I never agreed with the
death penalty. I have always seen it as a cruel and inhumane process of
bloodshed, creating an everlasting cycle of murder, especially after I have
done research on this particular topic.
It absolutely horrified me when I read a CNN article online. The article states that the most executions in 2012 were done in China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the United States of America. This makes America the only nation out of the top five counties with the most executions to be in the developed world. The article also stated that since capital punishment was reinstated by the United States Supreme Court in 1976, 1,386 people have been executed and as of January 2014 there are 3,070 people in prison waiting to be executed. However, out of these 3,070 people four percent of them are innocent according to The Guardian.
Another continuous problem with capital punishment in the United States of America is racism. An article by the New York Times found that black defendants were 1.7 times more likely to be executed than a white person and murderers of white people were 4.3 times more likely to be executed. Statistics show whites make up 56 percent of the executions, blacks make up 34 percent of the executions, Hispanics make up eight percent and other ethnicities make up two percent of people executed in the United States.
However, the methods of execution is the most evident and major problem with the death penalty. There are many ways of executing a death row inmate, lethal injects are used the most- in 87 percent of executions, electrocution is used in 11 percent of executions, gas chamber in 1 percent, hanging in 0.5 percent, and a firing squad in 0.5 percent of executions. From these five different methods of execution, a lot can go wrong.
It absolutely horrified me when I read a CNN article online. The article states that the most executions in 2012 were done in China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the United States of America. This makes America the only nation out of the top five counties with the most executions to be in the developed world. The article also stated that since capital punishment was reinstated by the United States Supreme Court in 1976, 1,386 people have been executed and as of January 2014 there are 3,070 people in prison waiting to be executed. However, out of these 3,070 people four percent of them are innocent according to The Guardian.
Another continuous problem with capital punishment in the United States of America is racism. An article by the New York Times found that black defendants were 1.7 times more likely to be executed than a white person and murderers of white people were 4.3 times more likely to be executed. Statistics show whites make up 56 percent of the executions, blacks make up 34 percent of the executions, Hispanics make up eight percent and other ethnicities make up two percent of people executed in the United States.
However, the methods of execution is the most evident and major problem with the death penalty. There are many ways of executing a death row inmate, lethal injects are used the most- in 87 percent of executions, electrocution is used in 11 percent of executions, gas chamber in 1 percent, hanging in 0.5 percent, and a firing squad in 0.5 percent of executions. From these five different methods of execution, a lot can go wrong.
According to The New Yorker, in July of
this year a man named Joseph Wood was administered a lethal injection that was supposed
to kill him. However, shortly after he was given the drugs, witnesses heard Wood grasp for air and he continued to gasp for air for two hours until he died.
The death penalty violated the eighth amendment of Wood and many other inmates who had problems with their execution. It puts the lives of innocent people at risk and is affected by racism. Capital punishment is supposed to bring justice; not bring a "cruel and unusual punishment".
Capital punishment is probably the cruelest form of punishment, and I agree with your post; it's not right. It's brutal and barbaric.
ReplyDeleteI read an article once that stated that 1 out of every 7 people executed were later proven innocent. This frustrates me because those people should be deemed as murderers for killing an innocent person.
The death penalty makes me mad because not only is it immoral, but also because it is unconstitutional as you stated in your blog.