8th Amendment - Cruel and Unusual Punishment (Death Penalty)
The death penalty is fair
Side Score: 19
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The death penalty is cruel
Side Score: 20
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OPENING STATEMENT Have you ever been punished at school for doing something wrong? For example, getting a detention for being late to class. A detention is a suitable punishment for being late for class as opposed to being suspended. Next, penalties proportionate to crimes is an important thing, and the 8th amendment protects citizens from cruel or unusual punishment. The death penalty should be allowed under the 8th amendment for various reasons being the method of execution isn’t cruel, the penalty should be relative to the crime, and it should only be used on sane people. Side: The death penalty is fair
Capital punishment should be allowed under the 8th amendment due to the method of execution not being cool. First, The execution should not add excessive pain. Death by lethal injection is the most common form of execution as it is allowed in 33 states. This is less severe than other methods such as hanging, a firing squad, or electrocution. However, few states allow methods such electrocution, but lethal injection is their main method. Next, physicians are present at executions to make it as least painful as possible. The death penalty should be permitted due its painless execution that is less severe than other methods. Side: The death penalty is fair
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. Side: The death penalty is cruel
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. Side: The death penalty is cruel
ARGUMENT 1 The death penalty should only be used if it is relative to the crime. Otherwise it would be deemed unconstitutional under the 8th amendment. To begin with, since murderers are taking innocent lives, murderers should be punished equally. However, the capital punishment (death penalty) will only be used if it is relative to the crime. For example if the crime reaches to the point of a murder, execution will be the punishment, but if the crime is not as big, for example stealing, breaking laws, etc, it is not proportional to the death penalty. Side: The death penalty is fair
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) Side: The death penalty is cruel
32 states are in favor of the death penalty as it doesn't violate the 8th amendment. Critics of the death penalty try to support their stance with the few states that are opposed to it. The number of states that oppose it are less than 20, which is less than 32. Side: The death penalty is fair
This article shows the death penalty rates depending on the crimes. The only crime that is up for execution other than murder is sexual offenses like rape. This shows that execution is only used when it is very relative to the crime. Rape is illegal and so is murder. They are both really severe crimes, which deserve equally cruel punishments. Side: The death penalty is fair
ARGUMENT 3 Execution is fair because it can only be used on sane people. First, many defendants are mentally ill because they do not know what they’re doing. These mentally ill people aren’t able to participate in court, so the punishment would be cruel. This is why the Supreme Court has declared capital punishment on mentally ill people as a violation of the 8th amendment. This is considered Side: The death penalty is fair
ARGUMENT 4 Furthermore, citizens against the death penalty claim it is racist towards African-Americans, but it isn’t. To start, execution is only used when any person commits a crime adequate for the punishment. Second, 56% of defendants who have received the death penalty are white, 35% are African- American/Black, 7% are Hispanic, and the remaining 2% are of other races. Side: The death penalty is fair
In Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, (1972), the Court invalidated existing death penalty laws because they constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. The Court reasoned that the laws resulted in a disproportionate application of the death penalty, specifically discriminating against the poor and minorities. The Court also reasoned that the existing laws terminated life in exchange for marginal contributions to society. Side: The death penalty is cruel
Mr.Furman did not receive capital punishment because his crime, rape, wasn't a suitable crime for the death penalty. If you read our other arguments you will see that the death penalty is legal relative to the crime. Otherwise it would be deemed unconstitutional under the 8th amendment. For example, a murder would be relative to the punishment Side: The death penalty is fair
CONCLUDING STATEMENT So in conclusion, death penalty should definitely be allowed in the US for many different reasons. It keeps people safe from criminals, it is not painful, it it always relative to the crime, it is only used on sane people and it is not in any way racist. Side: The death penalty is fair
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Opening Statement: “If you try to fix violence with violence, you do nothing but create violence.” The death penalty should not be allowed under the eighth amendment. This is due to the death penalty being a type of cruel and unusual punishment. Side: The death penalty is cruel
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. Side: The death penalty is cruel
The execution should not add excessive pain. Death by lethal injection is the most common form of execution as it is allowed in 33 states. This is less severe than other methods such as hanging, a firing squad, or electrocution. However, few states allow methods such electrocution, but lethal injection is their main method. Side: The death penalty is fair
First of all, the victim for this injection was injected for a reason- committing a serious crime. Second of all, the coughing and the breathing heavily id just the effect of the injection, therefore it does not mean that the victim is in pain. The injection will not work right away with no effects, that is impossible. The injection is supposed to provoke respiratory arrest and musle paralysis. That is the reason why the heavy breathing and the coughing was caused. However no pain was included in the process Side: The death penalty is fair
"In 2008 the U.S. Supreme Court (pdf) upheld a lower court ruling that the state of Kentucky's three-drug method of lethal injection did not constitute "cruel and unusual punishment," as defined by the Eighth Amendment. " -Scientific American
Supporting Evidence:
Cruel and Usual?: Is Capital Punishment by Lethal Injection Quick and Painless
(www.scientificamerican.com)
Side: The death penalty is fair
Capital punishment should be allowed under the 8th amendment due to the method of execution not being cool. First, The execution should not add excessive pain. Death by lethal injection is the most common form of execution as it is allowed in 33 states. This is less severe than other methods such as hanging, a firing squad, or electrocution. However, few states allow methods such electrocution, but lethal injection is their main method. Next, physicians are present at executions to make it as least painful as possible. The death penalty should be permitted due its painless execution that is less severe than other methods. Side: The death penalty is fair
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22 juveniles have been executed between 1985 and 2003. This means that 22 juvenile people have not had the chance to go through life. Juveniles are young people which means that they haven't lived their life yet, so by executing them you take away their life. Instead they should be put in jail for life. John Straffen, Britain's longest serving prisoner, who spent 55 years in prison until his death. Straffen was convicted of murdering two pre-teen girls in 1951. Side: The death penalty is cruel
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22 juveniles have been executed between 1985 and 2003. This means that 22 juvenile people have not had the chance to go through life. Juveniles are young people which means that they haven't lived their life yet, so by executing them you take away their life. Instead they should be put in jail for life. John Straffen, Britain's longest serving prisoner, who spent 55 years in prison until his death. Straffen was convicted of murdering two pre-teen girls in 1951. Side: The death penalty is cruel
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There are over 100 people who have been sentenced to life in jail instead of being executed. (Ian Brady) (Mira Hindley) (Donald Neilson) (Trevor Hardy) (Robert Maudsley) and so many others have been sentenced to life in jail and all died in jail instead of being executed which means they got to live their lives. Side: The death penalty is cruel
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