters into their own hands. I also believe that the punishment should fit the crime. Killing a person is one of the biggest crimes there is, and so one of the only punishments that would fit it was to kill the other person. Also, some may argue that the '3 drug cocktail' but it is also very expensive to house and care for a person in jail. Some of our taxes go to pay for the food, housing, clothing (etc) for these criminals. We are paying to keep them alive, when they were able to kill someone else.
By using the '3 drug cocktail' we are putting these people down in the most pain-free way. These people don't feel pain before they die, yet the families of those killed by this man or woman get closer
I agree that many American are starting to take a second look at the death penalty, and it is not often used any longer. According to the New York Times article only 3% of the inmates on death row are actually put to death, but why is this? Citizens have changed their opinion of what is cruel and unusual, and because there are so many opinion, it is hard to tell what violates the 8th Amendment and what doesn't. Starting with hanging people by the neck, the death penalty has evolved from the electric chair, to the lethal injection, and now I think it is time to evolve even more. So we can keep up with the changing standards of our people.
In my opinion, I think we have the technology to create a lethal injection that isn't as painful. I think that if this became the new standard of capital punishment I would have no problem with the death penalty. If we constantly change our idea of cruel and unusual and we adapt the severity of our punishment then I think the death penalty will be around for many years to come. Overall, the death penalty is fair and makes since to me for the punishment fits the crime, but i think the type of punishment should evolve with the people.
That TIME news article seems to capture one side of the story, and only the negative side. It seems that our world can be fed enough of anything and beleive it. Lets look at the cost margins in both cases. If a serial killer is found guilty and sentenced to death it would cost ALL parties included only 1.5 to 3 million dollars before that person is put to death. If the killer is sentenced to life without parole that would cost anywhere from $50,000 to up to $100,000. Most people in prison can live from 20 to 50 more years after conviction. So multiply 50 by $50,000. So that means $2.5 million in care. Well we forgot about health factors. Once a convict is in the states controol they are the states problem. If the convict gets cancer that person would go in for expensive keemo therapy. So now we have the cost compared $2 million for death or $3 million and up for life.
Now we have to talk about the people who were affected by that person taking a life. Think about it from the persepctive of the Living Victims. These are family, friends and co-workers. These people will be affected for the rest of their lives. So all your family is raped and brutally beaten to death. Wouldn't you want that person never to breathe another breathe again.
So i think that people are starting to not like the lethal injection. Our society is so impressionable. We can be fed hot dogs and we listen to what the media calls them, steaks. The media takes what they want and what they think the public will listen to. They take the liberal view of the story. The most impressionable people statistically are young people and college kids. They are the ones who will be voting the most in 20 years.
So think about what the media says and get both sides of the story.
Many people believe that the death penalty is morally wrong and is a violation of the 8th Amendment. Although i am against the death penalty, it is not against the 8th Amendment in my opinion. The 8th Amendment states that no one shall be given a punishment that doesn't fit the crime. If you are a brutal murderer, then the only punishment that would fit the crime is a death sentence. I personally believe that everyone should be given a second chance, and for these murderers that second chance is life in prison. Also, many people believe that eventually the death penalty will be banned all together. I disagree with this 100%. There will never be a majority of the country that doesn't agree with the death sentence. Also, it is very rare for a person who receives a death sentence to actually be put to death, 3%. Many people know this statistic and will want to keep the death penalty legal just in case there is a person who has killed a lot of people brutally.
The framers of the Constitution set up the jury trial system not with the intention of finding everyone who is guilty, guilty and everyone who is innocent, innocent. The sixth amendment guaranteed only the right to a fair trial, which technically does not have to be perfect. People make mistakes, and if they are condemned to capital punishment, their crime is irreversible even if the supposed felon is later found innocent.
However, I think that some people actually deserve capital punishment. It is important for the Obama Administration to sustain their ability to inflict this penalty upon convicts who psychologically make it clear that they will not change at all. You "cannot teach an old dog new tricks," so why let a citizen back out in the free world when all he/she is going to do is disturb the peace? Therefore, the death penalty should be used in relevant cases, but not in excess.
