Capital Punishment Essay, Research Paper

Chris Schmidbauer

Capital Punishment

Since the beginning of the formalized justice system,

there has always been a heavy debate over the issue of

criminal deterrence in the Church. Many different ideas have

come around as a proper punishment for those who have

committed crime. The main question is how should criminals

be treated. Yet the biggest topic in this area concerns

Capital Punishment.

Let s examine the history of capital punishment. Capital

punishment has been around since the dawn of the organized

civilization. It has been the most common form since the

Middle Ages, and it was inflicted for the most minor

offenses involving property. Most of the death sentences

then involved torture too. Such severe punishment began to

die out during the 18th century. The number of offense

punishable by death was reduced because of a humanitarian

movement swept through governments. Back then there were

normally five styles of execution practiced. These were the

guillotine, hanging and the garotte, burning at the stake,

and the headman s axe.

The guillotine was a popular form of execution in

France. This was a machine used to decapitate. This was used

because at the time it was thought to be the least cruel and

painful of the tortures. It was invented by Dr. Joseph

Guilliton.

Hanging and the garotte is the only form of punishment

from the Middle Ages still practiced today. Although back in

the Middle Ages, it wasn t as scientific. It was seen as the

perfect execution because it was a form of torture and death

in one. This is because a prisoner would suffocate and

sustain heavy cuts and pain during the death process.

The headman s axe was a form quite popular in Germany

and England. This was a style which is seen as the father of

the guillotine. It basically is where a prisoner is

decapitated. An executioner, usually hooded, would chop a

prisoner s head off with means of an axe or sword.

The earliest form of execution was that of burning at

the stake. Then a prisoner was tied to a mast of wood. Then

kindling for a fire was assembled at the base of the wooden

mast. Fire was slit to the kindling and a person would first

suffocate from the smoke intake, and then the dead corpse

would by burned. This was typically used for heretics,

accused witches, and suspicious women.

The wheel was probably the most gruesome of all the

forms of early capital punishment. The wheel was used in two

typical fashions. One was the person would be attached to

the outer rim of the wheel. The they would be rolled down a

hill or they would be rolled continuously over sharp spikes.

The other way consisted of a prisoner being tied to wheel.

Then the wheel would be laid on its side like a turntable.

The prisoner would be beaten profusely with iron bars. This

caused broken bones, much bloodshed, and eventually death.

With greater interest in humanitarianism, capital

punishment has waned from a torture standpoint. Today

governments choose more humane forms of punishment for the

prisoner. There are typically five forms of capital

punishment today. These are electrocution, lethal injection,

gas chamber, firing squad, and hanging.

In a typical electrocution, a prisoner is trapped to a

chair built specifically. Their heads and body hair is

shaved to provide a better conductor for the moistened

copper electrodes that the executioner attaches. Then a

button is pushed by the executioner. The jolt power varies

from state to state. However it is normally determined by

body weight. The first jolt is followed by several more at a

lower voltage. For example, Georgia executioners apply

2,000 volts for four seconds and 1,00 volts for seven

seconds and 208 volts for two minutes. Electrocution

provides obvious bodily destruction. It burns internal

organs. The prisoner usually leaps against the restraints

when the switch is thrown. The body changes color, shape,

and size. It may also catch fire. Today the electric chair

is used in eleven states, and four states use it as their

sole method of execution.

In lethal injection, death is obtained by the

continuous intravenous injections of a lethal quantity of

three different drugs. A prisoner is secured to a gurney by

ankle and wrist restraints. A cardiac monitor is attached as

well as a stethoscope. Then two saline intravenous lines a

re started, one in each arm. Then the inmate is draped with

a sheet. Then the saline lines are stopped, and Sodium

Thiopental is injected, causing the prisoner to fall into a

coma like sleep. Next a chemical agent called Pancuronium

Bromide is injected. This is a muscle relaxer. This will

cause the inmate to stop breathing due to paralyses of the

diaphragm and lungs. The last agent, Potassium Chloride, is

injected.

