Capital Punishment Is A Cruel And Unusual Punishment

Capital punishment is defined as the legally authorized killing of someone as punishment for a crime. There are many arguments that are for and against the death penalty. Majority of these arguments contain broad categories ranging from morality to attorney quality. Although most would support that capital punishment is the closest penalty for murder it is still used unequally across the prison populations. Capital punishment is a practice that the judicial system should abolish for the future generations. The death penalty is unconstitutional and violates numerous amendments. Capital punishment violates the 5th amendment because it violates the due process clause by denying the opportunity for exoneration. Since the process of an execution can immobilize a person from being able to speak if they are in pain it is viewed that the death penalty is a cruel and unusual punishment which violates the 8th amendment. The violation of the 8th amendment also applies to juveniles and mentally retarded criminals because they do not have the capacity to understand that the crime they committed was a societal wrong. Statistically, the amount of people who are convicted are generally from the same societal class. Due to this evidence, it was decided that the death penalty violates the 14th amendment because those who cannot afford adequate lawyers are not represented equally under the law. Many would suggest that capital punishment is an effective deterrence when in reality it hasShow MoreRelatedCapital Punishment Is Cruel And Unusual1092 Words   |  5 Pagespeople believe that capital punishment is cruel and unusual. It is the only punishment that can truly compensate the loss of a loved one. In recent years, the rate of serious crimes has increased. The increase of crime is the result of less effective punishment. Dating back to early civilizations, capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, was viewed as an effective punishment. Yet today’s society it is viewed as cruel and inhumane. I believe that capital punishment should be executedRead More Capital Punishment: Not Cruel and Not Unusual Essay1276 Words   |  6 Pages Capital punishment and the practice of the death penalty is an issue that is passionately debated in the United States. Opponents of the death penalty claim that capital punishment is unnecessary since a life sentence accomplishes the same objective. What death penalty opponents neglect to tell you is that convicted murders and child rapists escape from prison every year(List of prison escapes, 2015). As I write this essay, police are searching for two convicted murders who escaped fromRead MoreIs Capital Punishment A Cruel An d Unusual Fate?1853 Words   |  8 PagesIs capital punishment a cruel and unusual fate or is it a necessary form of justice? Capital punishment is also referred to as the death penalty. The death penalty is a form of action taken by the court of law where a guilty conviction means you pay with your life. Being an American citizen, I believe that we live in the freest country on earth and have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. However, in our pledge of allegiance it states that we also have justice for all. SoRead More Capital Punishment is Cruel And Unusual Essay1162 Words   |  5 Pagesexecution such as this one have taken place as a punishment for crime. In 1976, the United States reinstated the death penalty after having revoked it in 1972. Since its reinstatement, the morality of such punishment has been widely debated. I believe that the death penalty cannot be morally justified on the basic ground that, killing human beings, as a form of punishmen t, is wrong. I acknowledge that a major argument supporting capital punishment is that it serves as a deterrent to crimes, specificallyRead More Capital Punishment Is Not Only Unusual, But Cruel Essay989 Words   |  4 Pages Capital Punishment is Not Only Unusual, But Cruel nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The most widely known aspect of the eighth amendment is the fact that it prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Cruel and unusual punishment is perceived as punishment that causes â€Å"an unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain† (Bailey). Is capital punishment cruel and unusual? It is one of the most controversial topics in America today. In effect since the 1600s, the US Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty wasRead More Capital Punishment Essay - Death Penalty is Neither Cruel Nor Unusual1166 Words   |  5 PagesDeath Penalty is Neither Cruel Nor Unusual A man sits immobile in a steel chair with a metal cap resting on his bald head. A priest reads selections from the Bible telling him he will go to Heaven if he confesses his sins to God. The man just smiles as the security guard pulls the switch, and one thousand volts of electricity flows through the mans body. His entire frame shakes in convulsions as his head bobs up and down with the shock. In a couple of seconds the mans life is over. The priestRead More Capital Punishment Essay - Justice in Retribution1470 Words   |  6 PagesCapital Punishment: Justice in Retribution       The American government operates in the fashion of an indirect democracy. Citizens live under a social contract whereby individuals agree to forfeit certain rights for the good of the whole. Punishments for crimes against the state are carried out via due process, guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. The use of capital punishment is decided by the state, which is legal in thirty-seven states. It is a moral imperative to protect the states rightsRead MoreThe Argument Of Cruel And Unusual Punishment1293 Words   |  6 Pagesnor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.† Specifically, the idea of cruel and unusual punishment has been a topic of dispute since its inception. Although the United States practiced execution as a punishment beforehand, â€Å"the Supreme Court did not address the death penalty issue until 1972.† It is often debated how we are to define cruel and unusual because of the vague nature of the terms. Because it is thought that the terms were k ept vague in order to keep up with new forms of cruel andRead MoreCapital Punishment : The Death Penalty932 Words   |  4 PagesBinch Ms. Stevens English 9 Honors 6th May 2016 Capital Punishment Tom Robinson is a Black, unfairly tried, innocent character being tried for Capital Punishment for falsely accused of raping a white girl in the book â€Å"To Kill A Mockingbird.† (Lee, Harper.). This is clearly wrong. Governments should not concern itself with taking people s lives. Capital punishment is a legally authorised killing for a crime. In the modern United States capital punishment is only used for punishing murder. The 1930’sRead MoreCapital punishments should not be banned; people believe capital punishment is unconstitutional,900 Words   |  4 PagesCapital punishments should not be banned; people believe capital punishment is unconstitutional, that the person on death row actually committed a crime that put them there. There are complaints about the money put out for capital punishment and some think that the death penalty sends the wrong message or that our government is broken. Even though people believe capital punishment should be banned, it should not be banned due to multiple reasons. In the United States, capital punishment (also known