Like many people, i just cant pick a side on this one. Yes i think that criminals who have done very violent crimes should be punished, but not exactly by death.
So if i had to choose a side to this i would be against it. How are we showing the world that killing is wrong when we are doing the exact same thing to these people. So with that, i think the dealth penalty is violating the 8th ammendment. Also so much more americans are definitely starting to oppose against the death penalty. Another reason why i think this is wrong is because what if the person accused of murder was sentenced to a death penalty but they actually didnt do the crime. Thats just horrible! These reasons are just some of the reasons why more and more americans are starting to be against the death penalty.
I believe that the death penalty should stay legal. This is the capital punishment which is erasable and for some crimes they deserve the punishment. People say that it is cruel and unusual punishment but this is the most humane way the government has found that is why it is the only one legal. Also statistically it is proven that its more money to keep someone in jail for life then for the death penalty. When the crime fits the punishment it should always be legal and some crimes fit the capital punishment. Such as murder more then once, child molestation of course there are exceptions depending on the situation.
The people that are being put on death roe are not ones that are ever going to get out of jail. So they would be taking up jail cells for people that don't deserve the capital punishment. Another reason why it is a good thing that the death penalty is legal is it sends a message to other criminals that plan on making a bad choice. This law is not breaking any part of the Constitution because it is not cruel or unusual punishment.
I think citizens of the U.S are definitely becoming more oppossed to the death penalty, but there are still a good number of people who agree with capital punishment and do not think it is a violation of the 8th amendment. I think that lethal injection is a form of cruel and unusual punishment, because, as we read in Death Penalty Walking, things can and do go wrong causing excruciating pain for the person being put to death. Not only that, but I think it is sending a terrible message if the punishment for killing is getting killed. As the country is progressing, people are becoming more aware and concious of what the death penalty is and I think that as more and more people in our generation become the ones voting, the opinions may change and capital punishment could be outlawed.
My opinion of the death penalty is that although in some cases it can seem harsh and cruel but in many cases when a criminal intentionally commits a crime and well know the consequences I believe the death penalty is needed in order to punish the criminal who was deemed responsible. Although it does cost a large amount to kill a person it costs even more to keep them alive in prison. The criminals suffer very little and it relieves a huge amount of pressure and pain from those affected by the criminals actions.
I do believe that the United States is beginning to oppose the death penalty more and more. The death penalty was originally put into place to act as a deterrent for criminals, but the crime rates have not noticeably gone down since this punishment has been used. This contradicts the main reason to why the death penalty was put in session. Many people in the U.S argue that this violates the 8th amendment and I must admit that I agree. Even if the death penalty doesn’t cause any pain, if the person is lucky, it is still stealing the life of a human being that I believe is cruel and unusual. Although murdering is very wrong, I feel like by killing these murders is also bad. It is like being like them. I think sitting locked up in a prison cell for a life is worse than being put to death. So if the families of the victims of these crimes want the criminal to pay I feel as if that is even worse than using a lethal injection. Excusing the mental ill persons, it seems to me that the people committing these crimes are in a fine mindset and have complete control and knowledge of what they are doing. Therefore, I personally think that the death penalty should be abolished.
The people of The United States are starting to display a disapproval to the use of lethal injection to execute prisoners on death row. These people are starting to feel this way because death as a punishment is permanent and very expensive. So even if the convicted felon is found innocent he can not be released or helped because he is now dead. The aftereffects that this puts on the convicts family are very painful and leaves the family one person lost.
One execution by lethal injection can cost about 1.4 million dollars each time a convict is killed. In most cases this amount of money is greater than what it would cost to keep that person in a federal prison for the rest of their life. Many religious documents all say that killing is wrong no matter what way they word it. Killing one person for what they did is just like becoming what they did to deserve this cruel punishment.
