Senior Paper
David Webster
Senior Paper
Death Penalty
The biggest interest that I find in this world is ethics. Society has taught humanity what’s right and wrong. Problem is, is some people don’t follow the rules in today’s society. Capital punishment is the biggest ethical question in my mind because the real question is, is it right to kill another human being? Both sides have great points and strong arguments but I’m pro for the death penalty. I believe this country needs some kind of capital punishment. If people didn’t pay the ultimate price after doing something inhumane and wrong, then people wouldn’t learn from others actions. It sounds a little cruel but it’s true. If someone committed murder and was executed because of his or her actions, it shows others that those actions were wrong.
Capital punishment has been around for many centuries so there has to be some kind of ethical logic behind it. Another strong argument about the death penalty is false executions. There have been cases of innocent people being put to death. My opinion on that is people make mistakes. People just need to learn from those mistakes and work on finding enough evidence to be positive about making the ultimate decision. Capital punishment has become useful too. In some cases it is right to kill a person who wasn’t fit for society. This paper will break it all down and show you why I believe we need the death penalty in this country. It helps out the countries cost, it takes criminals off the street that is a threat to society, and it shows others what happens when you create a serious offense.
There’s a long history behind capital punishment. They had rules in the past so there had to be some kind of execution process for people who committed a serious offense. There are six different methods for the death penalty that people have used since the first execution to today’s executions. Most commonly used method today is lethal injection but they didn’t have that kind of technology in the past. They relied on beheading, hanging, gas chambers, electric chair, and shooting for their execution. Some cases the execution was considered honorable depending on who it was. One of their main tasks throughout the history of the methods was to make it as painless to the prisoner as possible. Ever since then the methods have made it less painful then the last method through time. Some people see it as a humane decision to make the execution painless.
First known method was beheading. The act of beheading someone was quick and painless if the right tool was used. In some cases if the tool they were using were dull and blunt, it would take multiple strokes to execute the prisoner. Multiple strokes meant a couple of seconds of agonizing pain for the inmate. Some places if the offense was too serious, they would demand more strokes to make it as painful as it could get. That’s why people started using the guillotine. It was known to do the job with little pain possible.
The next method was hanging. Now people started experimenting with this method and had different types of hanging. There was the suspension hang, the short drop, the standard drop, and the long drop. This is when people started working with different methods of painless executions. The suspension hang and the short drop were basically the same. They would rope up the prisoner by the neck and place them on a horse or cart. They would then move the horse or cart leaving the person dangling from their weight. The standard drop was when people started thinking which type of hanging is more humane and painless. The person would stand on a platform and be dropped four to six feet until the rope crushed the neck on impact. The reason behind this method was to kill the person instantly and have it less painful then choking to death. The long drop was the same as the standard drop but the long drop, they would measure the person’s weight and height to determine how long the rope should e and how much slack it should have. This really helped because in some cases with the standard drop, the person’s impact would be so hard that it would decapitate him. The long drop, or measure drop, was considered the most commonly used method of hanging.
Gas chambers were more of a torturous capital punishment. Most people didn’t find this method humane at all because it’s the most painful method. They would put the prisoner’s in a sealed chamber and fill it with poisonous gas. Carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide were commonly used for the gas in the chambers. Gas chambers were meant to be painful and torturous because it showed a lot of people the fear into creating the same action someone else did and suffered from.
The electric chair was another method used for execution. The reference I used was Wikipedia and found out in 1881, Alfred Southwick, a member of the New York committee, came up with the idea of passing electricity through the body until death. This was another humane method for execution because there were two currents to successfully execute the prisoner. The first current was said to cause unconsciousness to the brain.) It’s like turning the light off on the prisoner. The second current is what executes the person. It causes fatal damage to all major internal organs including the heart, which kills the unconscious inmate. This method is humane because the only pain the prisoner feels is the first current. The inmate wouldn’t feel the damage from the second current because they’re knocked out from the first current.
Execution by shooting is a method of capital punishment that’s popular in about 70 countries. This method is where the prisoner is shot from a firearm from a certain distance. People don’t find this method the best because some cases it would take a couple of minutes for the prisoner to die, depending on where he was shot. The U.S only has one record of execution by shooting. Andriza Mircovich was executed because he was found guilty for murder on May 14.
