Case Brief of Glossip v Gross On April 29, 2014, an inmate on death row, Clayton Lockett, was given a lethal injection to render unconscious in order to be executed. Clayton Lockett was charged with murder, rape, kidnapping, and assault in 2000. He was placed on death in Oklahoma due to it being constitutional under the equal act law. The lethal injection, Midazolam, may cause severe breathing problems especially when used for sedation in noncritical care settings. After Lockett received the injection and was unconscious for a while, awoke and later died 40 minutes after. Many people complained that the use of Midazolam should be deemed illegal and barred from usage due to violating rights of the Eighth Amendment, “cruel and unusual punishment”. “Oklahoma suspended all subsequent executions until the incident could be investigated and subsequently adopted a new protocol that placed a higher emphasis on making sure the injection was done properly. The new protocol also allowed for four alternative drug combinations, one of which used midazolam as the initial drug, as did the protocol used in the Lockett execution.” (Glossip v. Gross, n.d.) Charles Warner, a former inmate charged with rape and murder of an 11-month old baby in 1997, and around “20
The system would be one-way and basically save and protect the life of a murderer while indirectly telling the beloved family members and friends that the criminal has all rights to live and is protected by the government after the fact their loved one was brutally murdered by this
The death penalty is a cruel and unusual punishment which is strictly prohibited by the 8th amendment. William J. Brennan, Jr., JD, the Former US Supreme Court Justice, stated "Death is not only an unusually severe punishment, unusual in its pain, in its finality, and in its enormity, but it serves no penal purpose more effectively than a less severe punishment; therefore the principle inherent in the Clause that prohibits pointless infliction of excessive punishment when less severe punishment can adequately achieve the same purposes invalidates the punishment." Gregg v Georgia [1976]. After committing a crime all criminals will face some form of punishment after the action. As the honorable William J. Brennan stated above, if you can still bring justice to the crimes committed why would one go the extra mile to take somebody’s life. This makes the death penalty look spiteful and cruel. Even though criminals should be fully held for their actions and are not worthy of supporting in a jail cell, these arguments do serve a purpose. It is against America’s ethics as a country that follows the Constitution to continue these executions and makes the US look hypocritical and inhumane when trying to be the role model for the
There have been cases where inmates suffer greatly when injected with the deadly concoction. In the guide, “From Critical Thinking to Argument” Zachary Shemtob and David Lat described a case where an inmate showed signs that he was in agonizing pain after being injected with the mixture. Lat and Shemtob wrote, “When another Georgia inmate, Roy Blankenship, was executed in June, the prisoner jerked his head, grimaced, gasped, and lurched, according to a medical expert’s affidavit” (62). Could you imagine being a witness to that? It makes the belief that capital punishment is even more wrong than it was before. Additionally, our eighth amendment is supposed to protect us from cruel and unusual punishment. Blankenship was certainly not given that right. Our government needs to realize that the death penalty extinguishes our protection from cruel and unusual
In 1986, Warren Hill was sentenced to death for killing his girlfriend, and then was sentenced to death for a deadly prison beating of a fellow inmate in 1990. What is special about Hill’s case is that he has seen the death chamber four separate times. Although it is not uncommon for an inmate to have numerous execution dates, all of Warren’s reprieves were last minute, during his last hour of being alive. One in which he was already strapped to the gurney and heavily sedated. Brian Evans, head of Amnesty International USA’s Death Penalty Abolition Campaign, states that mock executions are a form of torture under international law. Just imagine being strapped to a gurney, knowing that your life has come to an end. You think of all the good and bad things that have happened in your lifetime, in which you have finally accepted death, only to have that stripped away from
The “cruel and unusual” clause in the eighth amendment states that “cruel and unusual punishment” such as torture or lingering death can not be inflicted on anyone as a form of execution. It is however permissible under the 8th Amendment to execute a convict by means of hanging, shooting, electrocution, and lethal gas.
If the death penalty was abolished throughout the United States of America, then we would know that no injustices are being served that cannot be reversed.
In the early 1950’s, the number of executions sharply declined. Opponents of the death penalty claimed that it violated the Eighth Amendment, which forbids cruel and unusual punishment. Opponents also claimed the death penalty violated the Fourteenth Amendment, which states that all citizens are entitled to equal protection under the law. In early 1972, William Furman was convicted of burglary and murder. While Furman was burglarizing a home, a resident arrived at the scene. Startled, Furman tried to flee, but tripped and fell in the process. The gun Furman was carrying discharged, killing the resident in the process. Furman did not believe he deserved the death penalty. The constitutionality of capital punishment in this circumstance was considered in the supreme co...
