Should There Be a Constitutional Amendment Banning the Death Penalty? Paper Example

Issue

The death sentence is also referred to as capital punishment. Across the Western nations, United States is the only nation that is practicing the death sentence. The death penalty is permitted in America in which the federal government, the military and also 30 states are using. The existence of the death sentence in America can be drawn to the starting of the American colonies. Across the globe, the death penalty is used by 54 nations. The United States was the first nation to come up with the lethal injection as a technique of killing in which this method has stayed accepted by other five nations across the globe. Between the year 1967 and the year 1977, there were no convictions which were carried out in America. This was as a result of the supreme court hitting down the death sentence rulings in the Furman v. Georgia in the year 1972 which led to a decrease of all the capital punishments which were pending at the time of incarceration. There are different methods which are involved in the process of executing the death penalty. These methods involve the lethal injection in which an individual is vaccinated one or different types of drugs to cause instant death. Electrocution is also another method of death punishment. An individual is seriously injured using the electric shocks or the electric current which pass through the body leading to death. An individual may also be executed using the gas chamber in which he or she is subjected to poisonous gases in an airtight room which caused his or her death. Firing squad is also used as a method of convicting death sentence. Firing squad is used in the military where an individual is fired with bullets so that she can die. Hanging is also used as a capital punishment. Hanging was executed to an individual through the use of a rope in which it was last used in the year 1965. The primary goal of this study is, therefore, to present the two sides pointed out on the issue of death punishment. The paper also presents the main arguments which are used to recognize the key political elements of the debate and also give the recommended course of action on capital punishment.

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The positions

According to president Donald Trump, the death sentence is supposed to be available to discipline individuals such as the drug dealers who have contributed to the opioid disaster. However, the primary question which is an issue to the general public is whether the imposition of the death sentence is reliable with the constitution (Sander, Gen,2018). On the side of those individuals who view the inconsistency of the death sentence argues that the death sentence infringes the eighth amendment's injunction on harsh and penalties which are unusual. However, the highest court of law has not yet agreed on the argument that the death sentence is constitutional because those who published the eighth and the 14th Amendments had expectations that it would be imposed ((Tabak, Ronald 2017). The use of capital punishment in the nations which allow it has both its advantages and disadvantages. Some of the advantages of the death sentence include:

• Prevent evil individuals to carry out odious crimes.

The death sentence is very useful in the process of crime prevention. About the death penalty advocates, capable convicts will be frightened to suffer punitive punishment and the outcome the hesitation of the offenders to convict crimes such as murder or rape.

• It is the type of sentence that the hardened convicts deserve.

Most of the crimes which lie under the capital penalties include rape, murder in which it relies on the nation allowing the conviction (Gupta,2013). Therefore, some of the individuals who cannot be changed by the act of incarceration are put to death to the project the common.

• The state does not require to disburse for criminals who are killers.

Lack of the death sentence allows the criminals who have convicted grave crimes to stay in prisons serving their life sentences. Therefore, according to some critics, using the money for the individuals obligating odious crimes is unreasonable and a waste of the money of the taxpayer.

• It minimizes the number of crimes convicted

Individuals who support the death penalty argue that without it, the number of the significant wrongdoings such as murder and homicide will increase due to the aspect of the ill individuals being not in fear of doing whatever they require to do. Therefore, without the capital sentences for the crimes they have committed, the offenders will be using the advantages of the weaker individuals and victims.

• It is humane, safe and clean

Advocates for the capital sentences argue that with the use of the lethal injection being used by most of the states and nations as a form of executing death, it is a better choice. Death which is caused by lethal injection is not brutal when compared to other forms of death sentence such as firing squad or hanging.

Disadvantages of the death penalty include:

• It does not discourage crime

Criticizers give arguments that the death sentence does not discourage criminals from the act of committing crimes. This is due to the result of the individuals who are viewed to suffer from mental sicknesses in which the death penalties are not able to avert them from doing some of the wrong things they are not in a chance to control without proper medication.

• It can lead to the conviction of the wrong individuals

The legal structures in the nations and states which allow the death penalties have errors. This is because of the presence of many individuals being sent to jail and convicted of wrongdoings they have not carried out.

• It costs the government a lot of money

Critics of the issue of the death sentence argue that feeding the convicts in their life imprisonment is more expensive when compared to the death sentence.

• It can lead to depression and feelings of guilt on individuals

Individuals who have been involved in the practice of the death penalties suffer from depression which is out of guilt of ending the life of another individual which in turn leads to these individuals committing suicide.

• It is not humane and it isn't supposed to conduct

The fact that death sentence is not humane comes from the aspect of the individual who endured the lethal injection and did not pass away the in the right way in which it took him more than half an hour for him to pass away from the heart attack. Critics of the death sentence, therefore, argue that it is not a humane thing to do.

Public opinion

From the representation above, the number of public support on the death penalty has increased from the year 1996. Currently, 54% of the Americans favor the death sentence for the individuals who are convicted with homicide while 39% are opposed about the Pew Research Center survey. In the year 2016, 49% of the American favored the death penalty for the individuals who are convicted with homicide which was the smallest level of support for the death sentence in surveys which were carried out back to the early 1970s. Since the mid of the 1990s, the backing for the capital sentence has decreased between the Democrats and the independents but it has remained strong among the Republicans (Dieter, Richard, 2018). 77% of the Republicans support the death sentence when compared to the 52% of independents and 35% of the Democrats. From the year 1996, the favor of the death sentence has decreased from 79% to 52% and among the Democrats, it has decreased from 71% to 35%. By disparity, the share of the Republicans supporting death reduced from 87% to 77%.

However, the support of the death sentence has for a long time been divided by gender and also race. According to the survey, 61% of men support death sentence while 34 % oppose it. 46% of the women support the death sentence while 45% oppose it. According to the whites, 59% support the death sentence when compared to the 36% of the blacks and 47% of the Hispanics.

Interest groups position

One the interest group on the death penalty include the Amnesty International. According to Amnesty International, the death sentence is a vital rejection of mortal rights. It is the deliberate and innocent murdering of a person through the government of the nation. It is also harsh, inhuman, a demeaning sentence which is carried out in the name of justice ((Devlin, Kat,2015). It also goes against the right to life. The group, therefore, compete against the capital sentence in all the circumstances irrespective of the type of the wrong-doing carried out by a criminal, the character of the criminal or the type employed by the state to murder the criminal (Catron, Rebecca, 2018). Another group on the issue of the death sentence is justice for all. The position of Justice for all is that if the criminals are convicted and there is no preventive effect, the action of executions has murdered a lot of criminals. If they do not convict the criminals in which doing so would prevent other criminals, they have permitted the murdering of a lot of innocent victims in which the group risks their former action which is, however, a tough decision.

Partisan considerations

77% of the Republicans currently support the death sentence, 52% of the independents support the death sentence while 35% of the Democrats support the death sentence. From the year 1996, there has been a decrease of the supporters in each of the parties (Walker, Mason 2015). The supporters of the death sentence among the independents decreased from 79% to 52%. The support of the Democrats decreased from 71% to 35% while the supporters of the death sentence among the Republicans dec...