Death Penalty in US Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a Genevan philosopher, once stated, “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” The quote establishes that as a human, one is free however no one is completely free. Laws are established to set boundaries on freedom. A lethal injection however goes beyond setting limits. Jon Sorenson and Rocky LeAnn Pilgrim define Lethal Injection in “Lethal Injection: Capital Punishment in Texas During the Modern Era” as a “injection of a lethal dose of prussic acid [cyanide]” (Sorenson & Pilgrim 2). Lethal Injection precludes the possibility of freedom for a prisoner who is later acquitted for murder as said in the Fifth Amendment, “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in …show more content…
In the book “Lethal Injection: Capital Punishment in Texas During the Modern Era”, studies from members of the House conducted interviews with criminals all over Texas. Carol Vance, Harris County district attorney, announced that “he had tried armed robbers who claimed that they would have killed the witnesses had it not been for the possibility of receiving a death sentence” (Sorenson & Pilgrim 23). The case is an example of crime still occurring but criminals fear that committing murder would lead them to a painful Lethal Injection. In a questioning of a witness, Representative Sullivan revealed that “he knew of a murderer who had killed two women and weighted them down in a stock tank, but had left a three-year-old alive, purportedly because he did not want to be given the death penalty as had Michael Paprskar, a defendant recently sentenced to death for the murder of a child” (Sorenson & Pilgrim 23). Crime occurs however the intention of committing a crime that leads to a death sentence is