“The jury finds the defendant guilty, I hereby announce that Shawn Mendoza will be in five years of imprisonment and eight years on death row. ” Shawn’s pupils dilated twice their size as the Judge’s words rang inside his ears. He slowly turned back to see his friends and family frozen in shock. They knew he was innocent; it was all a misunderstanding. Shawn’s wife, Celeste, had watery eyes that broke Shawn’s heart when he looked into them. The security handcuffed Shawn and walked him out of the room while his friends and family starred until he was no longer seen.
There are criminals who commit small crimes, then there are other criminals who commit worse crimes. Even though the majority of people thinks criminals that commit awful crimes deserve to be sentenced to death, there are still those who oppose it. Over half the percentage of Americans favor the death penalty, but the opinions of the rest matter too. Death penalties are wrong because no one ever deserves to die no matter what they have done. Criminals have friends and family too, who might end up hurting and suffering.
In some cases the person who is accused of being guilty might end up being innocent after all. Judges have made mistakes of sentencing someone to death and they have done nothing wrong. Once the death penalty has been set and done, there is no way it can be taken back. People should not be sentenced to death because it is against the Ten Commandments, ‘Thou shall not murder,’ criminals also have loved ones, and some accusations turn out to be wrong. Death Penalty might sound like a bad, wrong and cruel idea to people who are against it, but it also has its pros just like how it as its cons.
The pros on death penalty are that the person sentenced to death for committing a very bad crime gets what he or she deserves and pays for what he or she has done. J. Budziszewski PHD says that society is justly ordered when each person receives what is due to him. Many people, including Budziszewski, think criminals should be put down for disturbing peace by taking lives and liberties. Many of their opinions are that if the criminal commits a big crime they should be executed to pay for what they have done. Budziszewski states that the death penalty is not revenge as all, that it is retribution which is guided by a different motive.
Retribution and revenge are two different things. Retribution is a punishment inflicted on someone as vengeance for a wrong or criminal act. Revenge is the action of inflicting hurt or harm on someone for an injury or wrong suffered at their hands. Revenge usually comes from someone who is in pain and has a hatred in their heart. “Retribution is the primary purpose of just punishment as such rehabilitation, protection, and deterrence have a lesser status in punishment than retribution. ” (Budziszewski, 2004). There are different kinds of executions even though some have been banned due to how inhumane they were.
Death penalty has been around for many years. It started off in the 1700s BC and is still around today. Some common execution method examples are lethal injection, chair electrocution, and gas chamber. These execution methods have evolved during the time. Back then they used to decapitate prisoners, shoot them while blindfolded, hang them, or tie their arms and legs to horses and pull them apart. In 1977 Oklahoma was the first state to adopt lethal injection. Charles Brooks was the first man to get executed by lethal injection. They executed him in Texas on December 2nd 1982.
Lethal injection is used by injecting needles inside the condemned person’s veins. If this person has damaged veins from drug usage, it may end up being very painful. These needles carry three drugs which are an anesthetic or sedative, followed by pancuronium bromide. This paralyses the entire muscle system and the person’s breathing. The last drug it carries is potassium chloride to stop the heart. “The lack of medical participation can be problematic because often injections are performed by inexperienced technicians or orderlies. ” (Ecenbarger, 1994 and Weisberg, 1991).
The first city to build the electric chair was New York in 1880. William Kemmler was the first person to be executed in this chair ten years after it was built. The way this electric chair was used was by placing the person on it tied with belts. A moistened sponge was placed on their head to attract electricity. Without the sponge the person would just burn to death. The executioner would pull a handle to connect to the power supply. 500 to 2000 volts of electricity would be given and lasted about thirty seconds. Doctors would wait for the body to cool off and then would check to see if the heart was still beating.
If it was, they would just repeat the process over and over again until the heart would completely stop. “…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 stretch 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).
In 1924 Nevada became the first state in America to have a gas chamber. The first person to be executed in the gas chamber was Gee John. In the gas chamber execution the condemned person is strapped in a chair similar to the electric chair execution method. The chamber is airtight and sealed. They pull a lever releasing gas, which releases crystals of sodium cyanide. The process goes by faster if the prisoner breathes deeply, but some try to hold their breath. The prisoner then dies slowly and painfully.
Doctors and executioners started wondering if this execution was painful, so before Caryl Chessman’s execution in the gas chamber, he said that he would nod his head if it hurt. Witnesses said he nodded his head for several minutes. “Dr. Richard Traystman of John Hopkins University School of Medicine says, ‘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. ’” (Weisberg, 1991). Sixty-two percent of Americans are okay with the death penalty while only twenty-six oppose it.
Those who oppose the death penalty feel that revenge is not the best answer. Death penalty is also very expensive. In some cases where the death penalty is sought costs around $1. 26 million. Just because a criminal killed someone does not mean they should die as well. They might even not be guilty at all. Having someone executed will not take the crime back or reverse what the criminal has done. Execution is just a way of showing hatred and how a person could hold onto a grudge so tight. For example, if a person accused someone of murder, sentencing them to death would be ironic.
Wanting someone to die because they killed someone else does not make sense because it is almost the same thing. That person paying for the execution to be done is just as guilty as a murderer. It is not right to kill no matter how many people see it as justice. No one has the right to play God in this world. No one should have the right to decide whether a person deserves to live or not. Also, no one should have the power to choose another person’s faith. “When the consequences are life and death, we need to demand the same standard for our system of justice as we would for our airlines. ” (Russ, 2000).
