(no subject)
okay sinse SHS decides to further persue its goal to be gay and ban yahoomail I have to put my essay on here bc my printer is messed up. dont read it unless your interested in teh death penalty
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Maria Tezza
November 18, 2005
Coach Dees
5th Period
The Death Penalty: Legal or a Moral Dilemma
The Death Penalty is a very controversial topic in today's society. The Death Penalty has a very in-depth and interesting history. There are many procedures that a person has to go through to be given the Death Penalty. There are five ways or initializing the Death Penalty, hanging, lethal injection, the gas chamber, the electric chair, and firing squad. I believe that the Death penalty is justified and should be enacted in severe crimes, such as murder.
The first established death penalty laws date as far back as the Eighteenth Century B.C. in the Code of King Hammaurabi of Babylon, which codified the death penalty for 25 different crimes. In the Tenth Century A.D., hanging became the usual method of execution in Britain. In the following century, William the Conqueror would not allow persons to be hanged or otherwise executed for any crime, except in times of war. This trend would not last, for in the Sixteenth Century, under the reign of Henry VIII, as many as 72,000 people are estimated to have been executed. The number of capital crimes in Britain continued to rise throughout the next two centuries. By the 1700s, 222 crimes were punishable by death in Britain, including stealing, cutting down a tree, and robbing a rabbit warren. Because of the high number of Death Penalty cases from 1823 to 1837, the death penalty was eliminated for over 100 of the 222 crimes punishable by death. Britain influenced America's use of the death penalty more than any other country did. When European settlers came to the new world, they brought the practice of capital punishment. The first recorded execution in the new colonies was that of Captain George Kendall in the Jamestown colony of Virginia in 1608. There were many controversies during the following centuries but in today’s society, the Death Penalty is one of the most popular debates. The 1960s brought challenges to the fundamental legality of the death penalty. Before then, the Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution were interpreted as permitting the death penalty. However, in the early 1960s, it was suggested that the death penalty was a "cruel and unusual" punishment and therefore unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment. In the late 1960s, the Supreme Court began "fine tuning" the way the death penalty was administered. There have been times when the Death Penalty was suspended, thus, on June 29, 1972, the Supreme Court effectively voided 40 death penalty statutes, thereby commuting the sentences of 629 death row inmates around the country and suspending the death penalty because existing statutes were no longer valid. There are also Limitations on the Death Penalty, On June 20, the Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling ending the execution of those with mental retardation. In 1986, the Supreme Court banned the execution of insane persons in Ford v. Wainwright (477 U.S. 399). However, in 1989, the Court held that executing persons with mental retardation was not a violation of the Eighth Amendment in Penry v. Lynaugh (492 U.S. 584). Mental retardation would instead be a mitigating factor to be considered during sentencing. There are also limitations on the Death Penalty for Juveniles. In March 2005, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Roper v. Simmons that the death penalty for those who had committed their crimes at less than 18 years of age was cruel and unusual punishment and hence barred by the Constitution. Throughout the course of history there have been many ways of executing somebody, now there are only five wasy possible, legally that is.
The five different type of executing someone are the electric chair, the gas chamber, lethal injection, hanging, and a firing squad. Until the 1890s, hanging was the primary method of execution used in the United States. Hanging is still used in Delaware and Washington, although both have lethal injection as an alternative method of execution. The last hanging to take place was January 25, 1996 in Delaware. "For execution by this method, the inmate may be weighed the day before the execution, and a rehearsal is done using a sandbag of the same weight as the prisoner. This is to determine the length of 'drop' necessary to ensure a quick death. If the rope is too long, the inmate could be decapitated, and if it is too short, the strangulation could take as long as 45 minutes. The rope, which should be 3/4-inch to 1 1/4-inch in diameter, must be boiled and stretched to eliminate spring or coiling. The knot should be lubricated with wax or soap "to ensure a smooth sliding action," according to the 1969 U.S. Army manual. (The Corrections Professional, 1996 and Hillman, 1992). Immediately before the execution, the prisoner's hands and legs are secured, he or she is blindfolded, and the noose is placed around the neck, with the knot behind the left ear. The execution takes place when a trap-door is opened and the prisoner falls through. The prisoner's weight should cause a rapid fracture-dislocation of the neck. However, instantaneous death rarely occurs. (Weisberg, 1991)". The Next type of execution is Firing Squad. Firing squad still remains a method of execution in Utah and Idaho, although each allow lethal injection as an alternative method and only Utah allows the inmate to choose this method. The most recent execution by this method was that of John Albert Taylor. By his own choosing, Taylor was executed by firing squad in Utah on January 26, 1996. For execution by this method, the inmate is typically bound to a chair with leather straps across his waist and head, in front of an oval-shaped canvas wall. The chair is surrounded by sandbags to absorb the inmate's blood. Another type of execution is electrocution. "For execution by the electric chair, the person is usually shaved and strapped to a chair with belts that cross his chest, groin, legs, and arms. A metal skullcap-shaped electrode is attached to the scalp and forehead over a sponge moistened with saline. The sponge must not be too wet or the saline short-circuits the electric current. It also must not be too dry, as it would then have a very high resistance. An additional electrode is moistened with conductive jelly (Electro-Creme) and attached to a portion of the prisoner's leg that has been shaved to reduce resistance to electricity. The prisoner is then blindfolded. (Hillman, 1992 and Weisberg, 1991)" The next type of execution is The Gas Chamber. Gas Chamber
