Capital Punishment
"An execution is not simply death. It is just as different from the privation of life as a concentration camp is from prison. It adds to death a rule, a public premeditation known to the future victim, an organization that is itself a source of moral sufferings more terrible than death. Capital punishment is the most premeditated of murders, to which no criminal's deed, however calculated could be compared. For there to be an equivalency, the death penalty would have to punish a criminal who had warned his victim of the date at which he would inflict a horrible death on him and who, from that moment onward, had confined him at his mercy for months. Such a monster is not encountered in private life." 1 First-degree murder involves the killing of one human being by another with malice aforethought and premeditation. Premeditation means with planning and deliberation. The amount of time needed for premeditation of a killing depends on the person and the circumstances. It must be long enough, after forming the intent to kill, for the killer to have been fully conscious of the intent and to have considered the killing. In thirty-six states, by committing first-degree murder you will be punished with the penalty of death.
The death penalty, no matter which method used, should be abolished. All methods are considered completely inhumane, as demonstrated, and at the same time, the death penalty is utterly illogical. Using the death penalty on condemned prisoners is illogical because, first of all, not all of our government officials are unaffected by crimes concerning race or prejudices, and, thus, innocent people are still condemned to die. Second, capital punishment does not deter future criminals for committing these heinous crimes. People should be punished for the crimes they commit, there is no doubt about that, but in this day-and-age, our government can resort to more humane and logical methods of punishment. Lethal gas is still used in five states to this day. For execution by this method, the condemned person is strapped to a chair in an airtight chamber. Below the chair rests a pail of sulfuric acid. The prisoner is instructed to breathe in deeply the hydrogen cyanide gas. Most prisoners, however, try to hold their breath, and some struggle. The inmate does not lose consciousness immediately. At first there is evidence of extreme horror, pain, and strangling. The eyes pop. The skin turns purple and the victim begins to drool.7 You will be tried, found guilty, condemned to death row where everyday that passes you are fully aware that you are going to die, and finally you will be killed at the hands of another person.
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William Brennan, , Delaware Washington, Utah Idaho, Georgia Nebraska, death penalty, execution method, lethal injection, capital punishment, first-degree murder, intravenous needles injected, execution method inmate, firing squad, first-degree murder punished, electric chair, using death, condemned person, murder punished, using death penalty,
Approximate Word count = 1087
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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