Death Penalty

The death penalty has been a controversy for decades regarding the procedures in the aspect of humanity. The opposing standpoint states, its immoral and wrong. The favoring standpoint believes an eye for an eye should be enforced. In the U.S. all states vary in what charges can be a capitol crime. In Arizona first degree murder can be tried as a capitol crime. There are two different types of first degree murder. The first is premeditated murder, which is causing another death of a human being. The second is felony murder, which is a death that occurs while the defendant committed another offense, including sexual conduct with a minor, sexual assault, child molestation, felony drug offenses, kidnapping, burglary, arson, robbery, escape, child abuse, and unlawful flight from law enforcement. The death penalty has been recorded to have gone on as early as the fifth century B.C. The first recorded execution in the United States occurred in 1608 in Virginia. There is a particular process that must occur in order to place someone on death row. Once the police have reason to believe a person who committed a capital crime they arrest the individual. If the case seems to have enough evidence to show a capital crime was committed, the District Attorney asks that a court trial date is set in a county felony court or district court that tries capital cases. At this point it is decided whether or not the person is eligible for bail by the judge. Next comes the trial, once you have been convicted of a capital crime the case then goes to the penalty phase. This is where the jury decides whether

the death penalty should be imposed also where sentence of death is actually pronounced. The inmate is then transferred to the prison where death row is located. Once on death row, you are allowed one appeal. However, this can take years because the appeal has to go through multiple steps. After a judgment of death has been pronounced, a defendant's appeal process must pass through four levels of reviewing his conviction and sentence before the state can kill the individual. The first is Automatic Appeal, the second is State Habeas Corpus Petition, the third is Federal Habeas Corpus Petition, and the fourth is Clemency. The appeal process is part of the citizen's Constitutional Rights, and demands that a defendant has access to every level of America's court system, which is called Due Process. Once the appeal has been denied an execution date is set. Execution method depends on the state the convict is in. Prior to the actual execution, the prisoner is often allowed a visit with family, allowed a visit with a minister or priest, and a last meal. There have been 1246 executions since the 1970s. 34 out of 50 states allow the death penalty. The other 16 states do not allow the death sentence. The methods of execution vary, such as lethal injection, lethal gas, starvation, firing squad, electrocution, and hanging. In the United States, lethal injection is most common. Currently in Arizona lethal injection is used for anyone who is sentenced after 11/15/92, those sentenced before that date may select lethal injection or lethal gas.

In 1982, the United States became the first country on Earth to perform executions by lethal injection as a means of capital punishment. The lethal injection was first brought up by Julius Mount Bleyer in 1888 as a cheap alternative to hanging. In 1977, Oklahoma became the first state to adopt lethal injection as a means of execution. Charles Brooks would become the first person executed by lethal injection in Texas on December 2, 1982. Brooks went to a car lot wanting to test drive a car. A mechanic accompanied him on the drive. Brooks stopped to pick up a co-defendant. The mechanic was put in the trunk of the car. Brooks and his co-defendant went to a motel. The mechanic was brought out of the trunk and taken into a motel room. The mechanic was bound with coat hangers, gagged with adhesive tape, and shot in the head, causing his death. Brooks and the co-defendant fled the scene. When this method is used, the person is bound to a gurney and a member of the execution team puts several heart monitors on this skin. Two needles are then inserted into usable veins in the inmates arms. Long tubes connect the needle through a hole in a cement block wall to several drips. The first is a harmless saline solution. Then, at the warden's signal, a curtain is raised showing the inmate to the witnesses in an adjoining room. Next, the inmate is injected with sodium thiopental -an anesthetic, which puts the inmate to sleep. Next flows the pancuronium bromide, which paralyzes the entire muscle system and stops the inmate's breathing. Finally, the potassium chloride stops the heart. Death results from anesthetic overdose respiratory and cardiac arrest while the person is unconscious. A doctor will then see if the inmate is dead. If a member

of the execution team injects the drugs into a muscle instead of a vein, or if the needle becomes clogged, extreme pain can result. Many prisoners have damaged veins resulting from drug use and it is sometimes difficult to find a usable vein, resulting in a long wait while the inmate remains strapped to the chair. Lethal gas was first used and created by Nazi Germany. In 1924, lethal gas was introduced as Nevadas humane way of executing its inmates. Gee Jon, who was a gang member, was the first person executed by lethal gas. Gee was sentenced to death for the murder of an elderly member from another gang. The state tried to pump cyanide gas into Jon's cell while he slept. The gas leaked from his cell, so the gas chamber was made. Five states allow lethal gas as a method of execution, but all have lethal injection as an alternative method. For execution by lethal gas, the condemned person is strapped to a chair in an airtight chamber. Below the chair rests a pail of sulfuric acid. A long stethoscope is attached to the inmate so that a doctor outside the chamber can pronounce the death. Once everyone has left the chamber, the room is sealed. The warden then gives a signal to the executioner who pushes the button that releases crystals of sodium cyanide into the pail. This causes a chemical reaction that releases hydrogen cyanide gas. The prisoner is instructed to breathe deeply to speed up the process. Most prisoners, however, try to hold their breath, and struggle. The inmate does not lose consciousness immediately

Looking for a more humane method of execution than hanging, New York built the first electric chair in 1888, and executed William Kemmler in 1890. He was convicted for killing a woman. Soon, after other states adopted this execution method. Today, electrocution is not used as the first method of execution choice in any state. For execution by the electric chair, the person is shaved and strapped to a chair with belts that cross his chest, legs, and arms. A metal skullcap-shaped electrode is attached to the scalp and forehead over a sponge moistened with saline. The sponge cannot be too wet or the saline shortcircuits the electric current and cannot be too dry, or it would then have a very high resistance. An additional electrode is moistened with conductive jelly and attached to a portion of the prisoner's leg that has been shaved to reduce resistance to electricity. The prisoner is then blindfolded, and the warden then signals the executioner, who pulls a handle to connect the power supply. A jolt of 2,000 volts is given, which lasts for about 30 seconds. The current is turned off when the body is relaxed after being shocked. The doctors wait a few seconds for the body to cool down and then check to see if the inmate's heart is still beating. If it is, another jolt is applied. This process continues until the prisoner is dead. The prisoner's hands often grip the chair and there may be violent movement of the limbs which can result in dislocation or fractures. The body tissues swell and steam or smoke rises and there is a smell of burning. The prisoner's eyeballs sometimes pop out and rest on the cheeks of the person. 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

stretches to the point of breaking. Sometimes the prisoner catches fire and the sickly sweet smell of burning flesh fills the chamber. There are third degree burns with blackening where the electrodes met the skin of the scalp and legs. This method of execution is very painful. I have never really given a lot of thought to the death sentence and my standpoint on the conviction. I agree with an eye for an eye. Although some death row inmates state they feel pain and are remorseful for the choices they have made. However what did their victim feel? Their victim no longer has a voice because a malicious person took their life and wants to claim they understand how their victim felt!? It is the victims family that has to deal with pain and sorrow each day just because someone chose to commit such a hatred crime. It is for those reasons I am for the death penalty.

Death Penalty

Megan Studebaker Period 2

Websites Used http://usliberals.about.com/od/deathpen alty/i/DeathPenalty.htm http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/

http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/ http://www.balancedpolitics.org/death_p enalty.htm http://www.deathpenalty.org/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_puni shment http://www.adc.state.az.us/