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. 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.
The Essay on Death Penalty Execution Punishment Protocol
... to death (The Execution Protocol). People opposed to the death penalty say that being shot to death if a form of cruel and unusual punishment. ... that both sides can agree upon is that the death penalty stops the convicted murder from ever killing again. Some say that ... British government reports details of a method of hanging designed to cause instant death through the dislocation of the vertebrae. ...
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 person?s 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.
The Term Paper on Capital Punishment Death Penalty Prisoner
... during the execution, the prisoner may have a violent physical reaction (gasping, heaving chest, choking, etc. ) (Clark). Death by the gas chamber ... US, there are five methods of execution currently in use. These methods are: electrocution, lethal injection, the gas chamber, the firing squad ... are placed on top until the person was crushed. Perhaps the worse method of all is called drawing and ...
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 person?s 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 person?s left ear. When dropped the person?s 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 bound to a chair and placed in front of an oval wall. The doctor locates the heart by use of a stethoscope and places a target over it. Only twenty feet from the target are the trained shooters. Only one of the shooters? gun holds the bullet that will take the life of the convict. They all shoot their guns at once, so that no one knows who made the fatal shot. All of these procedures are done fast, and with the least amount of pain possible, if any at all. For anyone to say that these methods are not humane, would be unrealistic. The convicts whom have been sentenced to walk the green mile have really gotten off easy in my eyes. Many of them have committed cruel, torturous acts on innocent human beings. Why do they deserve to die in a peaceful, humane way? They don?t, but because under our constitution no one shall under go cruel and unusual punishment, though that is what they have done to others.
The Report on The Lawful Infliction of Death as a Punishment; the Death Penalty
The lawful infliction of death as a punishment; the death penalty. Capital punishment continues to be used in the United States despite controversy over its merits and over its effectiveness as a deterrent to serious crime. A sentence of death may be carried out by one of five lawful means: electrocution, hanging, lethal injection, gas chamber, and firing squad. As of 2003, 38 states employed ...
Felons should feel lucky that capital punishment is so humane. There are many logical factors that determine a person being sentenced to death. A criminal?s past record and the seriousness of the crime currently committed are two major factors in determining death row sentencing. These factors are what have sent more men to death row than women. Some people believe that the selection of death row is unfair due to the number of men vs. women facing it. Jurors have many things to consider when convicting the accused. How brutal was it, how many people were killed, was it premeditated, was it torturous? These are all things that the jurors considering when determining the fate of the accused. Of course they also have to keep decide if the evidence proves, with out a doubt, the person is guilty. In sentencing a person to death row states often look at the person?s background of violence. Other concerns that bring up past convictions of violent acts and murders help to lead jurors in their decision making process. Male murderers with earlier convictions are four times as likely to possess a judicial disadvantage than a female because of a prior violent felony charge (McCuen, 1997).
Women are not as quick to show aggression as men are. This increases the likely hood of a prosecutor to persuaded to go to capital trial and for the jury to sentence the death penalty. Deterrence is a theory that a threatened punishment must be of a severe enough consequence in order to counteract a criminal?s feel of pleasure to commit a crime. Specific deterrence is the inability of a convict to commit another crime in result to their given punishment. A person not committing a crime because of the severity of the punishment if they carry out with it is known a general deterrence. Murderers? that come across as somewhat rational and intelligent, whom have committed a premeditated crime are those that the death penalty as a deterrent work. An analyzing study of data from the years 1936 to 1977 done by Professor Stephen Layson of the University of North Carolina made a significant conclusion about deterrence. His conclusion was that eighteen murders are deterred in result to on execution. According to Layson?s studies, if correct, somewhere around 125,000 murders have been deterred due to the threat of the death penalty as punishment (McCuen, 1997).
The Research paper on Capital Punishmen Death Punishment Penalty
... savage and irreversible act as capital punishment. The death penalty becomes a degrading act when used. State sanctioned executions expose more of the violence ... which an entirely innocent person has been convicted of a murder. Many of these people were sentenced to death, and in many of ...
McComb of the Supreme Court of California discovered fourteen examples in the police department of defendants whom, in explaining their refusal to carry a weapon or kill. This pointed to the fear of the death penalty. This is great evidence supporting that people are truly deterred by the presence of the death penalty.
The death penalty is a definate deterrent to crime, however it is not effective enough. The delayed punishment received is not paired closely enough to the crime. Therefore, the consequence of the death penalty doesn?t always seem associated with the criminal act because of the long time before the execution takes place. The only way to condition criminal to view execution as a punishment to their behavior is by having it happen immediately after conviction and sentencing. This comes from the idea of classical conditioning and negative reinforcements (Meyers, 1998).