In 1924, the use of cyanide gas was introduced as Nevada sought a more humane way of executing its inmates. "For execution by this method, the condemned person is strapped to a chair in an airtight chamber. Below the chair rests a pail of sulfuric acid. A long stethoscope is typically affixed to the inmate so that a doctor outside the chamber can pronounce death. Once everyone has left the chamber, the room is sealed. The warden then gives a signal to the executioner who flicks a lever that releases crystals of sodium cyanide into the pail. This causes a chemical reaction that releases hydrogen cyanide gas. (Weisberg, 1991)" The last type of execution is Lethal Injection. In 1977, Oklahoma became the first state to adopt lethal injection as a means of execution, though it would be five more years until Charles Brooks would become the first person executed by lethal injection in Texas on December 7, 1982. Today, 37 of the 38 states that have the death penalty use this method. "When this method is used, the condemned person is usually bound to a gurney and a member of the execution team positions several heart monitors on his skin. Two needles (one is a back-up) are then inserted into usable veins, usually in the inmates arms. Long tubes connect the needle through a hole in a cement block wall to several intravenous drips. The first is a harmless saline solution that is started immediately. Then, at the warden's signal, a curtain is raised exposing the inmate to the witnesses in an adjoining room. Then, the inmate is injected with sodium thiopental - an anesthetic, which puts the inmate to sleep. Next flows pavulon or pancuronium bromide, which paralyzes the entire muscle system and stops the inmate's breathing. Finally, the flow of potassium chloride stops the heart. Death results from anesthetic overdose and respiratory and cardiac arrest while the condemned person is unconscious. (Ecenbarger, 1994 and Weisberg, 1991) " Of all the different type of execution I would choose Lethal Injection, just so you know.
There are many different arguments revolving around the Death Penalty. Most People believe in determent. Society has always used punishment to discourage would-be criminals from unlawful action. Since society has the highest interest in preventing murder, it should use the strongest punishment available to deter murder, and that is the death penalty. If murderers are sentenced to death and executed, potential murderers will think twice before killing for fear of losing their own life. Many people would disagree staing that determent does not really work. These people that disagree by saying, years of deterrence studies is that the death penalty is, at best, no more of a deterrent than a sentence of life in prison. Another major argument is Retribution, which is the query does putting someone do death justify the murder that person committed. The arguments for this say that when someone takes a life, the balance of justice is disturbed. Unless that balance is restored, society succumbs to a rule of violence. Only the taking of the murderer's life restores the balance and allows society to show convincingly that murder is an intolerable crime which will be punished in kind. The people who disagree with this would say that retribution is another word for revenge. Although our first instinct may be to inflict immediate pain on someone who wrongs us, the standards of a mature society demand a more measured response. This is an argument that the religious protestors use the most. One of the most popular arguments is what if the inmate was innocent, and he was put to death? There is no proof that any innocent person has actually been executed since increased safeguards and appeals were added to our death penalty system in the 1970s. Even if such executions have occurred, they are very rare. Imprisoning innocent people is also wrong, but we cannot empty the prisons because of that minimal risk. The people who believe that we put innocent people to death would say that the death penalty alone imposes an irrevocable sentence. Once an inmate is executed, nothing can be done to make amends if a mistake has been made. There is considerable evidence that many mistakes have been made in sentencing people to death. Since 1973, at least 121 people have been released from death row after evidence of their innocence emerged. Those are just some of the numerous question that are brought up when debating the death penalty.
The death penalty is one of the hardest things that any human being can decide to agree with or to disagree with. If you do agree with it people will think that you are cruel, and un-hearted. That is not true. I do believe in the death penalty. I believe that the punishment for the crime should justify the severity of the crime. If someone murders someone, the punishment should be there own lives. Yes, there are many instances in which the death penalty should not be used, but if the severity of the crime is high enough then the convict should pay with his life. My view on this subject does not reflect the rest of my decisions. I believe that this decision is a personal decision that should not be made lightly.
The death penalty has a very long and interesting history. It also accompanies some of the longest legality situations of anything else. There are five different ways to execute someone, hanging, the electric chair, the gas chamber, lethal injection, and a firing squad. I believe that there should be a death penalty in cases that are severe enough to call for it.