Final essay 123 - Grade: B+ PDF

Preview

Summary

death penalty...

Description

Running head: DEATH PENALTY

1

Abolition of The Death Penalty English 123 Southern New Hampshire University Emma Reed

Abolition of The Death Penalty

2

The United States of America: the land of the free the home of the botched execution. How does a government allow the murder of its own citizens as a punishment for murder? Some may say an eye for an eye. That is not the case; otherwise, we would be burning down the houses of arsonists, and raping rapists. I stand firmly against the death penalty as a form of punishment. It is a violation of the eighth amendment as stated in the constitution It also violates the most basic of human rights. The right to life. The preferred method of execution today is the Lethal injection. It has been said to be the most effective and humane way to carry out these legal pre-meditated murders. When in fact this procedure is more of an experiment rather than an execution. The death penalty has been used time and time again to scare a subject into giving not only a confession but a false confession. It is the time that the death penalty is abolished in the United States. It does not rid society of evil: it does not make our communities safer. It damages us as a nation The controversy of whether the death penalty violates the 8th amendment has been argued many times. The eighth amendment of the constitution states: excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted. While there have been many different views on what exactly constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, the ruling of the supreme court in Gregg Vs. Georgia (Barry 2019) the court has never actually settled on one clear definition or standard on which to decide if the death penalty is violating the 8 th amendment the author also notes that in contrast to the 8th amendment,” the court has never squarely addressed whether or not the death penalty deprives criminal defendants who are sentenced to death: the fundamental right to life” (Barry 2019 p.1545) When did the pursuit of justice turn into a pursuit for blood? Essentially, we are giving another human his expiration date. Then gathering citizens and officials to view and document the murder; it is a cold calculated and pre-meditated event. That is not justice. it’s a revenge killing that has been legalized. The questions remain: is it against our constitution to condemn another man to death? Is

Abolition of The Death Penalty

3

it our place as a society to deprive our fellow man of his fundamental right to life? This practice of legal murder is outdated and uncivilized. There are 28 States that still allow capital punishment. The preferred method of execution is Lethal injection. This specific form of execution has been portrayed as humane, and it has become viewed as nothing more than a medical procedure. What occurs in the execution chambers of America’s prisons is quite different. When the lethal injection was first adopted into practice by Oklahoma, it was done so out of a need to cut costs. According to Fernando J, Gaitán explains that.” With the help of Dr. Stanley Deutsch: The head of the anesthesiology department at the University of Oklahoma health sciences center initially developed a cost-effective proposal with the state to perform these lethal injections Using a two-drug cocktail of a short-acting barbiturate as well as a neuromuscular blocking agent”(Gaitán, F.J 2015) This was the proposed injection protocol taken in front of the legislature for approval. The author also states “The legislature quickly passed the bill neglecting to hear specifics on doses, drugs, and procedures.” Oklahoma’s chief medical officer Dr. J. Chapman suggested using a 3-drug cocktail containing sodium thiopental, used to render the subject unconscious. Pancratium Bromine which would paralyze the muscles of the subject and Potassium chloride to induce cardiac arrest. Gaitan further states that When asked how Dr. J. Chapman came up with his three drugs, he was told “I didn’t do any research, I just knew from being placed under anesthesia myself what it would take. I wanted to have at least two drugs in doses that would kill, then to make sure if one didn’t kill him the other would. You just wanted to make sure the prisoner was dead at the end. So why not just add a third lethal drug? I didn’t do any research-Doctors know potassium chloride Is lethal. What does it matter why I chose it? “ (Dr. J. Chapman Oklahoma chief medical officer) It is experimenting such as these that have led to the numerous botched executions all over the country, From start(when the first drug is administered) to finish (the time the prisoner is pronounced dead) the procedure should roughly take from 6-12 minutes. There have been occasions when this has not been the case: There have been executions where the

Abolition of The Death Penalty

4

prisoner has been conscious and thrashing about gasping, gagging, coughing, and groaning for air while noticeably in tremendous distress, some of these events have gone on for up to 45minutes as in the case of Clayton locket in Arizona. This procedure is not a humane way to die. This goes beyond cruel and unusual punishment. Gaitán further states that “This practice is damaging us as a nation” The United States of America is a powerful nation and a nation that is being tarnished by such brutality. Everyone has the right to life and yes, that includes the criminals who themselves have committed a murder or are suspected of committing murder. The law enforcement community has investigators that have been specially trained to gather incriminating evidence. They do this by using interrogation techniques that have been designed to persuade, deceive, and coerce the subject into giving a confession. In some cases, the threat of the death penalty has been used as a psychological influencer to advance the goal of getting incriminating statements from subjects. Lauren Morehouse the author of the article Confess or Die: Why Threatening a Subject with The Death Penalty Should Render Confessions Involuntary states. “The threat of the death penalty can have a uniquely corruptive effect on a suspect in an interrogation, as evidenced by real-world cases where innocent people confessed to crimes after being threatened with the death penalty.” (Morehouse 2012) there have been numerous cases of people falsely confessing to crimes when being threatened with the death penalty. False confessions lead to false convictions. When we limit a person’s attention to certain issues, to manipulate his perceptions of certain situations and to bias his evaluation of the choices before him it most definitely will have a profound effect on the ultimate outcome of an interrogation. The author also states, “A confession is like no other evidence, a jury will convict on the basis of confession alone, even when no significant or credible evidence confirms the disputed confession.” (Morehouse 2012) The Threat of death is not something to be thrown around lightly and it should not be used as a scare tactic. Ultimately you end up with innocent people behind bars while predators Rome free.

Abolition of The Death Penalty

5

The American appetite for this type of punishment has been on the decline for several years. President Barack Obama signed zero death warrants while he was in office. He also had the Death sentences of a handful of prisoners commuted to life without parole. I am inclined to believe that justice can be better-served through incarceration. Society should not have the ability to condemn a man to death. It does not rid society of evil nor does it make our communities safer. There has been a noticeable decline in the number of death penalty cases and actual executions have greatly diminished suggesting that The United States will make a stand for what is right, moral, and the only decision to make. That is to once and for all take the death penalty off the tables. This nation has no need to be using such a barbaric form of punishment, it truly is damaging us as a nation. We are a nation of great power and influence the world. We have no need for the savagery of other less civilized times. We can change the injustice that is being done

Abolition of The Death Penalty

6 References

Works Cited Barry, K. M. (2001). When the state kills Capito; punishment and the American condition. Yale law journal. Gaitan, F. J. (n.d.). Challenges facing society in the implimentation of the death penalty. morehouse, l. (2019). confess or die why threatning a suspect with the death penalty should render confessions invoulentry. American criminal law review....