Essay About First Recorded Execution And Death Penalty

Ultimate Punishment
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Capital Punishment
This day in age murderers actions are getting more and more incomprehensive. They
are no longer just committing murder: they are torturing, mutilating, and engaging in grossly
inappropriate acts against fellow human beings. Behaviors such as this will continue if nothing
is done to stop them. The death penalty is a humane way to punish the convicted and deter these
gruesome acts. Early as 1930, we can find the first recorded execution. Between the times of 1930
to 1967 there was a recorded number of 3,859 people executed. The following nine years would
bring victory for those against capital punishment, there was no executions done in this time
frame. Gregg vs. Georgia, Supreme Court of 1976 made a ruling that “the death penalty does not
violate the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause of the Eighth Amendment.” The death penalty has
been accepted by thirty-nine states of America (Newton, 1983). One of the basics in understanding
capital punishment is the methods of which are used. Which will be the first of things I will be
presenting. I will be showing how selections of death row are made. The last of subject matters
that I will be touching on are the problems with the process of capital punishment and a possible
more effective approach. I will also be concluding my findings and ending with a thought of my
own. Methods of Execution In the United States today, there are five existing methods of
execution. These methods are used to kill convicted criminals that have been given the sentence
of the death penalty. The different methods are; lethal injection, electrocution, gas chamber,
hanging, and firing squad shootings. Lethal injection is currently used by thirty-six states in
America. It is the most commonly used from of execution in the U.S. The preparation begins
outside of the chamber with the use of a gurney. The convict is held to the gurney by wrist and
ankle straps. There is then a cardiac monitor and stethoscope attached and started. In each arm
there is a saline intravenous line. The convict is then covered by a sheet. The lines are turned
off and the felon receives the first injection of sodium thiopental. This puts the felon to
sleep. They are then injected with Pavulon, which relaxes all of the muscles in the body and
stops breathing. Shortly after, the felon dies. The next method of execution used is
electrocution. This method is done by putting the person in a wooden chair, which they are
secured to by leather straps. The electric current runs through the head and out the leg. The
first current is of two thousand or more volts of electricity, lasting only an approximated three
seconds. The voltage is then lowered to help prevent external burning of the body. The initial
shock of the electricity causes the persons body to surge forward. The shock burns the internal
organs or the person, which leaves them dead. During this process urinating, vomiting of blood,
change in skin color, and even swelling or burning of the skin may occur. This method of
execution is currently used by only eleven states. In a gas chamber execution the prisoner is put
in a sealed steel chamber. The prisoner is restrained in a chair that has a pan below. At the
first signal a valve is opened which releases hydrochloric acid into the pan. When a second
signal is given tablets or crystals of about eight ounces of potassium cyanide is dropped into
the acid. This combination creates a hydrocyanic gas. The fumes of this deadly gas rise and are
inhaled by the prisoner, which kills them. The prisoner is pronounced dead and then the gas is
sucked out of the chamber by big fans. Before the body is taken out it is sprayed with ammonia to
neutralize any gas that still existed. Execution by the gas chamber started in attempt to find a
more humane method than the electric chair. The gas chamber is currently used by only five
states, that is less than electrocution. One of the oldest methods of execution that is still
used, though in only three states, is hanging. This method is based on the persons weight;
therefore the person must be weighed prior to the hanging. The right amount of weight is needed
in “the drop” to make sure that the death is instant and of minimal bruising (Sandholzer, 1999).
If the weight is not of the proper amount it can cause a person to be strangled or possibly
beheaded. The way that this is performed is by the use of a noose, which is placed behind the
persons left ear. When dropped the persons neck is dislocated, causing death. The last of
executions still used, which is also an old one, is shooting by a firing squad. Execution by a
firing squad is the most popular in the world. More than sixty countries use it as a method. In
the United States, however, only three states use shooting by a fire squad as a sentence to the
death penalty. The way in which a shooting takes place starts by the prisoner being