“The punishment should, [in theory], fit the crime,” but is this always the case? What constitutes “cruel and unusual punishment?” The United States constitution forbids punishment in any inhumane manner. Yet, the death penalty is administered in the majority of the states throughout the country with the use of methods that clearly straddle the fence between humane and inhumane. The administration of the death penalty is state-controlled and, therefore, the criteria upon which people receive a death sentence vary greatly; the more lenient states in administrating the death penalty include states such as Texas. Are the methods employed for the death penalty humane? Or do they border on “cruel and usual punishment?” Lethal injection, gas chambers, hanging, and electrocution constitute some of the methods used in the United States today.
Thirty-seven of the thirty-eight US states which administer the death penalty use lethal injection as a means of execution. Two needles, one containing a harmless saline solution and the other containing the anesthetic that puts the victim to sleep, are used. Medical personnel do not generally perform this procedure; on the contrary, the people responsible for its administration are often inexperienced. As a result, the administrator sometimes injects the anesthetic into a muscle instead of into a vein. This results in a long and painful death for the victim. During electrocution, the inmate is strapped to a chair and made to wear a metal helmet that has several electrical wires running through it. The blind-folded prisoner receives electrical shocks of between 500 to 2000 volts in intervals of thirty seconds until he or she is dead. Five states legally employ gas chambers as a method of execution. During this process, the prisoner is placed in a chair inside an air-tight chamber. Hydrogen cyanide gas is employed in order to put the inmate to death.
The eighth amendment to the United States Constitution forbids “cruel and unusual punishment.” So, what justifies the use of gas chambers and electrocution? These methods place the inmates in a torturous state and I, personally, fail to see how states justify their use as anything but “cruel and unusual.”
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2 comments:
Some of the information you gave just left me stunned because I had no idea that gas chambers or even electrocution are still being used today. Justice is built on the foundation that punishment for a crime is not about inflicting revenge, but an inherent consequence. I just find it completely appalling that technologically we’ve come so far and yet certain states still choose to use such callous methods. It was also a major surprise when I learned that medical personnel aren’t responsible for lethal injections. I can understand that asking for full-fledged doctors is excessive, but when it comes to ending a human life, and as ironic as this seems, I believe some type of licensed medical person should be responsible for it. I’m excited to read more of your facts that will clear up the misconceptions I had about implementing the death penalty.
Your topic brings up a lot of mixed emotions for me, especially since I am opposed to the death penalty. I am first forced to read your post in an academic mindset and my reaction is disgust towards the way in which we mistreat people on death row. I agree that slow deaths and deaths administrated by unqualified people are unacceptable and a horrible refection on our justice system. After my brain cycles through that logic I return to a more emotional mindset, viewing these criminals in the way I would view them if my mother had been their victim. I am still against the cruel deaths inflicted through a death penalty sentence, but I am against the death penalty as whole because I feel like a painful death isn't harsh enough punishment for someone who has murdered a loved one. I personally feel that being confined to one cell for the rest of a person's life is a much harsher punishment than death. The monotony of the same exact daily ritual would certainly drive me crazy, as I assume it would for any other person. If I had raped and murdered someone's mother I would much rather die than sit in the same cell for 50 years or more.
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