Around the United States, there are substantial variations in the way people view methods of capital punishment. Some conclude it essentially violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment, while others see it as the only form of justice. But even so, this does not remove the fact that there are thirty-two U.S states that support and act upon capital punishment. In fact, there is a total of five different methods of execution authorized by most states that currently have death penalty statutes. During the course of this paper, I will be discussing each method which includes: Lethal Injection, electrocution, lethal gas, firing squad, and hanging.
To begin with, the method of lethal injection as a form of execution was first
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Although lethal injection is the official alternative method, two states, Delaware, and Washington, still use hanging for executing prisoners. (“Methods 1”). To prepare for this method, the day before the actual execution, the prisoner is weighed and their height is taken in order to determine the size and length of the perfect noose for them. Just as well, using a sandbag of the same weight as the inmate, a rehearsal execution is done to ensure the calculations of the noose are correct. “If the rope is too long, the inmate could be decapitated, and if it is too short, the strangulation could take as long as 45 minutes” (“Methods 1”). Other steps taken to create the perfect noose is that the rope has to be boiled, stretched, and lubricated with either wax or soap to eliminate coiling and establish smooth sliding action. Right before the real execution begins, the convict is blindfolded and their hands and legs are secured, as the noose is wrapped around their neck, with the knot placed behind the left ear. When the time comes, a trap-door is opened, making the prisoner fall through. Their weight is meant to cause a fast fracture-dislocation of the neck but, sudden death is a rare occurrence. Inmates with strong neck muscles who are light, can result with engorged faces, protruded tongues, popped out eyes, body defecation, and violent limb movements if the noose is wrongly positioned. In the end, death is reached by asphyxiation and severe trauma to the upper cervical
Has killed 11 people since 1976. d. Hanging- Used 0.5% of the time. The practice of hanging condemned people. Has killed 3 people since
In this execution style multiple executioners fire live ammunition at the inmate, after a separate guard places a hood on their head and a target at their heart. This division of tasks creates the illusion of bureaucracy and medicalization, though it appears more obvious within lethal injection executions. Bullet-proof glass was also installed for witnesses to see the execution live, suggesting that the “public spectacle” that Foucault suggests is still present today, in a more private and restrained setting. The psychological pain suffered from such an execution as one by a firing squad is sure to be enough to constitute cruel and unusual punishment,
In similar fashion, most of the deaths in the European trials were hangings. Another way of execution was tying the persons hands and feet together and putting them in water, if the person sank, deemed innocent. If the person floated, considered to be witches and executed on the spot. Other tortures included thumbscrews, leg vices, scalding lime baths, whipping stocks, and the strappado. The strappado hoisted up a person and pulled apart.
The lethal injection executions illustrates a constitutional violation of the branch 's overreach as described by the 8th amendment due to its cases bring either successful in the execution or providing sufferable pain to death row inmates. One of the current problems in the Judicial branch is the use of lethal injection towards execution sessions. Lethal injection is an injection that is administered for the purpose of euthanasia and capital punishment. There are two methods of lethal injection today, one using a three drug protocol and the 2nd being the large dose of barbiturate. Lethal injection is used for capital punishment as it follows the 8th amendment we have today.
The punishment varies by nations, although it very harsh punishments they discourage use of it. This punishment goes beyond the standard of execution by hanging, punishments included pulled to the scaffolds by horse, hanging of the body until near death, or the dividing of the corpse, or dismembering the body remains into four pieces. All of this was carried out in a public setting, so that the crowd could see the criminal
Hanging was the main method of execution in America until the electric chair was invented in 1890. Then came gas chambers and lethal injection in the 1920s and 1970s respectively. There were downsides to all of these methods of execution including decapitation for hanging, heads catching on fire with the electric chair, and expenses for lethal injection. The Supreme Court halted all executions for four years in 1972 because of an abolitionist group protesting possibly discriminatory convictions. After this, lethal injection was invented and adopted by many U.S. states.
As of 1976-2022, there have been 163 executions by the Electric Chair which is considered the secondary method of execution for the Death Penalty after the lethal injection. In general, it is inhumane kill these inmates and make them suffer for long periods of
There are many forms. One may face a lethal injection, while others may face electrocution. Pennsylvania has one of the highest death row in the nation, but they don’t have access to the lethal injection. The Supreme Court just introduced a new drug for lethal injections, called midazolam. Midazolam is commonly used as an anesthetic, and hasn’t been studied for its lethal effects.
Ever since the outset of the American Constitution, capital punishment has existed as a crime sentence in the United States. However, in recent decades, this topic has become highly controversial, as many states have dictated against the death penalty. Although states with this position on capital punishment are increasing, some states, such as Texas, have continued to edict this practice in their provinces. In the State of Texas, the sentence to death upon a person should not be permitted due to the fact it can wrongly convict a person, its court trial is highly expensive, and it brings forth an unjust treatment.
Many forms of execution have been used throughout the course of history. There are ones that are famous, such as crucifixion, and others that are hardly known, such as the blood eagle. Through human history, mankind has come up with many grotesque ways of extinguishing other people’s lives. Many were killed for simple crimes, or for truly horrid ones. But as humanity has grown, well, more humane, its methods of execution have grown to be far less painful and torturous.
There are numerous ways to punish people who are a threat to society without executing them. No matter which way the death penalty is carried out, be it lethal injection, lethal gas, electrocution, hanging, or firing squad, the executioner is always implicated. Bryan Stevenson, a social justice activist, questions, “If it’s not right to torture someone for torture, abuse someone for abuse, rape someone for rape, then how can we think we can kill someone for killing?” (“Delaney” 1). Although executioners are permitted to kill, they are still killing another human being.
The most widely recognized strategies for execution are hanging and shooting. Nations like the U.S. use electric shock, gas chambers and deadly infusions to arrange of the sentenced. A few nations, similar to the U.S., have attempted to minimize the agony of execution by presenting the hot seat.
The Hanging was a death punishment for criminals
The death penalty, is the loss of life, which is induced by different tactics. The most common methods in the United States is lethal injection, hanging, firing squad, and the electric chair. The most chosen method by inmates is lethal injection. Lethal injection consists of the inmate being strapped to an operating table or gurney and a trained medical doctor will place two needles into the veins of the arms(Death Penalty Information Center).
This is similar to the way they use it in the book. This technique is uncompassionate, because ending a life is too harsh a punishment for the offenses made by the citizens. The people deserve to at least have a life living in a place of