This form of execution violates the 8th Amendment because killing someone in this form is cruel and unusual. Even if this form does not cause any physical pain it certainly does cause emotional pain to the family and friends of the felon. In some cases the person being executed does not die and becomes paralyzed, where the body cannot move but the brain can still think. You become a prisoner trapped in your own body. This form of execution is very cruel and unusual and therefore violates the 8th Amendment and should not be continued.
I believe that there are many people who don't believe the death penalty. but, there are others who think it is a smart idea. There are many pros and cons of this topic and a side is a hard decision. They convict should be put through a test to see if they murdered a person for a certain reason or just because their crazy. An example would be a man kills someone and steals their money to feed his children. He shouldn't be let go but he aslo shouldn't be put to death. Other people believe that no one should beput to death even if the mowed down twenty shildren with a machine gun, which is ridiculous. Some people use the excuse that the "three drug cocktail" could possible be painful for someone. But, most people also think that thirty years in solitary confindment is the worst thing someone could go through.
Another main problem is the price to put someone "down". It cost approcimantly 1.5 million dollar to do it. The average amount to keep someone in jail for a year is four to five thousand. Soif someone is in jail for forty years then the cost become very close. Sence we pay, in our taxes, this mone then some decide on it that way. what ever we do we must also concider that this are still people who did a terrible thing, but most of them still have families who love them and care for them and it shouldn't be our decision if they can never see each other again.
When it comes to the issue of the death penalty I am very much on the fence about my argument. I feel like it honestly depends on the severity of the crime, and that all the details need to be taken into consideration before deciding whether or not to use death as penalty. I agree with what Obama said though, that we should not totally banish the death penalty because we need to have it as the worst possible punishment in extreme cases.
I think that the lethal injections are very expensive though, and that a life should be spared at all costs if need be. I do not think it violates the 8th ammendment though. Someone recieving the injection won't feel any pain and will be able to die as peacefully as the situation allows. I feel that it is the consequence that should definitely be enforced in some cases of cruel murder, child rape, etc... So, the lethal injections do not violate the 8th ammendment in my opinion and should be used in some cases. The death penalty is also being kept currently because it puts some Americans at ease about their personal safety.
I think that US citizens' view on the death pentaly is a complicated one. Mine sure is. The thought of killing another human being is highly disturbing amd not a thought I like to dwell on. However, when I think of how I would feel if someone took someone that I love away from me forever, I can't help but think that I would want the same thing done to them. I think that many Americans are struggling with this same frame of mind. After all, ever since I can remember, I was taught two wrongs don't make a right, but at the same time there is the saying "an eye for an eye". I think as a society we are more confused than ever, espesially with all the theories that the injection is extremly painful.
I also think that we have no way of knowing if the injections are painful or not because noone has ever been able to tell us. I'm sure that in some cenarios inmates have experianced some pain, but at the same time we essentially we do the exact same things to our dogs, and they dont seem to show signs of pain. It seems that at this point in time, this is the most humane way to carry out these tasks, and I'm sure that we will soon see even more painless ways of execution, as history has shown us.
I believe the death penalty is very wrong. In my personal experience, I know that the death penalty affects more than just the person that is dying. It affects everyone that knew them and ever loved them. I believe that the death penalty is not deserved and that it does violate the 8th amendment. It is cruel and unusual to take away a life, no matter what the crime is.
Also, a lethal injection is pretty expensive. I think that we might even save money if we just keep the criminals in jail instead of killing them.
And, if a person's crime is so terrible, they should be forced to stay in jail, which in my opinion, would be more difficult and worse than just being killed. I feel that many citizens of the U.S., like me, are opposed to the death penalty.
After reading this article, I am as ambivalent as before as to whether or not I think we should have a death penalty. However, the article did make me believe that the countries' opinion as a whole is progressing farther from the death penalty. That is, there are so many arguments against it, and so many little details that have to be taken into account for each person, that sometimes it just doesn't seem worth it anymore. Though an eye for an eye definitely makes the victim's family feel better, how much good is sentencing someone to death really doing? It hasn't discouraged murderers, and that is the main purpose I think. And hope.