The last and commonly used method today, is lethal injection. This method is the best way of execution because it’s been said that it’s absolutely painless. Lethal injection is like the electric chair because it’s got certain stages to successfully execute the person. It first puts the prisoner to sleep, then stops his respetory system, and finally stops the heart. Sounds like a humane way to go because you would basically die in your sleep. It would feel like you fall asleep and never wake up. Sounds like the less painful method out of all execution methods.
There have been good executions and bad executions throughout the capital punishment’s history. Some cases the inmates need to be put to death, especially the ones with multiple murder cases. Other cases the inmates were put to death when they were innocent.
One of those innocent inmates that were put to death was a guy named David Spense. He was executed in Texas in1997. Spense was charged with murdering three teenagers in 1982. Ramon Salinas, the detective who conducted the case, said, “My opinion is David is innocent.” The investigation never led them to any evidence that proved he was involved. Either David was really good at cleaning the scene, or someone made a huge mistake by putting an innocent man to death. There was no physical evidence that connected David to the scene of the crime. People believe this was a big deal because if you don’t have any proof or evidence to prove that man guilty, then why did they execute him?
Another innocent inmate that was executed was Claude Jones. He was executed in the year 2000 in Texas. Jones was charged for murdering a storeowner. This case was different because it had evidence to prove it was Claude. A strand of hair was found at the scene and was claimed to be Jones hair. After the execution of Claude Jones, they ran a DNA test on the hair. Turned out to be the storeowner’s strand of hair. Claude Jones was executed before they ran a DNA test. People are simply disgusted with the judicial decision on this case because the strand of hair was the only piece of evidence to prove Jones did it. You would think running the DNA test would come first instead of last on their choices.
The positive things that the capital punishment provides is actually executing someone that is a threat to society and needs to be put to death. For instance, the David Alan Gore case. Gore was executed for having multiple cases of murder. This case involved him picking up a couple of hitchhikers, one by the name of Lynn Elliott. Lynn and her friend got in and Jones drove them to his parent’s house. His parents were off on vacation when this happened. He then raped and assaulted both of the young girls and tied them up. Lynn made a run for it down the driveway and Jones shot her point blank in the back of her head with a handgun. A neighbor was riding his bike and passed by as it happened and called the cops. Lynn’s friend luckily got out of the situation alive. Jones was a serial killer, this wasn’t the first time he killed someone. People find this guy a perfect example to why we have the death penalty. He had multiple warnings through his life and never learned, so there for he was a threat to everyone in this country.
Another case that people found brought justice, was the Mark Wayne Wiles case. I used Wikipedia to find out that Mark was accused of murdering 15 year old, Mark Kilima. Wiles worked for this young boy’s family out on their farm for a long time. One day, 15 year old, Mark caught Wiles stealing from the house. Wiles didn’t want to get caught so he stabbed Mark 24 times and left the butcher knife stuck in his back. Wiles then left the state, heading toward Georgia. After a while. Wiles wound up turning himself in for the murder. It sounds like Wiles knew he did something wrong and didn’t intentionally kill Kilima, but the victim didn’t get a choice for his life so why should Wiles get the choice for his? Execution just shows that the rules still apply with serious offenses like this one.
What does the death penalty do to others? How will the next generation learn from the death penalty? Well for one, the death penalty is showing everyone that creating a serious offense will cost you the ultimate price. There has to be some kind of punishment or this world would be in chaos. If there’s no rules or laws to show us right from wrong, then murder cases and rape cases will increase. People will think if they’re not going to take their life because they just killed someone, then how is murder wrong? The death penalty also provides population control. The population of humans is skyrocketing every year because there are more birth rates than death rates. Our population capacity doesn’t balance out like other animals do. When there are more animals in a group and not enough food to feed them all, it’s obvious that some of those animals will die off. It’s the same when there is more food to feed a lower populated amount of animals. If there is plenty of food, then all the animals will eat till all the foods gone. There are different variables in life to survive. Whether that variable is enough food or not enough food for a certain amount of animals. It always balances out because that’s what nature intended the population control to be. The death penalty is just another variable to decide life or death in humanity’s population. The reason why is because we as humans have decided that that is the punishment for serious offenders.