The process of convicting a felon and sentencing them to death is very long. With the conviction and sentencing always comes appeal by the convicted. The constant appeals can lead to years in court, which costs millions of dollars. This is where the problem with a convict not seeing the death penalty as a punishment for their actions. The cost keeping a person on death row and the many years, sometimes as many is twenty-five is way too high. With new methods of presenting evidence of D.N.A. the process needs to be sped up to make the death penalty to be a more effective deterrent. As American citizens were are all born with certain rights. With these rights however, come responsibilities. When a person takes the life and rights of another human being they forfeit their rights. I believe the guilty party is lucky to get one of the humane executions used in America. What ever happened to the idea of an ?eye for an eye?? Executions used in the U.S. are extremely humane, especially when considering the brutality used by the condemned. For a long time our country has focussed on finding the most humane way to execute the convicted. We need to turn our heads in a new direction and start figuring out a shorter process for death row. Way too many tax dollars of the American people are used to defend the already convicted.
The Essay on Death Penalty Murder Punishment Convicted
Almost 18 years ago an innocent wife and mother to two, named Sarah Bryne, received a call by her husband's old college roommate. He explained to her that he and his wife were staying at a secluded motel near her work and were only staying for the weekend. She left work early to go and meet him and his wife. When she arrived he was alone. Once she was inside and the door closed he raped her. After ...
With our modern techniques for presenting evidence, the accused should need only to be convicted once, followed b immediate execution. To make capital punishment a more effective deterrent the process needs to be faster. There is no reason to spend years determining when and if the convicted will take the walk down the green mile. David Von Drehle, ?Among the Lowest of the Dead,? published by Times Books, 1995. 469 pages. Edited by Thomas Draper, ?Capital Punishment,? published by H. W. Wilson Company, 1985, Volume 57. 166 pages. David G. Meyers, ?Psychology, fifth edition,? Worth Publishers, 1998, 610 pages. Ian Gray & Moira Stanley, ?A Punishment in Search of a Crime,? published by Avon Books, 1989. 383 pages. Kuno Sandholzer, ?Methods of Execution? Capital Punishment.com, 1999, 6 pages Hugo Adam Bedau, ?The Case Against the Death Penalty,? American Civil Liberties Union1982. 24 pages. Stephen E. Schonebaum (editor), ?Does Capital Punishment Deter Crime?? Greenhaven Press, Inc. 1998. 95 Pages. News Matters (video), ?The Death Penalty Right or Wrong?? Knowledge Unlimited, Inc. 1997. approximately 15 minutes. Gary E. McCuuen, ?The Death Penalty and the Disadvantaged? Gary E. McCuen Publications Inc. 1997. 168 pages.
Lynn S. Branham & Sheldon Krantz, ?Sentencing, Corrections, and Prisoner?s Rights,? St. Paul, Minn. West Publishing Co. 1994. 338 pages. 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).
The Essay on A Permanent Death – Capital Punishment
There are five basic reasons that society uses when imposing “punishment” that I’ve been able to conclude from my readings. I will discuss these societal concepts and show that the death penalty does not serve to further them. As a result William Smith should not be subject to the death penalty and in fact the same should be abolished from our system of “punishment”. DeterrenceDeterrence is ...
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. 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 person?s 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 person?s 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 person?s left ear. When dropped the person?s 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 bound to a chair and placed in front of an oval wall. The doctor locates the heart by use of a stethoscope and places a target over it. Only twenty feet from the target are the trained shooters. Only one of the shooters? gun holds the bullet that will take the life of the convict. They all shoot their guns at once, so that no one knows who made the fatal shot. All of these procedures are done fast, and with the least amount of pain possible, if any at all. For anyone to say that these methods are not humane, would be unrealistic. The convicts whom have been sentenced to walk the green mile have really gotten off easy in my eyes. Many of them have committed cruel, torturous acts on innocent human beings. Why do they deserve to die in a peaceful, humane way? They don?t, but because under our constitution no one shall under go cruel and unusual punishment, though that is what they have done to others.
Felons should feel lucky that capital punishment is so humane. There are many logical factors that determine a person being sentenced to death. A criminal?s past record and the seriousness of the crime currently committed are two major factors in determining death row sentencing. These factors are what have sent more men to death row than women. Some people believe that the selection of death row is unfair due to the number of men vs. women facing it. Jurors have many things to consider when convicting the accused. How brutal was it, how many people were killed, was it premeditated, was it torturous? These are all things that the jurors considering when determining the fate of the accused. Of course they also have to keep decide if the evidence proves, with out a doubt, the person is guilty. In sentencing a person to death row states often look at the person?s background of violence. Other concerns that bring up past convictions of violent acts and murders help to lead jurors in their decision making process. Male murderers with earlier convictions are four times as likely to possess a judicial disadvantage than a female because of a prior violent felony charge (McCuen, 1997).