As for lethal injection, I believe that if we're going to have a death penalty, it is a relatively humane way of doing so. However, we are still killing someone, and there's no way around that. Because nobody who has received lethal injections has lived to tell the tale, we can't know for sure how much it hurts, or whether it is really cruel. True, it causes the victim pain so it may be that it is more cruel than we know, but I can't honestly say that I think it violates the 8th amendment because it is excessively cruel or unusual.
In my opinion I believe that the people of the United States are becoming more opposed to the death penalty. The reason I believe this is because the use of lethal injection is becoming far less common than it once was in the 80's and 90's. People are starting to realize that no matter what someone has done, they shouldn't deserve to be put to death. The same chemicals that are used to kill people are the same chemicals that are used to put down animals. The idea that it is ok for the government to kill their own people is a terrible message to be sending to our children and grandchildren.
I definitely do think that lethal injection violates the 8th amendment. It is both cruel and unusual, not only that but it is undoable.
I don't think that the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment. When that eighth amendment was written it was to prevent the "cruel and unusual punishments" that were happening in that time. One example of this is cutting of some ones hands if they stole something. That is to extreme a punishment for the crime, but if you killed 4 people then the death penalty would fit the crime and there fore not be cruel and unusual.
I would rather have it that life in prison would be the charge. This would be a better charge because if the man was wrongly accused then he could be let out of jail, but if they were killed then they wouldn't be able to give him a second chance. Even though this would be a better punishment it is not likely to happen. It costs way to much money to keep them there and the chances that they would stay in jail for life is slim. A lot of the time people get let out on probation. This is why capital punishment is not unconstitutional but still is not the best punishment.
-Joris Van Zeghbroeck
I don't think that the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment. When that eighth amendment was written it was to prevent the "cruel and unusual punishments" that were happening in that time. One example of this is cutting of some ones hands if they stole something. That is to extreme a punishment for the crime, but if you killed 4 people then the death penalty would fit the crime and there fore not be cruel and unusual.
I would rather have it that life in prison would be the charge. This would be a better charge because if the man was wrongly accused then he could be let out of jail, but if they were killed then they wouldn't be able to give him a second chance. Even though this would be a better punishment it is not likely to happen. It costs way to much money to keep them there and the chances that they would stay in jail for life is slim. A lot of the time people get let out on probation. This is why capital punishment is not unconstitutional but still is not the best punishment.
-Joris Van Zeghbroeck
Over all, yes i do believe that U.S. citizens are starting to oppose to the death penalty more. With this issue, i am mainly against it. I do not think that we should put someone to death after they put another to death, we are only doing the same crime as they did, it just isnt considered a crime. Also, why spend money on a death when you could teach the criminal a life long lesson by giving them another chance at life.
Many people say that the death penalty is a threat and causes the murder rate to go down. I disagree. i believe that if this statement was true, texas, who has the highest death penalties, would have less murders than more. Also, by doing the lethal injection, we dont know if that is putting the criminal through more pain then even the rest of life in jail. I do not think that the death penalty is a reasonable punishment for most. However, i believe that in other cases such as child molesters ect. that depending on how torturous the crime was the death penalty may be a suitable punishment.
When the death sentence was first put into the law system, people had very different views on death as we do in todays modern society. The people from many years ago had a much more laid back view on death so giving someone the death sentence wasn't considered cruel or unusual. But in changing times, people have grown to have a much harsher view on death and are starting to consider it cruel and/or unusual. So i believe that people's views have and still are changing against the death penalty.
When it was first enforced, killing someone was a very usual occurance and was not unusual or cruel. But in recent years, death sentences have gone down and are rarely sentenced or followed through. In the older days, it may not have been unconstitutional but in todays world, it is very unconstitutional and unjust.
I believe that the people in the US are starting to lean away from the death penalty. In the document we read in classit talked alot about how people arent completely sure if the people being put to death can feel anything. If these people can feel some pain that is a violation to the 8th amendment. Also it is shown that people are starting to go away from the death penalty with the numbers of people executed each year. in the document the numbers that were listed per year were under 35 every time.
