Many debates were held during the course of the Constitutional Convention with the “necessity for a bill of rights” being most frequently the center of controversy. “Opponents repeatedly charged that the Constitution as drafted would open the way to tyranny by the central government” (Charters) as British violation of civil rights, both prior to and after the Revolution, was still fresh in their minds. Therefore, then, “they demanded a bill of rights that would spell out the immunities of individual citizens” (Charters).
On the 25th of September in 1789, the First Congress of the United States proposed twelve new Constitutional amendments unto the states which met most arguments made frequently against it. Of the twelve proposed amendments, Articles One and Two, “which concerned the number of constituents for each Representative and the compensation of Congressmen, were not ratified” (Charters) leaving Articles Three through Twelve to constitute the first ten amendments of the Constitution known as the Bill of Rights.
Focus should be drawn, however, towards the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment, more specifically, its clause pertaining to “cruel and unusual punishment” and its application to capital punishment. Of the Ten Constitutional Amendments comprising the Bill of Rights, the Eighth most needs revision for a grey area lies within its wording regarding the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishments. The Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution is most clearly affected by societal evolution, and, therefore, it is paramount to revise this amendment in order to meet society’s ever-changing standards of morality so that “cruel and unusual” shall be better defined criteria when considering acceptable means of punish...
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...human life; as well as to answer the fundamental question of what is to constitute a punishment that is not “cruel” or “unusual” if the systematic administration of punishments, in a manner deemed “cruel and unusual,” is to be considered unconstitutional and in bad moral standing
Works Cited
“Execution Methods”. American Civil Liberties Union. N.P., N.D. Web. 6 Oct. 2013
“Facts about the Death Penalty”. Death Penalty Information Center. 2 Oct 2013. Web. 6 Oct 2013.
“Gallup Death Penalty Poll”. Gallup Polls. N.P., N.D. Web. 6 Oct 2013.
“The Charters of Freedom: A New World Is At Hand”. Archives.gov. National Archives, N.P., N.D. Web. 6 Oct. 2013.
Pappas, Stephanie. “Execution Science: What’s the Best Way to Kill a Person?”. Live Science. 1 Oct 2010. Web. 6 Oct 2013.
Warren, Vincent. “Torture on Death Row”. Huffington Post News. 9 Oct 2013. Web. 9 Oct 2013.
McKercher, William R., ed. The U.S. Bill of Rights and the Canadian Charter of Rights
As more immigrants immigrated to the colonies and established lives in colonial America, the colonist began to incorporate their ideas of freedoms, rights and tolerance in legal documents. Some legal documents, such as Maryland’s Toleration Act, illustrate the colonists’ belief in freedom and rights often connected to democracy. Other official documents, for...
In his essay, Continuing the Search for Kinder Executions, published in The New York Times2003, Mark Essig gradually reveals his opinions on the brutality of capital punishment. Even though prisoners may have committed acts that can be classified as wrong with the law, Essig believes that they should not endure any sufferance during capital punishment because it is inhumane. This action does not mean they will be able to get away with the crimes; they should just not be able to be brutally punished. While the author acknowledges logical arguments that favor capital punishment, he counters with carefully worded emotionally laded examples that oppose the practice of executing felons because he is against cruel punishments.
In 1787, the Constitution, created by a group of men known as the “Framers”, is the highest law in the United States. At first, the Constitution was not ratify because it did not have a bill of rights which is a list of rights that belong to the people. Therefore to allow changes to the Constitution, the Framers created the amendment process. In 1791, congress proposed twelve changes to the Constitution. Ten of the twelve changes were agreed to by the states and were called “The Bill of Rights.” Some of these rights include the right of free speech, the right to practice your own religion and the right to be silent if you are arrested.
"Capital punishment is a term which indicates muddled thinking." George Bernard Shaw The "muddled thinking" that Shaw speaks of is the thinking that perpetuates the controversy over capital punishment in the United States today. The impractical concurrence of a theoretical, moral argument and definite, legal application has left all sides in this controversy dissatisfied with the ultimate handling of the issue. There are legitimate ethical and empirical considerations that stand on both the side that favors and on the side that opposes the death penalty. The general incompatibility of these considerations renders them irreconcilable. It is within this condition of irreconcilability that the government must initiate and implement its policies regarding capital punishment. This fixed condition has led to the necessity for and creation of comprises between both sites of this debate, attempting to synthesize the considerations of the two. The contentious issue of the capital punishment was rekindled in the 1970s when, in 1976, the Supreme reinstated the practice after a four-year hiatus. The arguments that comprise much of the legal debate on the issue stem from the eighth and fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution. The eighth reads, "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." 1
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.
Many call capital punishment unconstitutional and point to the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution for support. The amendment states that, "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines be imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment be inflicted." Those who oppose the death penalty target the 'cruel and unusual' phrase as an explanation of why it is unconstitutional. Since the Framers of the Constitution are no longer with us and we base our nation on the words in which that document contains, the legality of the death penalty is subject to interpretation. Since there is some ambiguity or lack of preciseness in the Constitution, heated debate surrounding this issue has risen in the last ten years.
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.
Tenth Amendment Our bill of rights all began when James Madison, the primary author of the constitution, proposed 20 amendments to the bill of rights and not the ten we know of today. Madison sent these twenty proposed rights through the House and the Senate and was left with twelve bills of rights. Madison himself took some of it out. These amendments were then sent to the states to be ratified. Virginia was the tenth state out of the fourteenth states to approve 10 out of 12 amendments.
Pasquerella, Lynn. “The Death Penalty in the United States.” The Study Circle Resource Center of Topsfield Foundation. July 1991. Topsfield Foundation. 03 Feb 2011. Web.
The topic of the death penalty is one that has been highly debated throughout history. In the Intelligence Squared debate, Barry Scheck and Diann Rust-Tierney argue for the notion of abolishing the death penalty while Robert Blecker and Kent Scheidegger argue against abolishing the death penalty. Diann Rust-Tierney and Barney Scheck uses logos and ethos to debate against Robert Blecker and Kent Scheidegger who masterfully manipulate ethos and pathos for their case.
During those years, the Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment violated the Eight Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. However, this ended in 1976, when the Supreme Court reversed the ruling. They stated that the punishment of sentencing one to death does not perpetually infringe the Constitution. Richard Nixon said, “Contrary to the views of some social theorists, I am convinced that the death penalty can be an effective deterrent against specific crimes. ”1 Whether the case be morally, monetarily, or just pure disagreement, citizens have argued the benefits of capital punishment.
“The case Against the Death Penalty.” aclu.org. American Civil Liberties Union, 2012. Web. 12 Feb. 2013
Meltser, Michael. Cruel and Unusual: The Supreme Court and Capital Punishment. New York: Random House, 1973.
The death penalty has been an issue of debate for several years. Whether or not we should murder murderer’s and basically commit the same crime that they are being killed for committing. People against the death penalty say that we should not use it because of that very reason. They also make claims that innocent people who were wrongly convicted could be killed. Other claims include it not working as a deterrent, it being morally wrong, and that it discriminates. Some even claim that it is cruel and unusual punishment. I would like to shed light on the issue and inform everyone as to why we should keep the death penalty and possibly even use it more than we do now.