Women are not as quick to show aggression as men are. This increases the likely hood of a prosecutor to persuaded to go to capital trial and for the jury to sentence the death penalty. Deterrence is a theory that a threatened punishment must be of a severe enough consequence in order to counteract a criminal?s feel of pleasure to commit a crime. Specific deterrence is the inability of a convict to commit another crime in result to their given punishment. A person not committing a crime because of the severity of the punishment if they carry out with it is known a general deterrence. Murderers? that come across as somewhat rational and intelligent, whom have committed a premeditated crime are those that the death penalty as a deterrent work. An analyzing study of data from the years 1936 to 1977 done by Professor Stephen Layson of the University of North Carolina made a significant conclusion about deterrence. His conclusion was that eighteen murders are deterred in result to on execution. According to Layson?s studies, if correct, somewhere around 125,000 murders have been deterred due to the threat of the death penalty as punishment (McCuen, 1997).
McComb of the Supreme Court of California discovered fourteen examples in the police department of defendants whom, in explaining their refusal to carry a weapon or kill. This pointed to the fear of the death penalty. This is great evidence supporting that people are truly deterred by the presence of the death penalty.
The death penalty is a definate deterrent to crime, however it is not effective enough. The delayed punishment received is not paired closely enough to the crime. Therefore, the consequence of the death penalty doesn?t always seem associated with the criminal act because of the long time before the execution takes place. The only way to condition criminal to view execution as a punishment to their behavior is by having it happen immediately after conviction and sentencing. This comes from the idea of classical conditioning and negative reinforcements (Meyers, 1998).
The process of convicting a felon and sentencing them to death is very long. With the conviction and sentencing always comes appeal by the convicted. The constant appeals can lead to years in court, which costs millions of dollars. This is where the problem with a convict not seeing the death penalty as a punishment for their actions. The cost keeping a person on death row and the many years, sometimes as many is twenty-five is way too high. With new methods of presenting evidence of D.N.A. the process needs to be sped up to make the death penalty to be a more effective deterrent. As American citizens were are all born with certain rights. With these rights however, come responsibilities. When a person takes the life and rights of another human being they forfeit their rights. I believe the guilty party is lucky to get one of the humane executions used in America. What ever happened to the idea of an ?eye for an eye?? Executions used in the U.S. are extremely humane, especially when considering the brutality used by the condemned. For a long time our country has focussed on finding the most humane way to execute the convicted. We need to turn our heads in a new direction and start figuring out a shorter process for death row. Way too many tax dollars of the American people are used to defend the already convicted.
With our modern techniques for presenting evidence, the accused should need only to be convicted once, followed b immediate execution. To make capital punishment a more effective deterrent the process needs to be faster. There is no reason to spend years determining when and if the convicted will take the walk down the green mile. David Von Drehle, ?Among the Lowest of the Dead,? published by Times Books, 1995. 469 pages. Edited by Thomas Draper, ?Capital Punishment,? published by H. W. Wilson Company, 1985, Volume 57. 166 pages. David G. Meyers, ?Psychology, fifth edition,? Worth Publishers, 1998, 610 pages. Ian Gray & Moira Stanley, ?A Punishment in Search of a Crime,? published by Avon Books, 1989. 383 pages. Kuno Sandholzer, ?Methods of Execution? Capital Punishment.com, 1999, 6 pages Hugo Adam Bedau, ?The Case Against the Death Penalty,? American Civil Liberties Union1982. 24 pages. Stephen E. Schonebaum (editor), ?Does Capital Punishment Deter Crime?? Greenhaven Press, Inc. 1998. 95 Pages. News Matters (video), ?The Death Penalty Right or Wrong?? Knowledge Unlimited, Inc. 1997. approximately 15 minutes. Gary E. McCuuen, ?The Death Penalty and the Disadvantaged? Gary E. McCuen Publications Inc. 1997. 168 pages.
Lynn S. Branham & Sheldon Krantz, ?Sentencing, Corrections, and Prisoner?s Rights,? St. Paul, Minn. West Publishing Co. 1994. 338 pages. 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. 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 person?s 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 person?s 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 person?s left ear. When dropped the person?s 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 bound to a chair and placed in front of an oval wall. The doctor locates the heart by use of a stethoscope and places a target over it. Only twenty feet from the target are the trained shooters. Only one of the shooters? gun holds the bullet that will take the life of the convict. They all shoot their guns at once, so that no one knows who made the fatal shot. All of these procedures are done fast, and with the least amount of pain possible, if any at all. For anyone to say that these methods are not humane, would be unrealistic. The convicts whom have been sentenced to walk the green mile have really gotten off easy in my eyes. Many of them have committed cruel, torturous acts on innocent human beings. Why do they deserve to die in a peaceful, humane way? They don?t, but because under our constitution no one shall under go cruel and unusual punishment, though that is what they have done to others.
