...Controversy over the eighth amendment has been a major topic of debate for many years across the United States. The eighth amendment reads, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted” (Cornell University Law School). Under the eighth amendment is the clause that focuses on the infliction of cruel and unusual punishment, which is one of the most controversial clauses of the United Stated Constitution in today’s debates. There are those who advocate for the death penalty and those who oppose it, arguing that it constitutes as cruel and unusual punishment. With that being said, this paper will discuss the constitutionality of the death penalty. Controversy over the death penalty in the U.S. Supreme Court can be traced back to 1879 with Wilkerson v. Utah, which stated that the Utah territorial statue of execution by firing squad was not cruel and unusual punishment under the eighth amendment of the U.S. constitution. (Wikipedia: Wilkerson v. Utah) In 1972, the United States Supreme Court struck down capital punishment, reducing all death...
Words: 1439 - Pages: 6
...Death Penalty and Lethal Injection CRJ 412 Research Methods in Criminal Justice The death penalty has been in practice prior to America being discovered. Executing of an offender has been a popular method of punishment in past history for numerous different crimes. Some of the crimes that could result in execution were stealing, treason, rape and murder. Lynching, hanging, burning, firing squad, lethal gas, electrocution and lethal injection are just some methods of execution that have been used to carry out a death sentence. Some of the past executions have been held in the public so everyone could watch. There have been cases brought against the methods of execution therefore violating the Eighth Amendment, of cruel or unusual inflicted punishment. Lethal injection as a method of execution can be viewed as cruel and unusual punishment, violating the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. There has been and always will be debates about the death penalty if it is fair or cruel and unusual punishment. Also, there are always going to be debates and Supreme Court Cases held to see if the methods of execution of the death penalty violate human beings’ rights. One early case, State of Louisiana ex rel. Francis v Resweber (1947) ruled that it was not cruel or unusual punishment to send a man to be electrocuted after he had already been placed in the chair, but had not died due to mechanical fault (Harrison & Melville, 2007). The Supreme...
Words: 2697 - Pages: 11
...(ProQuest Staff) The Death Penalty, “is the process by which convicted criminals are executed by a governing authority” (Issist and Newton). And “It violated the eighth amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment” (ProQuest Staff). The death penalty should be abolished because it is a violation of the Eighth Amendment and often results in the deaths of innocent citizens. The death penalty should be abolished because it violates the 8th amendment. To begin, the death penalty is cruel and unusual and should not be allowed, but only “Eighteen states have abolished the death penalty” (Issitt and Newton). Warner, committed a murder and was given a botched execution. He was, “In a renovated death chamber, the lethal cocktail began flowing into the veins of...
Words: 731 - Pages: 3
...he 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. A big part of abolitionist’s argument is that the death penalty is not humane. They pull in Amendment 8, “…nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” What the victim went though was indeed “cruel and unusual punishments’.” The murderers’ death is not cruel. The people will demand justice for what he or she has done (Bidinotto 19). Hanging and the electric chair are topics more reasonable to argue, but now because of lethal injection capital punishment has become more humane. The death penalty is not barbaric, the pain and agony that the victim went through is barbaric. Abolitionists were very upset in 1996 when rapist and murderer John Albert Taylor was executed by firing squad; they said his death was barbaric (Feder 32). Charla King, the poor 11-year-old girl he raped and strangled with a telephone cord, her death was barbaric! It makes no sense to think that John Taylor’s’ death was barbaric or inhumane. He would...
Words: 989 - Pages: 4
...Criminology-BHS 142 Capital Punishment I believe Capital Punishment to be one of the most important environmental forces currently impacting the United States Criminal Justice System in a negative way. Capital Punishment is defined as the lawful infliction of death as a punishment, Commonly known as the Death Penalty. The first known infliction of the death penalty occurred in the American colonies the year of 1608, The victim being Captain George Kendall in the Jamestown Colony. Throughout history the death penalty has been known to be carried out by one of five lawful means; Hanging, Gas Chambers, Firing Squad, Lethal Injection, and Electrocution. In the eighteenth century 162 documented executions took place, Followed by 1,391 executions in the nineteenth century. Towards the end of the Revolutionary War, 11 Colonies wrote new constitutions allowing Capital Punishment. Ironically, nine out of those eleven colonies did not allow “Cruel and Unusual Punishment.” The Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits the government from inflicting "cruel and unusual punishments." The uncertainty of the phrase "cruel and unusual." cause controversy's over the constitutionality of the death penalty. Some argue that the phrase "cruel and unusual" refers to the type of punishment inflicted, others feel that the phrase refers to the degree and duration of the punishment. The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected both interpretations, leaving the death penalty a legal means of punishing...