One of the biggest problems that society looks at is the cost for putting people to death. They also think that the cost for putting inmates to death is more efficient than keeping them alive in prison. This topic is rally inhumane because who in the right mind chooses money over a humans life. Well in some cases people don’t want to waste the governments money on someone who doesn’t deserve it. Take David Alan Gore for instance, he was a messed up person and lost his right to live in this society. If he were just sentenced to life in prison without parole, he would be one out of many living off the money the government uses to keep them alive.
People think if there is nothing but minor charged inmates then it’s fine, but a person who is in and out constantly and will never learn should just be executed. It would save this society time and money. It costs around 137 million dollars per year for the death penalty. It really depends on how may people are executed each year but it is still cheaper than the cost for prison. It costs around 50 billion dollars to house inmates every year. People believe that the cost for housing inmates would drop dramatically if certain people were put on death row and not life in prison. There should be a strike system for inmates. If the same inmate gets out and thrown back in multiple times because of the same offense more than 3 times, then they should be put on death row. It also depends on the offense. If someone keeps getting away with murder, then they obviously haven’t learned from going to prison and should be executed. It seems a little controlling but maybe that will show people the consequence in not learning from serious mistakes.
There will always be a big debate on whether society should keep the death penalty, or should band it. Some arguments include the history of the capital punishment and that we can’t take away our history. Some people that are pro for the death penalty believe it’s right but still needs works. I can consider myself one of those people who think it needs work. Humans will always make mistakes and not every execution will be right. What society needs to do is learn from those mistakes so it won’t happen again. I believe the death penalty will help out society because it has a big factor in living in the U.S. it shows us right from wrong, teaches the next generation what consequence goes with what actions, and it helps get people that don’t deserve the gift of life out of this society. The death penalty will always be a big interest to me because it’s the only ethical argument that both sides have strong opinions about. If people didn’t pay the ultimate price for a inhumane and wrong action, then this society would be a living hell without the capital punishment
Bibliography
Electric Chair
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_chair
May 16, 2012
Death Penalty Information Center
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/executed
May 16, 2012
Crime and Capital Punishment
www.cncpunishment.com/markwaynewiles
May 16, 2012
Prosecuting Attorney
www.clarkprosecutor.org
May 16, 2012
Capital Punishment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/capital_punishment#methods
May 17, 2012
Senior Paper
Death Penalty
The biggest interest that I find in this world is ethics. Society has taught humanity what’s right and wrong. Problem is, is some people don’t follow the rules in today’s society. Capital punishment is the biggest ethical question in my mind because the real question is, is it right to kill another human being? Both sides have great points and strong arguments but I’m pro for the death penalty. I believe this country needs some kind of capital punishment. If people didn’t pay the ultimate price after doing something inhumane and wrong, then people wouldn’t learn from others actions. It sounds a little cruel but it’s true. If someone committed murder and was executed because of his or her actions, it shows others that those actions were wrong.
Capital punishment has been around for many centuries so there has to be some kind of ethical logic behind it. Another strong argument about the death penalty is false executions. There have been cases of innocent people being put to death. My opinion on that is people make mistakes. People just need to learn from those mistakes and work on finding enough evidence to be positive about making the ultimate decision. Capital punishment has become useful too. In some cases it is right to kill a person who wasn’t fit for society. This paper will break it all down and show you why I believe we need the death penalty in this country. It helps out the countries cost, it takes criminals off the street that is a threat to society, and it shows others what happens when you create a serious offense.
There’s a long history behind capital punishment. They had rules in the past so there had to be some kind of execution process for people who committed a serious offense. There are six different methods for the death penalty that people have used since the first execution to today’s executions. Most commonly used method today is lethal injection but they didn’t have that kind of technology in the past. They relied on beheading, hanging, gas chambers, electric chair, and shooting for their execution. Some cases the execution was considered honorable depending on who it was. One of their main tasks throughout the history of the methods was to make it as painless to the prisoner as possible. Ever since then the methods have made it less painful then the last method through time. Some people see it as a humane decision to make the execution painless.
First known method was beheading. The act of beheading someone was quick and painless if the right tool was used. In some cases if the tool they were using were dull and blunt, it would take multiple strokes to execute the prisoner. Multiple strokes meant a couple of seconds of agonizing pain for the inmate. Some places if the offense was too serious, they would demand more strokes to make it as painful as it could get. That’s why people started using the guillotine. It was known to do the job with little pain possible.
