Capital Punishment Essay - Lets Abolish Legalized Killing :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

Let's Abolish Legalized Killing      Ã‚  Ã‚   Capital Punishment in the United States was declared constitutional in 1976 by the Supreme Court. It had been struck down four years prior to 1976 (The Economist 19). There are courts in the United States today that want to abolish capital punishment because the methods used are believed to be cruel and unusual (Creque 51).    The gas chamber execution involves toxic chemicals which "enhances physical trauma to induce death" (Creque 51). A death by hanging may decapitate a person, a firing squad may miss the person and leave him/her to bleed to death, and the electric chair can cook a person to the point of charring and loosening the skin from the bone. While these methods are widely accepted as forms of the death penalty, the procedures can and do go awry.    In 1994, serial killer John Wayne Gacy was executed by lethal injection. This procedure should take no longer than five minutes, but it ended up taking eighteen minutes to complete (Siedeman 52). In 1976, Joseph Tafero was to be executed by electrocution. "When the switch was flipped, six-inch flames and smoke spewed out of Tafero's head" (Siedeman 52). It took an additional two jolts to kill him. These are examples of cruel and unusual punishment.    Some people in the United States believe that capital punishment should not be abolished, just updated and made more efficient. What is suggested is the use of nitrogen asphyxiation which simply puts someone to sleep. This death penalty method would cause no pain or physical trauma (Creque 51). This method of punishment is also cruel and unusual. It is cruel and unusual to make someone believe that they are "just going to sleep" when in they are really being put to death. Creque suggests in this article "Killing With Kindness" that it is okay to punish a human being by this method. What makes this method of punishment any more uncruel and usual?    Many people, including myself, think that the United States should do away with capital punishment all together. Their belief is that the death penalty is racially biased and morally wrong. Many taxpayers believe that capital punishment is more expensive than life in prison.