Death Penalty is Ineffetive
The homicide rate in states with the death penalty looks higher than in states without the death penalty. On the picture, 12 states without capital punishment in 2006 had homicide rates below the national average.
The murder rate in non-Death Penalty states has remained consistently lower than the rate in States with the Death Penalty.
Methods of Execution
Beheading – (in Saudi Arabia, Iraq)
Electrocution -- (in USA)
Hanging -- (in Egypt, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Pakistan, Singapore and other countries)
Lethal injection -- (in China, Guatemala, Philippines, Thailand, USA)
Shooting -- (in Belarus, China, Somalia, Taiwan, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam and other countries)
Stoning -- (in Afghanistan, Iran)
Stabbing -- (in Somalia)
Death Penalty is Cruel for People
It Violates Human Rights
Lethal Injection
Today, lethal injection is the one method which people find most acceptable because it does not bring the most misery to offenders. According to Louise Arbour of the Los Angeles Times, the U.S has already taken an action about using the lethal injection for execution. Furthermore, the doctors sometimes may inject the drugs into the wrong place that cause physical pain to offenders. Attorney Elisabeth Semel, who is head of California death penalty project at University of California Berkeley said:“It means that if it is given by individuals who know how to mix the drugs properly, how to administer the drugs properly, and who are able both in terms of skill and physical proximity to the inmate to ensure that the anesthesia is going into the veins and not the tissues” (qtd. in Totenberg).Sometimes, the lethal injection may not work well; it causes the offender to get shot twice.
Electrocution
For execution by the electric chair, the person is usually shaved and strapped to a chair with belts that cross his chest, groin, legs, and arms. A jolt of between 500 and 2000 volts, which lasts for about 30 seconds, is given. Then, the doctor will wait 30 minutes after the body cool down, and check the prisoner’s heart is still beating or not. If it is, prisoner will get second jolt.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Brennan once offered the following description of an execution by electric chair: “...the prisoner's eyeballs sometimes pop out and rest on [his] cheeks. The prisoner often defecates, urinates, and vomits blood and drool. The body turns bright red as its temperature rises, and the prisoner's flesh swells and his skin stretches to the point of breaking. Sometimes the prisoner catches fire.... Witnesses hear a loud and sustained sound like bacon frying, and the sickly sweet smell of burning flesh permeates the chamber.” (Ecenbarger, 1994)
The electrocution seems very cruel to offenders.
Gas Chamber
For execution by this method, the prisoner is sitting into seal gas chamber. Below the chair rests a pail of sulfuric acid. Sometimes, the prisoner needs to breathe deeply to speed up the process because the chemical reaction is not quickly. However, most of the prisoners try to hold their breath, and some struggle. The inmate does not lose consciousness immediately. According to Dr. Richard Traystman of John Hopkins University School of Medicine, "The person is unquestionably experiencing pain and extreme anxiety...The sensation is similar to the pain felt by a person during a heart attack, where essentially the heart is being deprived of oxygen." After prisoner died into a gas chamber, the instructors wear the mask and glove to remove the prisoner and some left sulfuric acid.
Firing Squad
For execution by this method, prisoner sometimes covers their eyes because it seems very scared to them. Then, the soldiers will hold the guns and stand in front of prisoner. Most of time, he or she will died quickly by bleeding. If the soldier misses the heart, by accident, the prisoner bleeds to death slowly.
Hanging
For execution by this method, each prisoner will weight before they were execute by hanging. If the prisoner is too light, he or she may have put some same weight materials that hang on his body together because he or she may suffer for long time since the weight is too light. Before they were executing, each prisoner’s hands and legs are secured, he or she is blindfolded.
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Citation:
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