Is Abiding by the 8th Amendment Constitutional? The government has laid out an array of civil rights to protect the liberties of the people with the induction of the United States Bill of Rights in 1791. The large majority of these amendments are appropriate and remain prominent in the modernized American governmental system but these basic human rights carry substantial controversy, the most arguable being the eighth. This amendment states that there shall be no cruel or unjust punishments inflicted upon any individual remaining in the borders of the nation, whether long term resident or briefly visited foreigner.
This amendment receives most of its discussion through conversation regarding the death penalty to the detained. In many opinions, lethal injection is supported as fully constitutional as it protects the overarching majority of the population. Lethal injection is deemed constitutional from its gentle characteristics of bringing a quick, mild death, and lightening the horror on the loved ones of victims. In a majority of cases, the injection administered averages a seven-minute work time for organs to enter terminal failure, including heart failure.
Only in a small number of cases did the process take longer than ten minutes. Inside the borders of Arizona, California, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, and Wyoming that permit execution by gas chamber, it can take up to a whopping twenty minutes of agonizing suffocation for the whole process to reach completion. The inmates, who are essentially terminated like bugs, choke and gag prior to the poison consuming their lungs and primary organs, elongating the process immensely.
Considering that those who are doomed to gas chamber execution show an alarming amount of pain for an exorbitantly drawn out period, lethal injection rovides a more human option to the criminal along with releasing the time period but over 10 minutes. Lethal injection, when administered properly, is absent of inflicting pain. This is due to the lengthy list of drugs the executioners are permitted to use to relieve all suffering; this includes an anesthetic, which eliminates all sensations, a neuromuscular blocker, which cuts off all brain to limb communication causing paralysis, and a euthanasia, to shut down all organ function.
As well as being less painful than other forms of execution, lethal injection is an improved method from various others used throughout the years. Another form of execution is hanging which can take up to 40 minutes if the fall from the trap door is too short. This is because there is not enough force to cut off the air way taking longer for the inmate to go into critical condition. On the other hand, if the fall has too much force behind it, it can lead to a decapitation which is extremely disrespectful to the criminal and his/her family.
The extended period for death and excruciating pain these methods hold fueled the unconstitutional marking by the people of the United States. The United States majority sees lethal injection to be a quicker, simplistic way to be put down. As stated in article, Lethal Injection: Is Lethal Injection a Constitutional Method of Execution? , ‘When it is done correctly, lethal injection offers a nearly painless form of execution, they say. That should be considered progress, they [supporters of lethal injection] argue.
They express doubt that inmates suffer as much as they claim to. Supporters add that absolute painlessness is an unrealistic goal. ” Many citizens argue that lethal injection is simply performed incorrectly, essentially deeming it unconstitutional, because prison systems are not funding and hiring outside professionals, therefore the execution holds a higher risk of incorrect procedure. While this request may be fairly reasonable, doctors are prohibited to administer both drugs and advice in how to go about the injection process.
As stated in the article, Spotlight: Doctors and Lethal Injection, “Many physicians–and the professional associations that represent them, such as the American Medical Association (AMA)–hold that taking part in executions violates the oath that physicians take to preserve life. ” In fear of violating the Hippocratic Oath, doctors refuse to take any part other than pronouncing the inmate’s death. A wide range of physicians, anesthesiologists, EMT’s and nurse practitioners will also refuse to participate in the execution in any way due to the damaging of the “healer’s morale”.
While it is obviously arguable and agreeable that medical professionals should be used during this process, it is simply impossible, ruling out a totally pain free execution option. The lack of trained professionals to help in the process leads to prisons having to make the lethal injection process easy, hence the simple three drug system. With all forms of execution, the non-beneficial, parasitical citizens, who have broken the laws set by the majority of the population in the nation, get removed from society indefinitely.
The decision to inflict the penalty of death is weighed extremely heavily due to this process holding mass pain for both the victims and their families. With lethal injection taking the least amount of time to complete full termination, it holds the most respectful option for both the body of the victim and the horror on the family. With no extreme bodily harm apparent on the body of the inflicted, the family gains comfort in the fact that lethal injection holds no disrespectful mutilation of the body, which other forms such as the outdated hanging option hold.
As well as being respectful for the inmate’s family, it also brings a sense of justice to the loved ones of the victims the inmate may have been involved with. For the families of which reprehensible crimes were committed against the victim, it brings them closure knowing the inmate is no longer roaming earth. The death penalty holds an important position in the governmental system by executing all whom preform the most heinous of crimes. The execution option of lethal injection provides the prisoners proscribed to this fate a respectful, virtually painless way to go. With the range of harsh and inhumane routes to take when it omes to execution, whether it be hanging or gas chamber, the lethal injection becomes the most humane and comfortable option for both the victim and their families.
Although penitentiaries do not provide the highest qualified administers or follow the set procedures for directing the event, the simplicity and mildness that injections offer supports the most constitutional perspective based off of the United States governmental documents. With the development and evolution of processes for execution throughout history, at this point in time, lethal injection provides a strong and effective yet humane release from the society and world.