The gas chamber requires that an inmate be restrained

and sealed in an airtight chamber. When given a signal, an

executioner opens a valve. This allows hydrochloric acid to

flow into a pan. Upon a second signal, an executioner will

then have either potassium cyanide or sodium cyanide into

the acid by a mechanical machine. This will produce

hydrocyanic gas. This gas destroys the body s ability to

produce hemoglobin, and the unconsciousness can occur within

a few seconds if an inmate takes deep breaths. However if he

or she holds their breath, the death takes much longer. This

usually brings the prisoner to convulse wildly. Death

typically occurs within six to 18 minutes.

When it comes to death by firing squad, there is no real

procedure that is followed. Basically a team of five

executioners takes aim at a convict s trunk, and some

shooters will fire blanks so that the identity of the killer

is unknown. This is an uncommon form of capital punishment.

Only two inmates have chosen this form of death since the

reinstatement of capital punishment in 1977.

Hanging is probably the oldest method of execution.

This was originally a way to desecrate the body of a

criminal after death. But today it is used as a form of

capital punishment. The procedure starts by the prisoner

being weighed. The drop for the prisoner must be based on

the prisoner s weight. This is because 1260 pounds of

pressure must be delivered to the neck in order for instant

death. The prisoner s weight divided by 1260 determines the

height at which the prisoner is dropped. The noose is then

placed around the neck, behind the left ear. This placement

will cause the neck to snap . The trap door then opens and a

prisoner falls to their death. If properly done, death will

be caused by dislocation of the third and fourth cervical

vertebrae, or by asphyxiation.

Traditionally the Catholic Church has taught that any

form of taking another human being s life is wrong when it

includes intent to kill. So this extends to capital

punishment. The Church establishes her official teaching in

the section explaining the seventh commandment, which is

Thou shall not kill . The Catechism establishes two main

points in its stance on the idea of killing of others. The

second section is where the ideas of capital punishment are

somewhat thwarted. The sections basic summary is the idea of

respect for the dead. This is not achieved by the methods of

capital punishment. The Church has stated that it feels a

rehabbing criminals to return to society is the approach we

should take towards criminals. They feel that counseling

criminals and releasing them pack to pay their debt to

society is the way that most justice systems should follow.

The Church also emphasizes God as the judge, not the people.

So basically the Church does not believe in capital

punishment.

I tend to agree with the Church s stance on the issue

although I do not agree with her reasons. Capital Punishment

seems to a barbaric form of punishment. Although many people

who defend capital punishment see it as a fit deterrence, it

desecrates the human body. Grant it, a murder has been

committed. However, who are we to play God? Capital

punishment s often are performed incorrectly and create more

pain for the inmate going through death. Hanging, for

example, if done improperly, can cause strangulation, severe

bruising and bleeding, and can sometimes even decapitate a

prisoner. This is much more gruesome then a swift and

painless execution that the state strives for today. In

1983, witnesses say that the execution of John Adams was one

of the most barbaric rituals ever seen. Mr. Evans was

sentenced to death by electrocution. But this was one that

went terribly wrong. Mr. Evans was given three charges of

electricity, according to witnesses. He was still conscious

after the first two charges of electricity. He was also

conscious when smoke was starting to come from his body due

to the burning flesh. An official reportedly tired to stop

the execution, but he was unsuccessful. He then caught

flames and began to scream until he finally died.

Contrary to popular belief, the death penalty doesn t

really deter crime. Many studies have shown that there is a

definite lack of correlation between the two variables. One

study was done by Isaac Ehrlich. His study began in 1957 and

spanned 25 years til 1982. In the first year of his study

there were 8,060 murders committed in the United States and

65 executions performed. In 1982, the last year of the

study, there were 22,520 murders committed in the United

States. There was only one execution performed that year. So

clearly there is an absence of deterrence shown.

Another problem with capital punishment is that it

violates human dignity and human rights. Societies and the

state always hold themselves above criminal offenders. Yet

by performing premeditated murder in an execution makes us

no better than those who are executed for the same crime.

It s hard to decipher which is worse. Is it worse that we

lower ourselves to the moral standing of a murderer, or is

it worse that we raise the offender to our level of moral

reasoning? Not only do we violate human dignity by

desecrating the body of a human being, but we bring society

to the level of a person who we are punishing for the same

crime. Society s hypocrisy in this matter is astonishing. We

claim that premeditated murder is the coldest, most violent

act a human begin can do against another human being. Yet

the state, the law that is supposed to be equal and

democratic for all, commits the very same act as punishment

for the same exact offense. There is no consistency in the

state s philosophy on this issue.

