When Moran writes that he aims “to demonstrate how our most cherished social values can be manipulated to serve pecuniary interests: the way in which public policy is affected by behind-the-scenes maneuvering of powerful and often ruthless business interests,” I think he is talking solely about the death penalty (xviii). There are various aspects within the death penalty that make it a much more dynamic issue. Throughout his book, Moran writes about the inhumanity of the death penalty, including the barbaric methods and public spectacle of the act prior to William Kemmler, and most importantly, the safety and efficacy of direct current versus alternating current in the eventually preferred method of the electric chair. Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse, along with a few others, were the players who manipulated how the public, and therefore the lawmakers, felt about this social policy.
As it is today, the death penalty was a big debate issue in the early part of the nineteenth century. I think it is interesting that, considering his major public role in this issue, Thomas Edison was initially against capital punishment. When Dr. Southwick solicited Mr. Edison’s advice on the electric chair, Edison wrote “as a progressive and a free thinker, he was a lifelong opponent of the death penalty” (74). With further prodding, and deeper review, Edison realized how getting involved with this issue would help his personal business cause. Thomas Edison’s light business was quickly losing ground to rival George Westinghouse. He knew he was widely respected as an electrical engineer and claimed not to change his stance on executions, but acknowledged the necessity and offered a humane alternative with electricity. More specifically and strategically, he offered up George Westinghouse’s alternating current dynamos as a possibility because he claimed, “the passage of the current from these machines…produces instantaneous death” (75). These statements made their way to the Elbridge Gerry, an Edison admirer and man appointed to head a review commission on the death penalty. Not surprisingly the focus of the policy soon changed to the barbarity and inhumanity of executions, especially hangings, and ways to make the process more civilized.
Elbridge Gerry’s commission report, influenc...
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...dison hoping to get Edison to say something about Westinghouse. Moran writes, “but Edison was too shrewd a businessman, and too conscious of his reputation, to say anything negative about his rival” (179). Ultimately Kemmler was resentenced to die by electrocution.
In conclusion, Thomas Edison knew his power and prestige and he saw the potential to remove his biggest competitor by manipulating how the public felt about the safety of alternating current. George Westinghouse hoped that he could save his reputation and business by appealing to the unknown regarding electricity. He manipulated the public’s concern over the possible painful and ineffective electric chair. Both were driven not by progress and humanity, as Edison claimed, or concern for the criminal, as Westinghouse claimed, but by power and money in the industry that both men were pioneering.
Bibliography
Richard, Moran Executioner’s Current: Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and the
Invention of the Electric Chair. (New York: Vintage Press, 2002), pp 74, 75, 84,
105, 160, 179.
Randa, Laura E. “Society’s Final Solution: A History and Discussion of the Death Penalty.” (1997). Rpt.in History of the Death Penalty. Ed. Michael H. Reggio. University Press of America, Inc., 1997. 1-6 Print.
Within 50 years Elihu Thomson, one of America's most prolific inventors, was granted 696 U.S. patents on inventions anywhere from arc lights, generators, electric welding machines, to x-ray tubes. But out of all of his inventions, it was the recording wattmeter, an instrument used to measure the amount of electricity used by a home or business, that brought fame and opportunity.(RCA Online 1)
Marshall and Essig come to an agreement when talking about the death penalty specifically. They both believe that it is unconstitutional, unfair, and ineffective. In Essig’s article, he uses examples of prisoners who sought to have a more painful death in order to highlight the hypocrisy of “painless execution.” For example John Byrd, who was a convicted murder in Ohio, specifically requested to be electrocuted rather than the needle itself. The legislature abolished electrocution and forced him to die by lethal injection. Another example is a prisoner named Earl Bramblett who declared: “ I am not going to lay down on a gurney and have them stick a needle in my arm and make it look like antiseptic execution”(Essig, 2003, p. 2). The author mentions both of these prisoners because he wants the reader to visualize the actual brutality of capital
In the 1880s, there was a war going on in the United States. Backstabbing, secrecy, and death were common. However, this war had no weapons. It was a dual between two geniuses. These two men are the fathers of modern technology. The War of Currents was a battle between the famous inventor Thomas Edison, and the mysterious genius Nikola Tesla. Tesla and Edison engaged in an epic competition to create the most efficient, cheap, usable form of electricity. Everyone knows who Thomas Edison was, but not many people know of Nikola Tesla. Tesla was an unappreciated mastermind who changed the world with his inventions, performed many strange experiments, and practically invented usable electricity.
Throughout America’s history, capital punishment, or the death penalty, has been used to punish criminals for murder and other capital crimes. In the early 20th century, numerous people would gather for public executions. The media described these events gruesome and barbaric (“Infobase Learning”). People began to wonder if the capital punishment was really constitutional.
...shment: A Defense,” an article in The Death Penalty: Pro and Con written by Ernest Van Den Haag , shares this “Abolitionists appear to value the life of a convicted murderer or, at least, his non-execution, more highly than they value the lives of the innocent victims who might be spared by deterring prospective murderers”(3)
This type of execution was invented by employees of Thomas Edison during the War of the Currents that occurred in the US. It was designed by inventor and steamboat engineer, Dr. Alfred P. Southwick and built by Harold P. Brown who was an electrical engineer. The process of execution involves the convict being strapped down to a chair with leather belts before being electrocuted by a minimum of two jolts of electricity about 500 - 2000V that lasted about 30 seconds each. A public demonstration was held to determine the type of current to be used. Direct current (DC) was chosen instead of alternating current (AC) as direct current does not instantly kill the convict.