I believe that there is still alot of research that needs to be put into how they execute people. If they do not find a way that is 100% pain free i believe the death penalty will disappear, or it will come down to money, which one costs more in the long run will figure out if we put people in jail for life or execute them.
I must admit that I have no opposition to the death penalty. I think it is fair that if a person commits a serious enough crime, like murder, the government should make sure that they are no longer a threat to anyone else. I don't believe this to be a violation of the 8th Amendment as long as the process of killing by lethal injection is simple, quick, painless and admistered and ragulated by a docter.
I think the process of killing people who have been sentanced to death needs to be cleened up. Lethal injection is a good attempt at this. In theory, it should be (with the technology we have) the best solution for this. If Lethal injection is not as clean cut, the process should be rethought and modified.
I am not sure I have a specific opinion if I am for or against the death penalty. I think that when a person decides to take another's life, there should most definetely be a punishment but I haven't decided if taking their life too is the right punishment. On the other hand, because one person killed another doesn't make it right to kill that person. Two wrongs don't make a right, but I do believe that is necessary to keep the murderers where they can't hurt anyone else.
Since the death penalty does exist, I believe that lethal injections is the least cruel and unusual and most humane way kill someone. Yet, I still think that there should be other ways to punish someone than something a drastic as the death penalty.
I believe that one of the possible causes for a drop in the number of executions is that people are starting to oppose the death penalty. However, I don’t think that it is the main cause. I imagine that the main reason is because the courts are making sure that they have right person before they perform such a permanent penalty. For example, in Illinois there was a moratorium on executions because there were some people on death row that were found innocent due to DNA evidence. Thus, they decided to review each of the existing cases.
In my opinion, the death penalty is not against the 8th amendment. As of now, there have been no studies that prove that lethal injection causes pain to the recipient. I also believe that this punishment fits the crime. It is said that all humans are born with the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Some say that taking away these citizens right to life is illegal; but if someone intentionally kills someone else, then they are no longer deserving of those natural rights.
I do believe that the people of the United States are beginning to oppose the death penalty, but more than that, I believe that people are beginning to oppose the method that is used. It is fairly impractical, more expensive than it needs to be, and could be made much more efficient. The number of people who are subjected to death penalty has decreased dramatically over time. I think that a major reason people have begun to oppose the death penalty, other than the ridiculous cost, is the fact that it has been proven to not act as a deterrent for criminals. Morally, killing people is very difficult to think about. The fact that it is also technically impractical makes it even easier to oppose.
I really don’t know if I’m for or against the death penalty, or if it should be considered cruel and unusual. On one hand, killing is awful, no matter what. But on the other hand, it’s not as if these people are innocent. They have taken other people’s lives. Aside from that, prisoners with the possibility of being sentenced to death are probably sentenced to life without parole. Is killing any more cruel or unusual than keeping someone in a cell for the rest of their life? I think that I’d rather be sentenced to death.
Personally. being known as a citizen of the country who puts more people to death each year is not something I am not proud of. Not only is lethal injection cruel and pain causing it is also very expesive. By the time the price of appeals and court days add up, it takes about one MILLION dollars to put someone to death. That is only one person. If we put 40 people to death in one year that is app. 40 million dollars taken out of a budget that can't sustain such a loss. The economic depression has cut peoples jobs and made life hard so if 40 million dollars was put into the american economy it would serve a greater purpose than killing people. I think citizens of the United States are beggining to realize the expenses invovled in lethal injection. LIkewise, people are realizing the severity of accidentally killing an innocent person and knowing you will not be able to undo the mistake made.
I also believe that cost and accidental death are not the only reasons Americans are starting to oppose the death penalty. Other develop(ed/ing) countries are doing away with the death penalty, leaving America one of the few countries with a death penalty. I also believe that people oppose the death penalty because of the message it is sending to not only the people of the US but the people of thw world that, if you kill America will kill you. What a wonderful message to be sending the young people of Smerica and people all over the world that look at America as a "bright future". Death, is not a good message to send to developing childeren and possible immigrants to the US.
