Mazariegos 1

Johnny Mazariegos
Lit 9
Mrs.Murray
3rd Block
Punishment in the U.S
Death penalties has been around since the eighteenth century. During those days hanging was
what was being used more than any other method. These extreme matters of punishment has
evolved from hanging to the electric chair to lethal injection. Which by far is the most used way
of executing someone in present day. Even though gas chambers, firing squads,and hanging still
exist to this very day.
Many who receive death penalties either have committed treason, terrorism,federal
murder,etc.These executions may be used to prevent later damage that the person may cause
once he or she has been released from prison. The government wants to make sure the public
stays safe and will no longer have the threat around. Therefore having to execute the culprit and
having their hostile actions to cease.
Around the twentieth century, decapitation was being used to execute their prisoners in
Britain. That have committed serious kinds of burglary. Sometimes their government would use
Tower Hill to execute the person who they called traitors. As soon as the beheading was over
they would recover the head and state Behold the head of a traitor! Thus showing the crowd
what actions would be taken place to those who commit treason or any other serious type of
crime.
The abolitionist movement gave a huge impact on how executions were processed. It began
with an essay that changed it all and gave a voice to those opposing the government of taking

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away a life. Cesare Beccarias essay written in seventeen sixty-seven discussed Crimes and
Punishment. This essay made its way around the world and even impacted the U.S. In which
Thomas Jefferson created a bill to revise Virginias death penalty laws.
Mostly all states in the u.s use lethal injection but only a few still proceed executions with
gas,firing squad or electrocution. Florida uses electrocution which involves the offender tied
down to an oak chair with a metal head piece and their calves strapped to the chair. The process
starts with two-thousand volts to a thousand and then to two-thousand volts. If the person is not
dead the cycle will repeat.
Utah can use a firing squad to kill a small group of prisoners. The squad usually consists of
three to six people oftenly aiming at the offenders chests. This was the traditional method used
but this had changed. The offender is strapped down facing the opposite direction of the shooter.
Restraints are used to keep the offender in place which are placed on the legs,arms,and head.
Gas executions require the inmate to be put in a chamber and placed in a chair where he or
she will be restrained. Then a mask will be placed on them and a metal container under the chair
will contain gases in which will be mixed with another gas producing a lethal gas. The person
can be declared dead within six to eighteen minutes. As soon as it's over a type of gas is released
to neutralize the deadly gas and fans are also equipped. In to kill a mockingbird Atticus is
sentenced to death. But he really doesn't mind. What gets to him is how they sentence him to
death with little evidence of the case. Scout states he did not have any quarrel with the rape
statute, none what ever, but he did
have deep misgivings when the state asked for and the jury gave a death penalty on purely
circumstantial evidence.

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Capital punishment has been around longer than we think. It's been used to get rid of threats
in our community. This is done to help restore balance to help society reach its normal state.
Every year about thirty to forty people are executed. The total of deaths due to execution has
decreased since nineteen seventy two. The way of killing somebody for crimes has been thought
of wrong. Many begun a movement to change the way the process is carried out. Leading to
revision of those laws and having them to be changed. Giving the protestors somewhat of what
they asked for.
In nineteen ninety three, a tragic incident occurred.
A killing of four employees and one survivor took place in what children see as a wonderland. A
local Chuck E. Cheeses experienced chaos when a former employee came to the restaurant and
hid in a bathroom until it closed. His name is Nathan Dunlap, he killed his former comrades and
in doing stole merchandise and money from the establishment.
Sometimes death penalties can be postponed either because the governor of the state the
inmate is found in has chose too. Take this case for example. Nathan Dunlap was convicted for
killing four employees at Chuck E. Cheese's. His execution was put on hold due to the governor
John Hickenlooper giving dunlap a temporary reprieve. Since the present governors term will
be over soon. A new governor could push it forward making Dunlaps execution to arrive
ahead of time of the reprieve.

Citations
Capital Punishment by the United States Federal Government. Wikipedia, Wikimedia
Foundation, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/
capital_punishment_by_the_united_states_federal_government.

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Election Results Favor Colorado Death Row Inmate. CNN, Cable News Network, 2014,
http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/31/us/death-row-stories-dunlap.
Methods of Execution. Methods of Execution, The Clark County Prosecuting Attorney,
http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/methods.htm.
Part I: History of the Death Penalty. DPIC, http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/part-i-historydeath-penalty.
Part II: History of the Death Penalty. DPIC, 14 Aug. 2015,
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/part-ii-history-death-penalty#recentdev.