Inspection of the Lethal Injection: Inhumane Punishment?

1087 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The cost of capital punishment

What does humanity consider to be inhumane punishment? When being executed by the government and inmate being in pain is seen as unfair punishment. This kind of mistake has happened in communities at an alarming rate recently, scaring family members of those who are on trial for the death penalty. Killing people takes our citizens, and the process of it requires multiple workers and lots of drugs. On top of that, holding someone prisoner for life costs less than killing an inmate. The British Medical Association didn’t want to do lethal injection because they thought that they would not be able to inject somebody that was resisting the injection(The medical basis for lethal injection). Lethal injection is bad because it wastes a lot of resources, when we could just throw the person in prison.
By killing a person, not only does the state take a life, but the state also uses a lot of money. Everyone makes assumptions about the death penalty, but are usually wrong in their claims. “Most people who support the death penalty believe it is more cost effective then life in prison. Perhaps at one time when executions were swift and sure this may have been the case.“ Said by Harris. Meaning that a lot of people misjudge execution, and believe it is not very expensive. There were a lot of cases involving execution in the 1960’s. Therefore, in 1967, there were so many appeals in cases involving the death penalty that there was a unofficial moratorium on executions in the United States because of the number of appeal cases waiting for a decision on the Supreme Court(The medical basis for lethal injection). The moratorium was ended in 1977. So, society, not knowing this, creates a gap of information that makes lethal injection seem better ...

... middle of paper ...

... 2012. Web. 8 May 2014. .
"Kansas." Death Penalty Information Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 May 2014. .
"Lethal Injection." Death Penalty. N.p., Mar. 2006. Web. 7 May 2014. .
Lethal Injection Procedure. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 May 2014. .
"The medical basis for lethal injection." Amnesty International. N.p., 30 Jan. 1998. Web. 6 May 2014. .
"25 Secret Minutes Inside Oklahoma's Execution Chamber." Time. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 May 2014. .

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Bryan Stevenson's Close To Death: Reflections On Race And Capital Punishment

    1861 Words  | 4 Pages

    Many people are led to believe that the death penalty doesn’t occur very often and that very few people are actually killed, but in reality, it’s quite the opposite. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1,359 people have been executed as a result of being on death row since 1977 to 2013. Even though this form of punishment is extremely controversial, due to the fact that someone’s life is at stake, it somehow still stands to this very day as our ultimate form of punishment. Although capital punishment puts murderers to death, it should be abolished because killing someone who murdered another, does not and will not make the situation any better in addition to costing tax payers millions of dollars.

    Read More

  • The Case of Billy Frank Vickers

    1197 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the minds of the American public and jurors in capital cases the perception of lethal injection is of a clean, clinical, and painless end. As stated in the article, Lethal Injection, seventy-one percent of those responding to a 2001 survey considered injection to be the least cruel form of execution (Lethal Injection). This perception is an advantage to the state because the public is much more willing to accept execution in this form and jurors are more willing to convict and pass the death sentence. At times it is understood why the death penalty would be considered in cases. Maybe the people are a threat to not only society but also to themselves, and need to be put to death so they can do no harm to anyone. Vickers gunned down a grocery store owner who was probably trying to make a living for himself and his family. Now this man is gone; his family is left in agony, and maybe Vickers deserves to die. Some people may say an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, but do two wrongs make a right?

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of The Death Penalty In Canada

    1926 Words  | 4 Pages

    Unlike popular belief, the cost of sentencing someone to death is actually more expensive than a life sentence in prison. In Washington, since the death penalty was reinstated 5 people have been put to death costing taxpayers roughly $120 million, that's roughly $24 million per case (Seattle University, 2015). A reason that people advocate strongly for the death penalty is because they believe that they should not have to pay for the costs to keep criminals fed, sheltered and imprisoned. In fact, 56% of Canadians surveyed believed that the one time cost of a lethal injection is cheaper and will allow their money to go towards something more advantageous like healthcare or education (Angus Reid). This is actually quite different from the truth, in fact is estimated that it costs $740 000 on average to put someone in prison for life. It is also estimated that it costs roughly $1.26 million to sentence someone to death (Seattle University, 2015). (There seems to be a discrepancy between how much a single case costs and how much Washington spent since the death penalty has been reinstated, but I could not find evidence to why that is). Among the reasons why the death penalty is so expensive is the fact that the time in courts is quite lengthy. Jury trials averaged 40.13 days in cases where the death penalty was being sought, but only 16.79 days

    Read More

  • The Merits and Pitfalls of Capital Punishment Today

    1466 Words  | 3 Pages

    "White Paper On Ethical Issues Concerning Capital Punishment." World Medical Journal 58.3 (2012): 82-87. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 Feb. 2014.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of The Death Penalty

    1076 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Death Penalty is very controversial because some people believe is a good Idea while others think is not a good idea at all. Lethal injection has become the preferred method of execution in the United States since the early 80 'sIn the United States the death penalty is used as a punishment for capital offenses. These specifics can vary from state to state, but commonly include first-degree murder, murder with special circumstances, rape with additional bodily harm, and the federal crime of treason. Lethal injection is a process that allows a convict to be put down quickly and painlessly. The death penalty honors human dignity by treating the defendant as a free moral actor able to control his own destiny for good or for ill; it does not

    Read More

  • Kant Capital Punishment

    1888 Words  | 4 Pages

    Before addressing the dilemma of capital punishment and its relation to Kant's "Respect for Persons" ethics, it is important to be informed of the background of this dilemma. A topic of growing and heated debate in today's society, capital punishment involves many more aspects than the average citizen may think. This controversial practice, which is also commonly referred to as the death penalty, is defined as the legally authorized killing of someone as punishment for a crime. Today, the federal government and thirty-two of the fifty states permit execution for first-degree murder. (Death Penalty Information Center) A majority of executions are carried out through lethal injection, but electrocution, hanging, the gas chamber, and firing squads are still legal in a few states. In states that allow for more than one option, death row inmates are allowed to choose their execution given qualifying circumstances. Under specific circumstances and in certain jurisdictions, treason, kidnapping, aggravated rape, felony murder, and murder while unde...

