Hanging was the main method of execution in America until the electric chair was invented in 1890. Then came gas chambers and lethal injection in the 1920s and 1970s respectively. There were downsides to all of these methods of execution including decapitation for hanging, heads catching on fire with the electric chair, and expenses for lethal injection. The Supreme Court halted all executions for four years in 1972 because of an abolitionist group protesting possibly discriminatory convictions. After this, lethal injection was invented and adopted by many U.S. states. Some states are using electric chairs and firing squads because of the cost of lethal injection, as well as questions about its humaneness. This information helped me form the
The death penalty goes far back into history, across many different civilizations, and many different cultures. It has been around since the beginnings of colonial America, and was very different compared to todays standards. “In colonial America, criminals
The Supreme Court has observed that a method of execution violates the Eighth Amendment if it inherently involves “torture or a lingering death” or is “inhuman and barbarous.” This was brought into question in the case of Glossip V. Gross when Oklahoma introduced the drug midazolam as a new execution drug. The case also brings into question whether the court is required to supply a form of execution when the government cannot find one itself. In Baze v. Rees the three-drug protocol was observed for lethal injection by at least 30 states, where barbiturate, an anesthesia that causes the person to go unconscious and two other drugs which paralyzed the prisoner eventually causes them to go into cardiac arrest.
Public executions were used to scare people so they wouldn’t violate the law. Ted Bundy, American serial killer, rapist, and kidnapper was one of several people executed for his murders/crimes in the late 1970’s although, humans weren’t the only ones electrocuted. In 1903 Thomas Edison executed an elephant in front of 1,500 and videotaped it. The elephant was electrocuted at Luna Park Zoo on Coney Island in New York. People that are faced with the death penalty prefer the method of lethal injection rather other methods such a the gas chamber, electrocution, hanging, and even Crucifixion which is still used in Sudan as a form of the death penalty.
Firing Squad Over Lethal Injection Many people think that inmates who are death row need to be put to death by means of lethal injection. However, there are many reasons why a firing squad should be used instead. It is actually more humane, less costly, and the odds of something going wrong are much less than a lethal injection. The first reason of it being more humane, makes more sense looking deeper into the idea.
According to this article, to name a few, through history, it started from hangings in 1879, then electrocution by chair in 1890, until it reached lethal injection in 2008 where it deemed more humane. Several opinions were added in order to conduct an alternative method that would have a little to no chance in violating the 8th amendment. Officials can act unconstitutionally if they were to execute a condemned person in a procedure that intentionally makes it painful or in another way where they did not care whether it actually was. Due to this, this mostly continued to set an outer limit on how the death penalty can be carried out and since the court was unable to gather an actual majority to decipher the limit more
But no great reformation occurred until 1833. Those who witnessed public executions either reveled in the excitement of the event, or violently rioted in its aftereffects. There were some repulsive executions that led to abolition, such as “In 1853, Wisconsin abolished the death penalty after a gruesome execution in which the victim struggled for five minutes at the end of the rope, and a full eighteen minutes passed before his heart finally quit” (Reggio). In 1930, Eva Dugan was the first female to be executed in Arizona, and her “execution was botched when the hangman misjudged the drop and Mrs. Dugan's head was ripped from her body” (Reggio). But success against capital punishment didn’t see much of any fruition until 1972, when the Supreme Court declared it cruel and unusual in Furman v. Georgia, based on ‘discriminatory sentencing guidelines.’
Although the methods of execution have become more humane, transitioning from public hangings to private lethal injections,
These methods were grisly and inhumane. Prisoners sometimes took up to twenty minutes to die. Some had to be electrocuted several times while screaming in agony. In 1977 Dr. Deutsch created a method of execution involving several different kinds of drugs to humanely induce death. Officials liked this method of execution as it medicalized the process and was easier to witness.
The death penalty is a precedent set centuries ago as a method of punishment for severe crimes. In 1923, the state of Texas declared that those sentenced to death were to suffer through the electric chair by the hands of the state, instead of being hanged by the hands of the counties (TX Executions). Later on, Texas would adopt the lethal injection method. Many see the death penalty as an inhumane violation of the basic rights defined in the Bill of Rights. On the other hand, others may argue that it is unpractical to abolish the death penalty due to the voidance of justice.
Ever since the outset of the American Constitution, capital punishment has existed as a crime sentence in the United States. However, in recent decades, this topic has become highly controversial, as many states have dictated against the death penalty. Although states with this position on capital punishment are increasing, some states, such as Texas, have continued to edict this practice in their provinces. In the State of Texas, the sentence to death upon a person should not be permitted due to the fact it can wrongly convict a person, its court trial is highly expensive, and it brings forth an unjust treatment.
In early American civilizations, there were many ways that the people of criminal status were punished for their actions. In early Puritan towns, one of the most popular forms of punishment was the convicted criminal to be sentenced to the gallows, or to be hung. “Public execution was a common practice that continued on for multiple decades. In these types of executions, masses of people would come together to listen to a sermon given by a puritan minister, hear the last words of the condemned criminal, then witness the killing” of the criminal (Turabian 2). Many people in the towns that induced hanging methods did not know anything other than the ways of what they had grown up knowing so they just continued to support the actions.
As the country progressed so did the death penaltys as they moved from the public scene and into facilities, “Executions started to shift from outdoor public spectacles into correctional facilities in 1834” ( The History Of Capital Punishment In America.) Lethal injection is one of the death penaltys used which was first adopted by Oklahoma. “ In 1977 Oklahoma first adopted the lethal injection and by 1982 32 states used it” ( Methods Of Exucation.) Theres only three more states that use hanging as a primary method as an alternative method for the lethal injection.
The death penalty is a controversial issue that has been debated in the United States for a long period of time. In our own state of Texas, executing convicted criminals has become second nature. This is due to the fact that Texas has executed more people than any other state in the United States since 1976. So why does Texas lead the United States in executions? There are many reasons and factors that has led to this point.
The execution team is then instructed to leave the room by the Warden, who is also in charge of giving the court order to start sending the electricity through the body. Voltage ranging from 500-2000 volts is then sent through the body of the inmate for about 30 seconds until they are presumed dead by the medical staff. The fourth method of execution used in the United States is by poisoning the inmate inside a gas chamber. The gas chamber was created after the electric chair in 1924 in an attempt to create an even more humane way of executing an individual.
The death penalty, is the loss of life, which is induced by different tactics. The most common methods in the United States is lethal injection, hanging, firing squad, and the electric chair. The most chosen method by inmates is lethal injection. Lethal injection consists of the inmate being strapped to an operating table or gurney and a trained medical doctor will place two needles into the veins of the arms(Death Penalty Information Center).