When analyzing the pro and cons of the death penalty and if it should be kept or abolished in the United States, one has to analyze the different methods of execution. There are five main ways the death penalty procedure is performed which include lethal injection, electrocution, lethal gas, hanging, and firing squad. Lethal injection is the most common way of execution and “as of July 1, 2006, 81 percent of executions performed since 1976 have been been lethal injection, including 375 of the last 378 executions” (Methods of Capital Punishment). Lethal injection is the combination of three drugs. Five grams of Sodium pentothal, puts the prisoner unconscious. The second drug, which is called pancuronium bromide and 50 cc is given, relaxes the criminal’s muscles and paralyzes the diaphragm and lungs. The final drug, 50 cc of potassium chloride, causes cardiac arrest. The drugs are administrated through IV in each of the criminal’s arms. The second way of execution is electrocution, in which “the sentence shall be executed by causing to pass though the body of the convict a current of electricity of sufficient intensity to cause death, and the application and continuance of such current through the body of such convict shall continue until such convict is dead”(Methods of Capital Punishment). The criminal or offender is placed in the electric chair and a wet sponge is placed between the electrode and the offender’s scalp. 2,300 volts are given for 8 seconds, which is followed by 1,000 volts for 22 seconds, and then another 2,300 volts are given again. Electrocution execution used to be the main method, but there were too many botched executions that lethal injection had to be best and most effective method. As for today,...
The Death Penalty is cruel and unusual, however we still give constitutional acceptance to the federal system. It presents “a relic of the earliest days of penology, when slavery, branding, and other corporal punishments were commonplace. Like those other barbaric practices, executions have no place in civilized society.”(1) It is wrong to advocate the the use of the capital punishment when numerous options are available to those in need of rehabilitation. Three of the most prominent problems with continuing this archaic method of retribution are innocents conflicted with inaccurate verdicts, the death penalty being a state-sanctioned killing that only continues the evolution of violence, and the nation's taxes going towards the purchase of fatal narcotics used in the killings of fellow human beings.
Is the death penalty consistent with the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against the imposition of cruel and unusual punishments? This essay will address this question and present a short history of the death penalty in America.
Majority of US states have capital punishments (Proquest n.pag.). The 36 states that allow death penalties all offer lethal injection as a method of execution for those convicted of heinous crimes (Snell 3). Specifically, “Of the 43 executions carried out in 2012, all were by lethal injection” (Snell 3). Ending the life of a criminal is entirely legal, however, ending the life of an anguished patient is only legal in several foreign countries and “3 US states, as of March 2013” (Ho n.pag.). Criminals of crimes such as aggravated murder, killing a police office, and kidnapping all get to die painlessly and peacefully (Snell 5); yet those who have lived an innocent life who now undergo severe pain have to suffer through and die dependent on machines to live their lives for them. If a physician advises or aids a patient in ending his or her life, he could be convicted and punished with a penalty equal to that of first-degree manslaughter (Wolfe n.pag.). It seems that US priorities on the equality of end-of-life care are misguided and tyrannical. In order to ease the dying’s suffering, along with protecting their dignity and independence, Physician Assisted Suicide, (PAS) and Euthanasia should be legalized in the US as an option for the terminally ill who meet the requirements.
The use of capital punishment in the U.S. is a growing concern for most American citizens. According to statistics, seventy percent of Americans are in support of the death penalty, while only thirty percent are against it. These statistics show that few people are against capital punishment (“Fact” 1). With the use of the death penalty growing the controversy is becoming more heated. With only twelve states left not enforcing it the resistance is becoming futile (“Fact” 4). Many debates have been made and even clauses have been invoked, such as, the “Cruel and Unusual Clause” that was invoked by the Supreme Court in 1962 (Meltsner 179). The use of death as a punishment has been viewed as “cruel and unusual,” but in further research the view of what is considered “cruel and unusual” has been reduced drastically (Berns 31). America’s method of punishments has been reduced from several extremely painful execution methods, to four quick and less painful punishments. They consist of line of execution, gas chamber, electric chair, and the most popular lethal injection (“Ways” 1-4). The debate about the death penalty consists in both ethical and religious viewpoints.
middle of paper ... ... An alternative, such as a jail sentence, would mean that the family and friends of the offender would still have contact with their loved ones. and there would be no trauma caused by death. This is yet another side effects of capital punishment.
... system is overflowing with many cases involving violent crime, but it doesn't seem rational to have a system in place where there are cases where first degree murder has occurred and the sentence doesn't match the violation. I believe that if you take a life, you deserve a life sentence in prison. Allowing criminals to get away with murder is something that will hurt all of us. If we live in a world where this continues to happen, the system will fail to do its job to protect our city's from the worst kind of criminal.
The present system of justice in this country is too slow and far too lenient. Too often the punishment given to criminal offenders does not fit the crime committed. It is time to stop dragging out justice and sentencing and dragging our feet in dispensing quick and just due. All punishment should be administered in public. It is time to revert back to the "court square hanging" style of justice. This justice would lessen crime because it would prove to criminals that harsh justice would be administered.
...t on them, and they were “caught” doing these wrong things, they would most likely change. With this change, those 100+ executions from last year, can become a lower number. In my eyes, no one deserves to die, especially if they/we aren’t even sure that the person committed the accused crime.