Beside the moral and aestestic points of the death penalty. Suffering is also another reason I believe Americans are opposing the death penalty. Although the "three drug cocktail" has not been scientifically proven to cause pain, (Because everyone who has experienced the cocktail is now six feet under)some inncedents lead people to believe that lethal injection is not such a "humane" way to die. WIth poorly trained prison officials setting IV lines into the withered and destroyed veins of long time drug abusers, accidents are bound to occur and they are bound to be painful. In some cases one injection is not enough, one case it took three injections to kill a man who must have been in severe pain at the time. Thus proving my point.
I, to be honest, have no particular overall stance on the death penalty. The problem is I can see both sides.
It's easy to see why some one would want the death penalty: say your family (spouse/parents and kids/siblings) are brutally murdered. I know that if something like that happened to me, I'd shoot the person responsible myself, screw the consequences. If you look at it from the victim's family's perspective, you can definitely see why they would want the perpetrator dead. Also, it give the victim's family a sense of finality, in a sense "it's over, they can never do something like that again." Also, I believe that the punishment should fit the crime. So if you kill someone on purpose, having premeditated it, or are a violent child molester, a serial killer, anything like that, I think that you should die yourself. Problem is, enforcing the death penalty is very expensive: about $1.4 million on average to convict someone to get them put on Death Row. Keeping them in jail is about $55,000 a year, but this evens out if you keep them in jail for 25.45 years, and that's about the minimum a person will spend in jail if they're in for life without parole.
It's almost certain they will spend this much time in jail, because "According to criminologist Eric Hickey, who has assembled the most extensive database on demography of serial murder states that [...] the average age when they claim their first victim is usually around 28.5."
On the other hand, some people say that it's cruel and unusual. I think that's a legitimate argument if the person being executed is not a violent killer or any of the other things I listed above; the punishment should fit the crime. So in some cases it is unusual, but the cruel part is difficult, because nobody's ever survived lethal injection. The lethal injection drugs are not expensive, only about $87, and included in the cocktail are several painkillers. There is also the worry that an innocent person will be executed because the opposition was too powerful. This problem, however, is being remedied by DNA testing, and better methods of collecting evidence.
Basically, I think that the death penalty should be kept, but that it not be used often, only for those who truly deserve it.
I do think that more and more citizens of the US are gradually starting to oppose the use of the death penalty. This is because there is not proof that the lethal injection is completely painless, even though it is said to not cause pain. Also, as the last few paragraphs in the article stated, the rate of the death penalty is decreasing more and more as time goes on. This is due to the evolving standards of decency in society. Hundreds of years ago, behading some criminal was not considered cruel or unusual, it was the standard. But that same act would be considered terrible and savage in this modern society.
Also, I do not believe that the use of lethal injecctiton violates the citizens' 8th Amendment because the constitution states that the punishment shall not exceed the crime, and surely if someone has killed many people, killing that criminal would be justified because it is 'an eye for an eye'.
I believe that capital punishment by any method, including lethal injection, is the best way to resolve murder issues if the offender was acting completely purposefully and aware of his/her actions. This will both stop recidivism completely and provide closure for people related to the victim. Hypothetically speaking, if a member of my family were to become a victim of murder, I would want the criminal to be put down. I don't think that the people affected by murderers really mind if the murderer suffers while undergoing capital punishment.
There seem to be two discussions taking place here. One is about being for and against the death penalty, and the other about whether the US as a country is starting to oppose the death penalty.