“The Death Penalty in America: A Cultural and Historical Analysis.” Supreme Court Debates (2004): pp. 259-288.
Murder, killing, fatality, and mortality: all words that are associated with the disgrace that is the death penalty. Debated for decades, the death penalty continues to be a prominent topic for discussion across the United States. In 1977, the Death Penalty was reinstated by the use of lethal injection. Now, each state has their own take on the death penalty and on how its rules should apply to the criminal, of whatever crime they have committed, in said state. Have you ever thought about what a death sentence is? If you sentence a man to death for committing a murder aren’t you just a murderer yourself? These questions are frequently argued over, and there is always going to be two sides arguing: pro or anti-death penalty. Although many American’s believe that the death penalty is necessary for people who have done terrible things, the pros of not having the death penalty surpass the cons with factors such as money, mental issues, cruel and unusual punishment, as well as the possibility of wrongful convictions.
One of the major problems many have with capital punishment is the cost. Death penalty trials are very complicated with many important parts, and as a result the death penalty is extremely expensive. Studies have shown that a “death-penalty trial costs $1 million more than one in which prosecutors seek life without parole (Barnes 1 of 2).” Duke University studied North Carolina’s death penalty and found that the state spent more, $2.1 million dollars more, on a death penalty case than a case seeking a life sentence (Barnes 1 of 2). Between 1995 and 2004, New York spent over $170 million dollars without executing a single prisoner (Costs 3 of 5). Death row prisoners are deemed dangerous to society and other prisoners, and so they are classified as maximum custody. This means that they are kept in a cell by themselves. Keeping prisoners on death row costs $90,000 more per year than regular confinement due to single cell housing and the extra guards that are needed in those prisons (Barnes 2 of 2). Security for the death row inmates is greatly increased which adds about 100,000 dollars to the cost of incarcerating each death row prisoner (Williams 1 of 2). California’s 714 capital prisoners cost $184 million more per year than those sentenced to life without parole. Capital crime cases have many aspects which increases the cost. Qualified lawyers are needed to work on these cases, and due to the limited amount of capable attorneys, the prisoners are forced to wait to have an attorney assigned to their case (Williams 2 of 2). These special state appointed attorneys cost the state up to $300,000 to represent each death row inmate on appeal (Williams 1 of 2). The long wait drives up the cost of the case along with the increase of time ...
The death penalty continues to be an issue of controversy and is an issue that will be debated in the United States for many years to come. According to Hugo A. Bedau, the writer of “The Death Penalty in America”, capital punishment is the lawful infliction of the death penalty. The death penalty has been used since ancient times for a variety of offenses. The Bible says that death should be done to anyone who commits murder, larceny, rapes, and burglary. It appears that public debate on the death penalty has changed over the years and is still changing, but there are still some out there who are for the death penalty and will continue to believe that it’s a good punishment. I always hear a lot of people say “an eye for an eye.” Most people feel strongly that if a criminal took the life of another, their’s should be taken away as well, and I don’t see how the death penalty could deter anyone from committing crimes if your going to do the crime then at that moment your not thinking about being on death role. I don’t think they should be put to death they should just sit in a cell for the rest of their life and think about how they destroy other families. A change in views and attitudes about the death penalty are likely attributed to results from social science research. The changes suggest a gradual movement toward the eventual abolition of capital punishment in America (Radelet and Borg, 2000).
Many people have strong pro and con feelings on this subject, discussed and argued about only second to abortion. Putting another human being to death is a hard thing to think about until you realize the horrible things one person can do to another without drastic punishment as a determent.
Almost all nations in the world either have the death sentence or have had it at one time. It was used in most cases to punish those who broke the laws or standards that were expected of them. Since the death penalty wastes tax money, is inhumane, and is largely unnecessary it should be abolished in every state across the United States. The use of the death penalty puts the United States in the same category as countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia which are two of the world’s worst human rights violators (Friedman 34). Lauri Friedman quotes, “Executions simply inject more violence into an already hostile American society.”
The death penalty was first presented in 1700 BC, illustrated in the Code of Hammurabi, which is famous for the statement, "an eye for an eye." Another mode of punishment is a life sentence in prison. Out of all the individuals serving time in prison, one in every nine is serving a life sentence. The death penalty is permanent, whereas the life sentence is reversible, allowing individuals a chance to reform and change. Both life sentence and death penalty are harsh means of punishment in the United States; however, they differ because, the death penalty costs the government more money than charging a person with a life sentence in prison. So, what does the high expense for the death penalty mean for other governmental expenses? What does the
For centuries, the death penalty has been used by nations throughout the world. Practices such as stoning, the guillotine, firing squads, electrocution, and lethal injections have all been common practices to condemn criminals who had enacted heinous crimes. In concurrent society, however, capital punishment has begun to be viewed as a barbaric and inhumane. From these judgments, arguments and controversies have erupted over whether or not the United States should continue to practice the death penalty. With advocates and critics arguing over the morality of the death penalty, the reason to why the death penalty exists has been blurred. Because of the death penalty’s ability to thwart future criminals through fear and its practical purposes, the practice of capital punishment should continue in the United States.