The 8th Amendment

In this essay, the author

• Explains that the 8th amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, which is a hot topic among america's current controversies.
• Explains that capital punishment has been a part of our government since the seventeenth century. the thirteen colonies authorized public executions by hanging as the mandatory punishment for various crimes against the state, the person, and the property.
• Explains that in the early nineteenth century, english criminal law imposed the death penalty for a wide range of crimes from murder, treason, and rape. rape was the most numerous nonhomocidal crimes.
• Argues that both sides can agree that the death penalty stops the convicted murder from ever killing again.
• Explains that there are currently five different ways to carry out the death penalty in the united states. the first is death by firing squad.
• Explains that the first recorded execution by firing squad was in 1608, when george kendall, one of the original councilors in the colony of virginia was put to death.
• Explains that people opposed to the death penalty say that being shot to death is cruel and unusual punishment. some members of the firing squad aim away from the man's heart, shooting him where it would take longer to die.
• Explains that elisio mares was shot on the right side of his chest during his execution in 1951. gary gilmore's heart was pierced in 1973. the doctor had to check twice before pronouncing him dead.
• Explains that before the british refinements of the hanging procedure in the nineteenth century, the punishment consisted of looping the rope around the condemned man's neck and dropping him from a height.
• Explains that d. a. turner, a major in the united states medical corps, invented the gas chamber in 1924 and studied the effects of gas warfare during world war i.
• Analyzes how opposes to the death penalty dislike this form of execution because the apparent distress of the victim causes severe headaches and chest pains.
• Narrates how gray had convulsions for eight minutes, gasped eleven times, and struck his head on a pole while struggling in the gas chamber after the 1983 execution of jimmy lee gary.
• Explains that lethal injection was the up-and-coming method in the 1970s and early 1980s. it took 47 minutes for the execution team to insert the iv into billy wayne white.
• Explains that botched electrocutions have made sensational headlines since the 1980's. in virginia, faulty electrodes and improperly applied voltage led to a slow and agonizing death.
• Explains that furman vs. georgia opened the door for capital punishment. he planned on robbing a supposedly empty house and selling his goods.
• Narrates how furman believed no one was home in the dark house, but william micke, his wife, and their five children were home asleep.
• Explains that furman had hit micke in the chest and died from his wounds. lanell, the wife of the victim, called the police and found him lying under his house. the supreme court ruled that capital punishment was not unconstitutional.
• Explains that many opposers of the death penalty say that life in prison is just as good as death, and that a person can change.