Cruelty Of Capital Punishment Essay, Research Paper

Capital punishment is the legal infliction the death penalty.

It is obviously the most severe form of criminal punishment. (Bedau1)

Capital punishment is a controversial way of dealing with violent

criminals. The main alternative to the death penalty is life in

prison. Capital punishment has been around for thousands of years as a

means of eradicating criminals. A giant debate started between

supporters and opposers of execution, over the morality and

effectiveness of the death penalty. The supporters claim that if you

take a life you should pay with your life or “an eye for an eye”.

Opposers of the death penalty bring up the chance of sentencing the

innocent and how the death penalty is inhumane. The purpose of this

paper is to examine the process of capital punishment and the moral

viewpoints on the death penalty. The first evidence of capital

punishment is from Hammurabi’s code, a book of Babylonian law, from

1700BC. The Bible mentions that execution should be used for many

crimes. (Bedau1) One example of the death penalty in the bible is

“Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death.” (Exodus

21:12). The bible also suggests stoning a woman if she unmarried sex

and had “wrought folly on Israel by playing the harlot in her father’s

house” (Deuteronomy 22:21) England recognized seven major crimes that

called for execution by the end of the 15th century. These crimes

were: murder, theft (by deceitfully taking someone goods), burglary,

rape, and arson. As time went by more and more crimes were believed to

deserve the death penalty and by 1800 more than 200 crimes were

recognized as punishable by death. (Bedau2) It was not long before

capital punishment met opposition. The Quakers made first movement

against execution. They supported life imprisonment as a more humane

justice. Cesare Beccaria wrote On Crimes and Punishment, a book

criticizing torture and the death penalty, in 1764. Cesare drove many

other philosophers, like Voltaire and Jerry Bentham, to question the

validity of using capital punishment. (Bedau2) Contrary to what some

may believe the process of sentencing a defendant is a very arduous

and time-taking ordeal. After he has been arrested as the suspect of a

crime the defendant will either tried in a state or federal court

system. The lowest court that a litigant can be sent to is the Court

of General jurisdiction (state level) or the US District Courts

(federal level). Any time in the trial the defense may choose to

appeal. Even if a suspect is sentenced to a crime the case may be

appealed for a variety of reasons. The defendant’s lawyer could claim

that the defendant’s rights were violated when he was arrested, that

the defendant received an unfair trial, or new evidence that could

prove the defendant’s innocence has surfaced. (Guernsey,16) Next the

appeal is taken to the Intermediate Appellate Courts (state) or the US

Courts of Appeals (federal) who will decide if the trial court has

erred in some way. If the appeal is granted In the state court system

the appellate will be sent to the State Supreme Court, or in the

federal system, to the supreme. From the State Supreme Court the case

may be appealed again to the Supreme Court. Once the case has reached

the supreme court the verdict is final. (Guernsey,15) This monotonous

appealing process is the reason for the excess of inmates on death row

today. An inmate can spend 6-10 years on death row during the

appellate process. (Guernsey, 20) In fact only about one in 1900

prisoners (.053%) on death row have served the death penalty.

(http://www.hotsites.com/) “Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and

Texas have carried out about three-quarters of all executions since

1976.” (Guernsey,22) There has been a controversy over the death

penalty ever since the Quakers fought for reform in the 1700’s.

(Bedau1) This conflict has two sides: those in favor of capital

punishment, and those who view life without parole (LWOP) as a more

humane alternative.

Supporters of the death penalty rationalize executing because

if a man takes a life he should pay for it with his own or “an eye

for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” They also use verses from the Bible

like, “Whosoever sheds a man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed”

(Genesis 9:6), and Exodus 21:12 to show that Christianity supports it.

They claim that executions deter other criminals from killing in fear

of being executed. However, this could never been proven since it

would be very difficult to link a drop in murders to knowledge of

recent executions. Those who oppose the death penalty have come up

with many reasons that life in prison without parole, or LWOP, is a

better means of dealing with violent criminals. One reason is the risk

of executing the innocent. (Bedau1) This risk is very small

considering that since 1900 only 23 people, who were possibly

innocent, were executed. (http://www.hotsites.com) Those who oppose

the death penalty claim that the number of blacks is disproportionate

to that of women and white men. (Bedau1) This has been proven to be

true and is the most vital argument of the opposers. Wealth and fame

take a pivotal part in the trial of a defendant. Poor defendants are

give court-appointed lawyers; however, rich and famous defendants can

afford fancy lawyers. (Bedau1) One example of this is the OJ Simpson

trial. If OJ was a normal middle to lower class person he would not be

able to afford lawyers like Johnny Cochran and would probably have

been found guilty. There are many forms of execution. Some have been

labeled barbaric and forbidden nearly everywhere. Currently the only

accepted means of execution are: electrocution, the gas chamber,

firing squad and lethal injection. (Bedau1) The firing squad is only

used it Utah upon request. (Guernsey, 54) Montana, New Hampshire and

Washington are the only states that allow hangings. (55) The electric

chair was introduced in New York in 1890 and is now used in 24 states.

(Bedau2) The criminal is seated in a chair. Electrodes are attached to

the head and a leg. Pulses of 2000 volts are sent through his body for

about three minutes or until he appears to be dead. The fact that the

electrodes reach 1900?C and the brain reaches the boiling point causes

one to doubt the humanity of this practice. (Guernsey, 53) Lethal

injection is thought to be the least painful method of execution. The

person is strapped down and a given a deadly dose of barbiturates via

IV. (Bedau2) However this process also has its flaws. “It took

technicians 45 minutes of sticking to find a proper vein for the

injection”(Guernsey, 59) on Peter Morin. Needles have also been know

to fly out in the middle of the injection. (59) The gas chamber was

first used in Nevada in 1924. (Bedau2) The prisoner is strapped into a

chair and cyanide gas is administered through a hole in the floor.

Death takes from three to four minutes, but prisoners have been known

to go into convulsions or choke to death on the gas. (Guernsey, 59)

After learning about our modern methods of execution one

wonders if these methods are humane. Is being struck with enough

electricity to cause the eyeballs pop out of their sockets any better

than being beheaded? (Guernsey, 59) Is the death penalty ‘cruel and

unusual punishment’? We must devise more sane methods of execution

which are quick and efficient. Most importantly we must make the

appeals process more orderly to cut down on the glut of inmates on

death row, and therefore cut down on the money wasted housing

prisoners during the appeals process.

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Works Cited

1. Bedau, Hugo Adam “Capital Punishment” Encarta 96 Encyclopedia

(CD-ROM) Microsoft Corporation, 1996.

2. The Bible

3. Bedau, Hugo A. “Capital Punishment” Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia

(CD-ROM) Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc. 1995.

4. Guernsey, JoAnn Bren. Should We Have Capital Punishment?.

Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Co., 1993.

5. http://www.hotsites.com/fightback/jfa/DP.html (website)

6. Bender, David L., and Bruno Leone. The Death Penalty Opposing

Viewpoints. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, Inc., 1991.

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