Words: 547 - Pages: 3
...Arguments on Capital Punishment Length: 2 Pages 545 Words Printer Friendly Version Capital Punishment: Is It Right or Wrong? Capital Punishment is a controversial topic discussed in today's society. There is a heated debate on whether states should be able to kill other humans or not. People that are in favor of the death penalty say that it saves money by not paying for housing in a maximum prison. Those opposed say that it is against the constitution, and is cruel and unusual punishment for humans to be put to his or her death. I believe that the death penalty is against the constitution and is cruel and unusual punishment. The death penalty is cruel because you cannot punish anyone worse than by killing them. It is an unusual punishment because it does not happen very often an it should not happen at all. Therefore, I think that capital punishment should be abolished. Capital punishment is the death penalty, and has been legal in most states for many years. The death penalty did not begin reporting executions until 1930, although legal executions have been preformed before then. From 1930 to 1992, there have been 4,002 executions in the United States (Foster, Jacobs, Siegel 54). From around the 1930s to the 1960s there was a steep drop in the total numbers of executions in the US until the mid 1960s. The drop in executions is due to the lack of public support and legal challenges. Then a 10-year moratorium began in order to determine a constitutionally acceptable way...
Words: 2289 - Pages: 10
...Capital Punishment, a very contradictive topic, has significantly received increase support to abolish it. Society considers it to be unethical and barbaric; the attitude portrayed by the abolishers is impractical. Capital Punishment is not meant to for cruelty, it's meant for true justice for the murderers. In an online article, Ten Reasons to Oppose the Death Penalty, one of the ten reasons was that even the guilty have a right to life (Americamagazine.org). When you let a guilty man or woman live while their victim(s) are dead is an injustice for society. When someone takes another person's life there's an unbalance in justice. If we do not fix the balance between good and bad, society will be overcome by the bad, which is the inequality of letting someone who willingly kills someone live. An ethics guide points that the retribution is just a "sanitized from of vengeance" (BBC- Ethics Guide). To this argument I would like to turn the attention to a famous quote, "An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind." This quote means that getting revenge on someone can cause everyone to end up harmed, and that at the end revenge could only lead to negative effects. The rebuttal would have made a good point if capital punishment was meant for revenge, it is meant to punish those who did unforgivable acts. The criminal is getting punished for his actions like everyone else in society does when the law is broken. Of course there must be proportionality between criminal and...
Words: 838 - Pages: 4
...Controversy regarding the death penalty has been prevalent in the United States for centuries. Those in favor of capital punishment, a term synonymous with the death penalty, argue that its practice provides a “fair” punishment for certain crimes and serves as a deterrent for heinous acts. However, there has been growing opposition in America. The death penalty, implemented in thirty-two states, should be prohibited in the United States due to the financial cost of death penalty trials and executions, the possibility that those sentenced are innocent, and the inhumanity of failed executions. The implementation of the death penalty in America dates back to the colonial era and is largely attributed to British influences. The first recorded...
Words: 1247 - Pages: 5
...Should the death penalty be used on violent criminals? Did you know that exactly 32 states use the death penalty? 18 states have death penalty bans. The Death Penalty should not be a punishment for justice because it violates the eighth amendment, innocent lives are at risks of death, and we also pay millions for the death penalty just as much as we pay for the criminals to live in the prison. One day there was a man named Nicholas Stokes, he got his car stolen by a woman named Lucy Mistress who murdered her abusive ex-boyfriend. Lucy drove the car to the crime scene and unfortunately for Nicholas he didn’t notice his car was stolen because he was off of work and just so happend to sleep all day. The police got to the crime scene and ran...
Words: 775 - Pages: 4
...Running Head: Capital Punishment Capital Punishment: Is It Cruel and Unusual Punishment? Jennifer N. Orrill Sullivan University CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: IS IT CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT? Capital punishment is a very controversial issue in America. Americans who are against capital punishment might say that innocent people get sentenced to death, because some people are wrongly convicted of murder. Some Americans would also argue that some forms of capital punishment such as the electric chair, firing squad, gas chamber, and hanging are cruel and unusual punishment. Other Americans who agree with capital punishment would argue that murderers have relinquished their rights by their actions and should be punished accordingly. To reduce the number of murders each year in the United States, this country’s judicial system needs to use the death penalty more often. More frequent death penalty sentences would reduce murders in America. In Detroit, hurt by the auto industry's woes, there were 163 murders reported in the first six months of 2009 (Berman, 2009). This country needs to lead by example. If a person is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt guilty of murder then they should automatically get a death sentence. Offenders should not get weaker sentencing for testifying against another, or for petty technicalities. If firm death penalty consequences were known before the criminal committed the murder, they may think twice about committing the crime. In recent years, DNA profiling...