The next method was hanging. Now people started experimenting with this method and had different types of hanging. There was the suspension hang, the short drop, the standard drop, and the long drop. This is when people started working with different methods of painless executions. The suspension hang and the short drop were basically the same. They would rope up the prisoner by the neck and place them on a horse or cart. They would then move the horse or cart leaving the person dangling from their weight. The standard drop was when people started thinking which type of hanging is more humane and painless. The person would stand on a platform and be dropped four to six feet until the rope crushed the neck on impact. The reason behind this method was to kill the person instantly and have it less painful then choking to death. The long drop was the same as the standard drop but the long drop, they would measure the person’s weight and height to determine how long the rope should e and how much slack it should have. This really helped because in some cases with the standard drop, the person’s impact would be so hard that it would decapitate him. The long drop, or measure drop, was considered the most commonly used method of hanging.
Gas chambers were more of a torturous capital punishment. Most people didn’t find this method humane at all because it’s the most painful method. They would put the prisoner’s in a sealed chamber and fill it with poisonous gas. Carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide were commonly used for the gas in the chambers. Gas chambers were meant to be painful and torturous because it showed a lot of people the fear into creating the same action someone else did and suffered from.
The electric chair was another method used for execution. The reference I used was Wikipedia and found out in 1881, Alfred Southwick, a member of the New York committee, came up with the idea of passing electricity through the body until death. This was another humane method for execution because there were two currents to successfully execute the prisoner. The first current was said to cause unconsciousness to the brain.) It’s like turning the light off on the prisoner. The second current is what executes the person. It causes fatal damage to all major internal organs including the heart, which kills the unconscious inmate. This method is humane because the only pain the prisoner feels is the first current. The inmate wouldn’t feel the damage from the second current because they’re knocked out from the first current.
Execution by shooting is a method of capital punishment that’s popular in about 70 countries. This method is where the prisoner is shot from a firearm from a certain distance. People don’t find this method the best because some cases it would take a couple of minutes for the prisoner to die, depending on where he was shot. The U.S only has one record of execution by shooting. Andriza Mircovich was executed because he was found guilty for murder on May 14.
The last and commonly used method today, is lethal injection. This method is the best way of execution because it’s been said that it’s absolutely painless. Lethal injection is like the electric chair because it’s got certain stages to successfully execute the person. It first puts the prisoner to sleep, then stops his respetory system, and finally stops the heart. Sounds like a humane way to go because you would basically die in your sleep. It would feel like you fall asleep and never wake up. Sounds like the less painful method out of all execution methods.
There have been good executions and bad executions throughout the capital punishment’s history. Some cases the inmates need to be put to death, especially the ones with multiple murder cases. Other cases the inmates were put to death when they were innocent.
One of those innocent inmates that were put to death was a guy named David Spense. He was executed in Texas in1997. Spense was charged with murdering three teenagers in 1982. Ramon Salinas, the detective who conducted the case, said, “My opinion is David is innocent.” The investigation never led them to any evidence that proved he was involved. Either David was really good at cleaning the scene, or someone made a huge mistake by putting an innocent man to death. There was no physical evidence that connected David to the scene of the crime. People believe this was a big deal because if you don’t have any proof or evidence to prove that man guilty, then why did they execute him?
Another innocent inmate that was executed was Claude Jones. He was executed in the year 2000 in Texas. Jones was charged for murdering a storeowner. This case was different because it had evidence to prove it was Claude. A strand of hair was found at the scene and was claimed to be Jones hair. After the execution of Claude Jones, they ran a DNA test on the hair. Turned out to be the storeowner’s strand of hair. Claude Jones was executed before they ran a DNA test. People are simply disgusted with the judicial decision on this case because the strand of hair was the only piece of evidence to prove Jones did it. You would think running the DNA test would come first instead of last on their choices.
The positive things that the capital punishment provides is actually executing someone that is a threat to society and needs to be put to death. For instance, the David Alan Gore case. Gore was executed for having multiple cases of murder. This case involved him picking up a couple of hitchhikers, one by the name of Lynn Elliott. Lynn and her friend got in and Jones drove them to his parent’s house. His parents were off on vacation when this happened. He then raped and assaulted both of the young girls and tied them up. Lynn made a run for it down the driveway and Jones shot her point blank in the back of her head with a handgun. A neighbor was riding his bike and passed by as it happened and called the cops. Lynn’s friend luckily got out of the situation alive. Jones was a serial killer, this wasn’t the first time he killed someone. People find this guy a perfect example to why we have the death penalty. He had multiple warnings through his life and never learned, so there for he was a threat to everyone in this country.