Felons should feel lucky that capital punishment is so humane. There are many logical factors that determine a person being sentenced to death. A criminal?s past record and the seriousness of the crime currently committed are two major factors in determining death row sentencing. These factors are what have sent more men to death row than women. Some people believe that the selection of death row is unfair due to the number of men vs. women facing it. Jurors have many things to consider when convicting the accused. How brutal was it, how many people were killed, was it premeditated, was it torturous? These are all things that the jurors considering when determining the fate of the accused. Of course they also have to keep decide if the evidence proves, with out a doubt, the person is guilty. In sentencing a person to death row states often look at the person?s background of violence. Other concerns that bring up past convictions of violent acts and murders help to lead jurors in their decision making process. Male murderers with earlier convictions are four times as likely to possess a judicial disadvantage than a female because of a prior violent felony charge (McCuen, 1997).
Women are not as quick to show aggression as men are. This increases the likely hood of a prosecutor to persuaded to go to capital trial and for the jury to sentence the death penalty. Deterrence is a theory that a threatened punishment must be of a severe enough consequence in order to counteract a criminal?s feel of pleasure to commit a crime. Specific deterrence is the inability of a convict to commit another crime in result to their given punishment. A person not committing a crime because of the severity of the punishment if they carry out with it is known a general deterrence. Murderers? that come across as somewhat rational and intelligent, whom have committed a premeditated crime are those that the death penalty as a deterrent work. An analyzing study of data from the years 1936 to 1977 done by Professor Stephen Layson of the University of North Carolina made a significant conclusion about deterrence. His conclusion was that eighteen murders are deterred in result to on execution. According to Layson?s studies, if correct, somewhere around 125,000 murders have been deterred due to the threat of the death penalty as punishment (McCuen, 1997).
McComb of the Supreme Court of California discovered fourteen examples in the police department of defendants whom, in explaining their refusal to carry a weapon or kill. This pointed to the fear of the death penalty. This is great evidence supporting that people are truly deterred by the presence of the death penalty.
The death penalty is a definate deterrent to crime, however it is not effective enough. The delayed punishment received is not paired closely enough to the crime. Therefore, the consequence of the death penalty doesn?t always seem associated with the criminal act because of the long time before the execution takes place. The only way to condition criminal to view execution as a punishment to their behavior is by having it happen immediately after conviction and sentencing. This comes from the idea of classical conditioning and negative reinforcements (Meyers, 1998).
The process of convicting a felon and sentencing them to death is very long. With the conviction and sentencing always comes appeal by the convicted. The constant appeals can lead to years in court, which costs millions of dollars. This is where the problem with a convict not seeing the death penalty as a punishment for their actions. The cost keeping a person on death row and the many years, sometimes as many is twenty-five is way too high. With new methods of presenting evidence of D.N.A. the process needs to be sped up to make the death penalty to be a more effective deterrent. As American citizens were are all born with certain rights. With these rights however, come responsibilities. When a person takes the life and rights of another human being they forfeit their rights. I believe the guilty party is lucky to get one of the humane executions used in America. What ever happened to the idea of an ?eye for an eye?? Executions used in the U.S. are extremely humane, especially when considering the brutality used by the condemned. For a long time our country has focussed on finding the most humane way to execute the convicted. We need to turn our heads in a new direction and start figuring out a shorter process for death row. Way too many tax dollars of the American people are used to defend the already convicted.
With our modern techniques for presenting evidence, the accused should need only to be convicted once, followed b immediate execution. To make capital punishment a more effective deterrent the process needs to be faster. There is no reason to spend years determining when and if the convicted will take the walk down the green mile. David Von Drehle, ?Among the Lowest of the Dead,? published by Times Books, 1995. 469 pages. Edited by Thomas Draper, ?Capital Punishment,? published by H. W. Wilson Company, 1985, Volume 57. 166 pages. David G. Meyers, ?Psychology, fifth edition,? Worth Publishers, 1998, 610 pages. Ian Gray & Moira Stanley, ?A Punishment in Search of a Crime,? published by Avon Books, 1989. 383 pages. Kuno Sandholzer, ?Methods of Execution? Capital Punishment.com, 1999, 6 pages Hugo Adam Bedau, ?The Case Against the Death Penalty,? American Civil Liberties Union1982. 24 pages. Stephen E. Schonebaum (editor), ?Does Capital Punishment Deter Crime?? Greenhaven Press, Inc. 1998. 95 Pages. News Matters (video), ?The Death Penalty Right or Wrong?? Knowledge Unlimited, Inc. 1997. approximately 15 minutes. Gary E. McCuuen, ?The Death Penalty and the Disadvantaged? Gary E. McCuen Publications Inc. 1997. 168 pages.
Lynn S. Branham & Sheldon Krantz, ?Sentencing, Corrections, and Prisoner?s Rights,? St. Paul, Minn. West Publishing Co. 1994. 338 pages.