Words: 1136 - Pages: 5
...The case of Coker v. Georgia, 433 U.S. 584, (1977), is a United States Supreme Court case which address a claim of cruel and unusual punishment, under the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as well as a proportionality claim (Cornell University, n.d.). The petitioner in this case, Ehrlich Anthony Coker, claimed that the state of Georgia had violated his Eighth Amendment rights, when he was given a death sentence for his rape of an adult female, and subsequently claims that the punishment was too severe for the crime he committed, thus the proportionality claim. Ehrlich Anthony Coker was an inmate in a Georgia state prison, serving three life sentences, for rape and murder, as well as two 20 year sentences, and one 8...
Words: 1250 - Pages: 5
...Daryl Renard Atkins was convicted of abduction, armed robbery, and capital murder. In the penalty phase of Atkins' trial, the defense relied on one witness, a forensic psychologist, who testified that Atkins was mildly mentally disabled . FACTS: The jury sentenced Atkins to death, but the Virginia Supreme Court ordered a second sentencing hearing because the trial court had used a misleading verdict form. During resentencing the same forensic psychologist testified, but this time the State rebutted Atkins' intelligence. The jury again sentenced Atkins to death. In affirming, the Virginia Supreme Court relied on Penry v. Lynaugh, in rejecting Atkins'...
Words: 1026 - Pages: 5
...Gregg was convicted of two murders and armed robbery, the penalty for which would be death. He went to Georgia’s Supreme Court and they upheld the decision under the murder convictions, although they threw out the robbery convictions because robbery wasn’t generally a capital offense. Gregg appealed to the Supreme Court, and they took the case He desired to make the death penalty unconstitutional Gregg had two trials: one to assess his guilt and the next for sentencing Issue: “Is the imposition of the death sentence prohibited under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments as "cruel and unusual" punishment? (cruel and unusual punishment)” Decision of the Court "Holding": The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in favor of Georgia, deciding that, as long...
Words: 366 - Pages: 2
...Douglas S. Coppin The Effects of Capital Punishments NIC / Executive Leadership June 2013 Evidence-Based Practice in the Criminal Justice System The phrase “because we have always done it that way” universally is no longer acceptable as it pertains to working in many sectors of the work-force, especially within the criminal justice system. Constant financial pressure to streamline budgets, coupled with ever-changing political climates have forced criminal justice organizations to embrace evidence-based concepts and practices. Evidence-based practice is defined as the use of practices that have been scientifically tested and proven effective. In simple terms, doing what works. This has led to drastic changes in various sectors from police operations, probation, sentencing, etc. When examining capital punishment the first question that must be asked is why do we do it? Is it simply a universal response to an atrocious act committed by an offender? If so, then there is no need to look any further. However, thousands of capital offense convictions are handed down annually in the U.S., yet most do not result in death penalty sentences. Therefore the only logical conclusion is that there is much more complexities in play once the state hands down capital punishment. Possible Effects of Capital Punishments at a Glance By and large, capital punishment in the United States is handed down to those offenders that are found guilty of homicide. Although not limited...
Words: 4052 - Pages: 17
...those rights is the protection against cruel and unusual punishment. So what makes a punishment cruel or unusual? In 1971 William Furman appealed the ruling he received when he accidently killed someone while committing a crime. Furman, a black male, while robbing a house was caught by someone in the house. When Furman tried to leave he tripped and the loaded firearm he was carrying went off killing one individual in the house. Furman went to trial and was found guilty of murder and sentenced to the death penalty. Furman appealed and took the ruling to the Supreme Court. Furman’s case was combined with two other black males when it went to the Supreme Court. The other two black males were given the death penalty for being found guilty of rape. At the time, the death penalty was sentenced more heavily on black individuals rather than whites. This lead to the belief that blacks were being treated unfairly. The decision was given five votes to overrule the previous ruling, with four votes that were aimed to keep the previous ruling. The five judges that were for overturning the decision also were divided on why they were against it. Two of the five stated that the death penalty in itself was cruel and unusual. The ruling from Furman V. Georgia set a precedent for how administrating the death penalty could take place. Even though the Supreme Court ruled against the death penalty in certain cases many states tried to re-write their death penalty laws to bypass the court’s ruling. ...
Words: 791 - Pages: 4