Another case that people found brought justice, was the Mark Wayne Wiles case. I used Wikipedia to find out that Mark was accused of murdering 15 year old, Mark Kilima. Wiles worked for this young boy’s family out on their farm for a long time. One day, 15 year old, Mark caught Wiles stealing from the house. Wiles didn’t want to get caught so he stabbed Mark 24 times and left the butcher knife stuck in his back. Wiles then left the state, heading toward Georgia. After a while. Wiles wound up turning himself in for the murder. It sounds like Wiles knew he did something wrong and didn’t intentionally kill Kilima, but the victim didn’t get a choice for his life so why should Wiles get the choice for his? Execution just shows that the rules still apply with serious offenses like this one.
What does the death penalty do to others? How will the next generation learn from the death penalty? Well for one, the death penalty is showing everyone that creating a serious offense will cost you the ultimate price. There has to be some kind of punishment or this world would be in chaos. If there’s no rules or laws to show us right from wrong, then murder cases and rape cases will increase. People will think if they’re not going to take their life because they just killed someone, then how is murder wrong? The death penalty also provides population control. The population of humans is skyrocketing every year because there are more birth rates than death rates. Our population capacity doesn’t balance out like other animals do. When there are more animals in a group and not enough food to feed them all, it’s obvious that some of those animals will die off. It’s the same when there is more food to feed a lower populated amount of animals. If there is plenty of food, then all the animals will eat till all the foods gone. There are different variables in life to survive. Whether that variable is enough food or not enough food for a certain amount of animals. It always balances out because that’s what nature intended the population control to be. The death penalty is just another variable to decide life or death in humanity’s population. The reason why is because we as humans have decided that that is the punishment for serious offenders.
One of the biggest problems that society looks at is the cost for putting people to death. They also think that the cost for putting inmates to death is more efficient than keeping them alive in prison. This topic is rally inhumane because who in the right mind chooses money over a humans life. Well in some cases people don’t want to waste the governments money on someone who doesn’t deserve it. Take David Alan Gore for instance, he was a messed up person and lost his right to live in this society. If he were just sentenced to life in prison without parole, he would be one out of many living off the money the government uses to keep them alive.
People think if there is nothing but minor charged inmates then it’s fine, but a person who is in and out constantly and will never learn should just be executed. It would save this society time and money. It costs around 137 million dollars per year for the death penalty. It really depends on how may people are executed each year but it is still cheaper than the cost for prison. It costs around 50 billion dollars to house inmates every year. People believe that the cost for housing inmates would drop dramatically if certain people were put on death row and not life in prison. There should be a strike system for inmates. If the same inmate gets out and thrown back in multiple times because of the same offense more than 3 times, then they should be put on death row. It also depends on the offense. If someone keeps getting away with murder, then they obviously haven’t learned from going to prison and should be executed. It seems a little controlling but maybe that will show people the consequence in not learning from serious mistakes.
There will always be a big debate on whether society should keep the death penalty, or should band it. Some arguments include the history of the capital punishment and that we can’t take away our history. Some people that are pro for the death penalty believe it’s right but still needs works. I can consider myself one of those people who think it needs work. Humans will always make mistakes and not every execution will be right. What society needs to do is learn from those mistakes so it won’t happen again. I believe the death penalty will help out society because it has a big factor in living in the U.S. it shows us right from wrong, teaches the next generation what consequence goes with what actions, and it helps get people that don’t deserve the gift of life out of this society. The death penalty will always be a big interest to me because it’s the only ethical argument that both sides have strong opinions about. If people didn’t pay the ultimate price for a inhumane and wrong action, then this society would be a living hell without the capital punishment
Bibliography
Electric Chair
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_chair
May 16, 2012
Death Penalty Information Center
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/executed
May 16, 2012
Crime and Capital Punishment
www.cncpunishment.com/markwaynewiles
May 16, 2012
Prosecuting Attorney
www.clarkprosecutor.org
May 16, 2012
Capital Punishment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/capital_punishment#methods
May 17, 2012