Debate Over Capital Punishment Essay Research Paper

Debate Over Capital Punishment Essay, Research Paper

Debate Over Capital PunishmentJustice can not be served until the debate on capital punishment is resolved and all states have come to agree that the death penalty is the best way to stop crime completely. “The bottom line is, one method of execution is just as brutal and as barbaric as the next,” says Mr. Breedlove of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. This comes straight from the mouth of a member of a national organization against capital punishment. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition defines execution as The act or an instance of putting to death or being put to death as a lawful penalty. So if Breedlove’s words hold true, then what he believes is that someone going out and killing someone is barbaric. In a sense isn’t that what he’s saying, that one way of killing someone is just as bad as any other. So if he finds this so barbaric, why doesn’t he do something about it? Many people who are against capital punishment are only thinking of the criminal and how cruel it is for them. But, shouldn’t we think of the families that are broken apart now because of the merciless acts of these criminals. Think of Susan Smith, how she knowingly drove her car off into a lake with her two children strapped to the seats. Think of how they must have felt as the cold water started to fill the cabin of the car, and then ultimately drown them. Barbaric is exactly the word I would use to describe her actions. But yet, the jury rejected the death penalty and chose a life sentence instead. Mr. Smith, the father of the two children, broken up from the ruling said “Me and my family are disappointed that the death penalty was not the verdict, but it wasn’t our choice. They returned a verdict they thought was justice”.But was it justice that she was not put to death for killing her two children. How could someone possibly let her off the hook of such a crime. They said it would be just as bad for her to be in that cell alone because of her depression, but does it justify her cutting short the lives of the two children who had no idea of their oncoming death. “All grandeur, all power, all subordination to authority rests on the executioner: he is the horror and the bond of human association. Remove this incomprehensible agent from the world and at that very moment order gives way to chaos, thrones topple and society disappears.” Says Joseph de Maistre, a eighteenth century French diplomat. He is right, if we give up our punishing a deadly criminal, then we throw our society into chaos and let the criminals freely do as they please. I would know I was safe if anyone that tried to fatally harm me would be put to death. But in this society when someone can kill someone, get sentenced to life, get paroled and then freed to go about and do the same crime again frankly scares me. Another thing that scares me is the fact that this country has softened up on criminals. It’s hard to think that now a days everyone has a right, even though when you go against the law and are put in prison, you are suppose to be stripped of your rights. Not so anymore. Justice in the nineties has slacked up a bit. “In the late 1950’s, on any given day there were about two hundred prisoners awaiting execution,” says Hugo Bedau of Tufts University, Massachusetts. “Hardly any remained on Death Row for more than a year.” Today [November 1995], there are 15 times that number, and many have been there for over a decade. Opponents of the death penalty say this statistic is a moral outrage. Supporters see it as undermining a key advantage of the death penalty over life imprisonment: it saves tax-payers the huge cost of keeping murderers locked up. Most of those against capital punishment argue that the forms of execution are gruesome. While some might be seen that way at first, others offer the advantages that both parties can agree on. In 1994 there were two hundred fifty seven executions in the United States. There were five methods of doing so, as follows: —Lethal Injection: 133Electrocution: 112Gas Chamber: 9Hanging: 2Firing Squad: 1—Electric ChairFirst used in New York in 1890 and still in use in 13 states, “old sparky” was the horrific outcome of Thomas Edison’s attempt to show the dangers of the AC power supply being promoted by his rivals. The condemned is strapped to a wooden chair, electrodes are attached, and a shock of thirty thousand watts is applied. The prisoner is literally cooked internally, and death my require multiple shocks.

Gas ChamberFirst used in Nevada in 1921, the gas chamber is an airtight room with a chair into which the accused is strapped. Death is caused by exposure to cyanide gas, produced when sodium cyanide is dropped into sulfuric acid. The suffering caused is deliberate and plain to see: writhing, vomiting, shaking and gasping for breath for many seconds. This horrendous technique is used only in a few US states.Lethal InjectionIntroduced in the US in 1977 and now in use in 23 states, this is the most widespread method and arguably the most humane. The condemned is strapped to a table and injected with sodium thiopentone, losing consciousness in 10 to 15 seconds. This is followed by pancuronium bromide, which blocks respiration, and finally potassium chloride to stop the heart. While electrocution is obviously not the most painless way to execute someone, it does offer a deterrent for future