The death penalty is actually only legal in 32 states not 33. And CNN reported that the lethal injections are harmful and cause unnecessary pain. When the lethal injection to cause muscle paralysis and respiratory arrest, and potassium chloride to stop the heart. This can cause unnecessary pain.

The death penalty is actually only legal in 32 states not 33. And CNN reported that the lethal injections are harmful and cause unnecessary pain. When the lethal injection to cause muscle paralysis and respiratory arrest, and potassium chloride to stop the heart. This can cause unnecessary pain.

The death penalty has already been declared unconstitutional in 18 states. The most recent state to remove the death penalty is Maryland in 2015. This shows how 18 states have already considered the death penalty as cruel and unusual punishment. They are already illegal in these states and unconstitutional are Michigan (1846), Wisconsin (1853), Maine (1887), Minnesota (1911), Alaska (1957) Hawaii (1957), Iowa (1965), West Virginia (1965), North Dakota (1973), District of Columbia (1981), Rhode Island (1984), Massachusetts (1984), Vermont (1987), New York (2004), New Jersey (2007), New Mexico (2009), Illinois (2011), Connecticut (2012) Maryland (2013), Nebraska (2015)

A federal court ruled that California's mode of lethal injection carried a risk that “an inmate will suffer pain so extreme” that it should be considered cruel and unusual. This exemplifies that lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment that causes unnecessary pain.

To begin with, the death penalty shouldn't be allowed under the eighth amendment. For example, CNN reported that all methods are considered cruel and unusual and cause unnecessary pain. The most recent execution was on December 8, 2016, where the execution lasted for 34 minutes. After the lethal injection to Ronald B. Smith, witnesses say that he was coughing and breathing heavily for 13 minutes before finally passing. Overall, the death penalty shouldn't be allowed under the eighth amendment because all methods are causing unnecessary pain.