Execution is extremely expensive to carry out.

Estimates for one execution is around one million dollars

per execution for a typical lethal injection. It costs close

to two million dollars for the state to perform a typical

electrocution. For a prisoner to spend life in jail without

parole, it would take a prisoner up to 120 years in prison

to equal total cost for one execution by the state. Those

who support capital punishment would have people believe

that it costs much more to house a prisoner for life than

execute him. But the reality is when the costs are compared,

housing a prisoner for life is only a fraction of the cost

than what it takes to house a prisoner for life.

The biggest support for abolitionists of capital

punishment is the possibility of innocent death. Once a

death sentence is carried out, it is irreversible. Justice

is not a flawless system. So what happens to those who are

wrongly executed? In the last hundred years there have been

75 cases that have been reported in wrongful convictions for

homicide. In eight of those cases, someone was already

executed for a crime they didn t commit. These are only

documented cases. A Stanford University survey tallied at

least 23 wrongful executions in the 20th century. It is

definitely possible that there are much more wrongfully

accused who have been put to death. Mainly because of the

state is this the case. Only recently has DNA testing become

a possibility to use as evidence in criminal murder trials.

Also this process is extremely expensive and most states do

not have a mandatory DNA test done between suspects in

murder cases. The Supreme Court has opened the door for more

wrongful executions too. In 1987, it revoked a crucial

exception in the execution proceedings. No longer is the

life of a victim nor the suffering of his survivors allowed

to factor into the decision in any state of federal case

punishable by death. Basically the court is doing away with

legal processes that has evolved to ensure only the guilty

die increases the chance for more innocent person will be

put to death. A prisoner discovered to be blameless can be

freed, but neither release nor compensation is possible for

a corpse.

A main stay in the teachings of the Catholic Church is

the chance for a convict to pay his debt to society . This

is one of the main points in it s rehabilitation ideal to

the correctional facilities. With the death penalty, the

state strips a inmate s chance to do this. Most

abolitionists agree with the ideas that a offender should

pay back a victim s family with income from employment or

community service. It s obvious that one alive can do more

than one who is dead. A case of this method working is of

Leopold and Loeb. They were convicted in 1924 of kidnapping

and killing a fourteen year old boy just to see what it was

like. They were spared the death penalty and sentenced to

life in prison. Together they worked in hospitals, taught

the illiterate to red, created a correspondence school,

helped make significant advancements in the World War II

Malaria project, and wrote a grammar book used for

elementary students. Their payback to society is immense.

Both once stated that they made a conscious commitment to

atone for their crime by serving others.

Capital punishment will always be a hot topic for years

to come. But capital punishment is an excuse for the state

to legally kill someone. It is no different than abortion.

Who can the state decide it is fit to play God? It is clear

that this type of punishment is cruel and inhumane. It

degrades everything the integrity of man stands for. The

state takes it self to the level of a calculated, cold

blooded killer in capital punishment. How can the people of

our country see this as acceptable? When is the state going

to realize that killing another human being solves nothing?

Yet every year, millions of people in prison die due to this

barbaric measure of justice, and the state will tell the

average American that we are deterring crime and things are

being retributed. But to lower our standards to the point

where it s ok to put a fellow human being to death with

intent, is downright wrong. It is immoral. It is cruel. It

is sick. It goes against everything that the Church stands

for. Jesus taught all sins can be forgiven. Yet when it come

to murder, the only way to atone for sins is to have two

wrongs make a right. That isn t possible.

Works Cited

Linebaugh, Peter. The London Hanged: Crime and Civil Socitey

in the Eigthteenth Century. Cambride, England.

Cambridge University Press

Breach of trust : Physician Participation In Executions in

the United States Philadelphia, PA : American College

of Physicians ; New York, NY : Human Rights Watch ;

Washington, DC

Cabana, Donald A. Death at Midnight : The Confession of an

Executioner Boston : Northeastern University Press,

c1996.

Megivern, James J. The Death Penalty : An Historical and

Theological Survey New York : Paulist Press, c1997.

Wolf, Robert V. Capital Punishment ; Austin Sarat, general

editor. Philadelphia, Pa. : Chelsea House Publishers,

c1997.

Bobit, Bonnie Death Row: Methods of Execution. Austin:

Bobit, 1999