    Read More

  • The Controversy of Death Penalty in the US

    1313 Words  | 3 Pages

    The death penalty, ever since it was established, has created a huge controversy all throughout the world. Ever since the death penalty was created, there have been people who supported the death penalty and those who wanted to destroy it. When the death penalty was first created the methods that were used were gruesome and painful, it goes against the Eighth Amendment that was put in place many years later. The methods they used were focused on torturing the people and putting them through as much pain as possible. In today’s society the death penalty is quick and painless, it follows the Eighth Amendment. Still there are many people who are against capital punishment. The line of whether to kill a man or women for murder or to let him or her spend the rest one’s life in prison forever will never be drawn in a staight.

    Read More

  • Funding Constraints and Death Penalty Controversy

    836 Words  | 2 Pages

    The death sentence has become a huge controversy in the United States over the past forty years. Over those forty years there has been a lot of less tax payers and donators willing to pay money to the justice system to execute a criminal. These types of people that have helped to pay in the past for these executions have stopped due to them not wanting a death connected to them in any way, or because they simply see life in prison a more suitable punishment. Without the funding needed, the criminals on death row are not able to receive their proper punishment within a reasonable amount of time. A lot of times the criminals never get their proper punishment due to lack of funding. Also, criminals that commit extreme crimes may not get the death penalty due to it not being registered as capital murder. These are all issues that have affected the death penalty over time.

    Read More

  • Pros and Cons of the Death Penalty

    1667 Words  | 4 Pages

    Each year there are about 250 people added to death row and 35 executed. From 1976 to 1995 there were a total of 314 people put to death in the US 179 of them were put to death using lethal injection, 123 were put to death using electrocution, 9 were put to death in a gas chamber, 2 were hanged, and 1 was put to death using the firing squad. The death penalty is the harshest form of punishment enforced in the United Sates today. Once a jury has convicted a criminal, they go to the second part of the trial, the punishment phase. If the jury recommends the death penalty and the judge agrees then the criminal will face some form of execution, lethal injection is the most common form used today. There was a period from 1972 to 1976 that capital punishment was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Their reason for this decision was that the death penalty was "cruel and unusual punishment" under the Eighth Amendment. The decision was reversed when new methods of execution were introduced. Capital punishment is a difficult issue and there are as many different opinions as there are people. In our project, both sides have been presented and argued fully.

    Read More

  • Capital Punishment Essay - Benefits of the Death Penalty

    1419 Words  | 3 Pages

    First, people should know the history of the death penalty. The death penalty has a long history dating back to the 16th Century BC. "In 16th Century BC Egypt, a death sentence was ordered for members of nobility, who were accused of magic. They were ordered to take their own life. The non-nobility was usually killed with an ax"(Burns). During the 18th Century BC, King Hammurabi of Babylon had a code that arranged the death penalty for 25 different crimes although murder was not one of them (Burns).

    Read More

  • Capital Punishment - Cruel and Inhumane?

    1645 Words  | 4 Pages

    though, the law is not as strict. This leads potential criminals not to fear the

    Read More

  • The Death Penalty

    1561 Words  | 4 Pages

    Use of the Death Penalty is inhumane. Most Americans view the death penalty as taking a life for taking a life. Lauri Friedman quotes Pat Bane when he states, “In the aftermath of a murder, a family has two things to deal with-a crime and a death. The death pen...

    Read More

  • Capital Punishment

    983 Words  | 2 Pages

    The death penalty has been around for centuries. It dates back to when Hammurabi had his laws codified; it was “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”. Capital punishment in America started when spies were caught, put on trial and hung. In the past and still today people argue that, the death penalty is cruel, unusual punishment and should be illegal. Yet many people argue that it is in fact justifiable and it is not cruel and unusual. Capital punishment is not cruel and unusual; the death penalty is fair and there is evidence that the death penalty deters crime.

    Read More

  • Capital Punishment vs. Life Imprisonment

    2191 Words  | 5 Pages

    Capital punishment is the death penalty, or execution which is the sentence of death upon a person by judicial process as a punishment for a crime like murdering another human and being found guilty by a group of jurors who have listen to a court hearing were the District Attorney and the defendant argue their sides of the case. Historical penalties include boiling to death, flaying, disembowelment, crucifixion, crushing (including crushing by elephant), stoning, execution by burning, dismemberment.(2008) The U.S., begin using the electric chair and the gas chamber as more humane execution then hanging, then moved to lethal injection, which in has been criticized for being too painful. Some countries still choose to use hanging, and beheading by sword or even stoning.

    Read More

  • Speech: Against Capital Punishment

    1171 Words  | 3 Pages

    It must be remembered that criminals are real people too, which have. life and with it, the feeling of pain, fear and the loss of their loved ones and all the other emotions that the rest of us feel. There is no such thing as a humane way of putting someone to death. Every type of execution causes the prisoner physical suffering, some. methods perhaps cause less than others, but be in no doubt that being.

    Read More

More about Inspection of the Lethal Injection: Inhumane Punishment?

Open Document