Death Penalty: Cruel and Unusual Punishment
Joseph Fiorenza once quoted, “We oppose the death penalty not just for what it does to those guilty of heinous crimes, but for what it does to all of us: It offers the tragic illusion that we can defend life by taking life.” In 1990, the death penalty came to be known as capital punishment. The death penalty is defined as a punishment for a criminal who has broken the law, and that criminal shall be executed. This is death penalty: cruel and unusual punishment essay in which we will discuss why capital punishment is not ethical at all.
The year 1976, statistics stated that your skin color could determine if you would be sent to the executioner’s chamber. There are cases demostrating that more African-Americans were executed for murdering Caucasians.When Caucasians murdered African- Americans, they had less chance of getting sent to the executioner’s chamber. People of color were treated horribly, reflecting that society was racially biased. Costanzo, Mark and Friends Committee on National Legislation stated, “The simplest way to escape the executioner is to be rich.” If everyone was rich then more crimes would be committed because everything is for sale for the right price. Costanzo, Mark and Friends Committee on National Legislation wrote, “ Discrimination against the poor is especially blatant when it comes to deciding who lives and who dies.” This quote means that in the 1900’s you could be executed if you were poor. A rich person was more likely to get away with a heinous crime, and perhaps even escape the death penalty. The Fourteenth Amendment says, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
In the year 2000, about 15,000 to 17,000 homicides were committed and only 120 people were sentenced to death. With 120 people, the government took out $10 million just for death row procedures. Where does our government get $10 million? Mentally illness criminals are still executed, I believe it is wrong, but the author describes that they are still human and human beings still commit crimes. My opinion on mentally ill criminals is that they should not be executed because it could have been their illness or disability that controlled them to commit the crime. I do understand that a mentally ill criminal should be treated the same as the other criminals, but they think and act in different ways.
The electric chair and the gas chamber, is the reason why the death penalty began to decrease because the lethal injection became more common. With suffering mishaps, the chemical was equivalent of being burned alive. Lethal injections are often carried out with higher complications than other methods. Sarah, Austin spoke on how in 1922 the first use of the gas chamber, more than 5%, executions were botched to the point there was a scent of smoke and burning flesh. Lethal injection is now known to be the suicide shot for immediate death. I agree with the author when he explains how bad the lethal injections have become; it is a poor decision to use on a person.
Overall, the death penalty does not serve a purpose other than doing harm to citizens and society. Allowing society to hold anger to kill for revenge is morally unacceptable for many. Revenge leads to hate and violence; a random act of brutality is neither healthy nor safe in anyway.