I think that the death penalty should be kept. There are some crimes such as mass murder in which we need to have the death penalty as an option for punishment. Killing a criminal who killed other people is in no way an unusual punishment, it matches the crime. The punishment is also not cruel because the injection puts the person to sleep and then they die supposedly painlessly. I think that even if the injection method for carrying out the death penalty is not painless, it should still be allowed because the criminal is in death row for a reason and that reason probably involves inflicting pain on other people so I do not believe it is wrong for them to have to suffer some pain themselves. I also have seen a lot of arguments about the financial issues involved with keeping a prisoner in jail for life vs. putting them to death. I do not think that money should be a factor in deciding the punishment for a prisoner. I believe that it should be based solely off of whether it fits the crime or not and which punishment is worse: staying in jail for life, or death row. I understand that money however is an issue in this debate however I do not believe that the cost of either punishment should be used to argue for or against having the death penalty.
The issue of money in carrying out the capital punishment leads well into the question: "Is the US starting to oppose the death penalty?". I am undecided if I think that yes people are starting to oppose or no they are not. The general opinion may not be shifting much. I think if the number of death sentences we carry out is decreasing it may not have anything to do with the opinion of the US. There are still hundreds of prisoners on death row, even though fewer are actually getting killed. I think this may have something to do with money as I mentioned before. If you think about it, the average person's opinion about the death penalty has literally no effect on if the death penalty will be inflicted in any state. I think a decrease in number of people killed in death row is the result of other factors such as limited money to carry out trials and conduct executions. However this might be the result of out nation developing. The trend is that the more developed countries are moving away from the death penalty. I think that a decrease in executions shows the natural tendency of developed nations to not support the death penalty.
I believe that the people of the modern world today are starting to oppose the death penalty more than they did 50 years ago. Even though now days we have advanced technology that have made the executions more humane, people are still starting to oppose. Less jury are convicting people to the death sentence than they used to. Either American criminals have stopped killing, which would lower the conviction rate, or the American people no longer believe in the death penalty. Many states have recently outlawed the death penalty in its state, which also proves that America doesn’t think that the death penalty is right.
I also believe that lethal injection violates a citizen’s 8th Amendment. No person deserves death, no matter what they have done. Paying for the trials and everything for a death penalty can be really expensive and long. Some trials can take up to 30 years. While the government is paying for the trial costs, it also has to pay for the convict on trial to be kept in prison. If the death penalty were removed, then the government would only have to pay to take care of the prisoners for the rest of their life. Many people have not taken the fact that part of the 1.5 million dollars is spent on taking care of the prisoner. Even if it is cheaper to give someone the death sentence rather than jail for life, it is still more humane to keep them alive. America is a country of promise, and do the American citizens want that promise to be that they will kill you if you do something wrong. Killing people has always been defined as wrong, and if the government kills people for killing somewhere else, what does that prove? Nothing. The government is no better than convict. The people of America need to, and are, stepping up to the plate and becoming a better country where every person is entitled to their life. America has been voting for the death sentence to be abolished in past years, and America is taking a step towards becoming a better nation.
By: Grace-e Kerber
I agree that more and more people are starting to oppose the death penalty. It costs a lot and clogs the court system with appeals. As time goes on, peoples opinions on things will change, and right now opinions on the death penalty are beginning to change. In my opinion, saying "if you kill the government will kill you" is sending the wrong message.
There's no way of knowing if lethal injection is painful. The second? shot is to paralyze the victim, so if they're in pain there's no way for them to show it. But the Potassium Chloride stops the heart, not the brain. You could still thinking and feeling while your heart and all your organs shut down and die. As for unusual, I think it's pretty unusual to have tubes put into your veins and drugs poured into them. As times and ideas change, i hope to see the death penalty removed from the united states.
I believe that the death penalty will stay around for quite some time because even though most of the United States is against capital punishment their are a lot of people(not me) particularly in the south that believe capital punishment is necessary for some criminals. I do not think it is necessary because the U.S. is stooping down to that persons level if they kill them. Also, what is that teaching to the youth of America that if someone does something bad then we have to do something bad to them. Criminals who commit murder even though they did something absolutely horrific are still people to and even though lethal injection is the most humane thing we have today it is still very painful. In conclusion the death penalty is wrong even though it will probably stay in this country for a longer time than wanted.
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