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Ryan Bell
English 2010
21 September, 2011
Capital Punishment
History
Capital Punishment in the U.S. has been a constant change and reform over the last two
centuries. Immediately after the American Revolution the death penalty was removed from
legislation as punishment for many crimes. In 1846 Michigan was the first state to remove the
death penalty altogether. In 1864 Vermont revoked the fight of local towns and counties to
sentence hanging permitting only state sanctioned executions. Almost all the other states
followed. This was done to restrain overly eager “hanging judges”.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century the electric chair was introduced as a more
humane way of execution. Today lethal injection is the most common form of execution.
Not all executions of prisoners in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s were
ordered by the state. Particularly in the very segregated south, mobs of White citizens controlled
local African-American populations by hanging by hanging African-American men who were
accused (usually falsely) of a crime. These became known as lynching mobs, this type of
execution rose by 1930, these lynch mobs almost ceased, there were 1,676 in that decade.
During the civil Rights movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s prosecutors asked for fewer
death sentences in the midst of the Vietnam War that people were in protest of government
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sanctioned violence. Between 1967 and 1972 there were no executions anywhere in the United
States.
In 1972, in Georgia a case involving a black defendant William Henry Furman, the
United States Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty was unconstitutional. Justice Brennan’s
concurring opinion in the case argued that the death penalty was unconstitutional under the
eighth amendment that disallows “cruel and unusual punishment.” Many thought that this was
the end of the death penalty.
Several of Brennan’s fellow justices, however, left the door open for the death penalty’s
return. These justices’s held that the death penalty would be constitutional if applied equitably to
all the citizens. As the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War ended many state
legislatures sought to satisfy the U.S. Supreme Court by passing legislation that made capital
punishment appear to be fairly administered, many states require that the State Supreme Court
review all death sentences.
In 1976, another Georgia case reached what was a more conservative Supreme Court.
The court held that Georgia’s legislature had insured the death penalty was evenly administered
to Troy Gregg, (later died in a prison break), with this Supreme Court ruling, it followed that all
other states could once again use the death penalty. The first person to be sentenced to death was
a man named John Spenkerink in Florid by way of electric chair.
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In state cases the local prosecutor decides whether to seek the death penalty in criminal
cases.
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There are some people who are not eligible for the death penalty. In 2002 The Supreme
Court determined that executing a mentally retarded criminal violates the ban on “cruel and
unusual punishment” because of their mental handicap. This was determined in Atkins V.
Virginia, U.S. 304 (2002).
In Roper V. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005), The Supreme Court invalidated the death
penalty for all juvenile offenders. The majority opinion pointed to teenager’s lack of maturity
and responsibility, greater incomplete character development. The court ruled that juvenile
offenders assume diminished culpability for their crimes.
Methods
The five most common methods of execution are lethal injection, electrocution, gas
chamber, firing squad, and hanging.
Lethal Injection
In 1977, Oklahoma became the first to adopt the lethal injection as a means of execution;
the condemned is bound to a gurney with a needle injected into their veins. The first of the dose
cocktail is a harmless saline solution that is started immediately. Then the warden signals to
administer the second dose, Pancuronium Bromide, which paralyzes the entire muscle system
and stops breathing. Results from the final dose are an anesthetic overdose and repertory and
cardiac arrest while the condemned is unconscious. Then a doctor enters and certifies death.
Electrocution
New York built the first electric chair in 1888, as a more humane form of execution, the
electric chair was ruled unconstitutional in 2008. The condemned is strapped to a chair with belts
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across the chest, groin, legs, and arms. A metal skullcap shaped electrode is attached to the scalp.
A jelly is administered to the scalp to help with electric flow. The condemned is then blindfolded and the executioner pulls the handle to the power supply, a jolt of 500 to 2000 volts in
administered. The power is then turned off and then relaxes. The doctor waits a few minutes so
the body can cool, then the doctor checks and certifies death.
Gas Chamber
In 1924 the use of Cyanide Gas was introduced in Nevada as a more humane method of
execution. Today five states use the gas chamber as a form of execution. The long stethoscope
affixed to the inmate in an air tight room. The Hydrogen Cyanide Gas is released and the inmate
dies from hypoxia cutting off air to the brain.
Firing Squad
The firing squad still remains a form of execution in Utah. The inmate is bound to a chair
and a black hood is pulled over the inmates head. A doctor locates the inmates’ heart with a
white cloth over it. Standing in an enclosure 20 feet away, five shooters are aimed with .30
caliber rifles preloaded. There are four blanks and one live round. Each shooter aims at the target
and fires. If the shot does not kill the inmate, then the inmate will bleed out slowly.
Hanging
Until the 1890’s, hanging was the primary method of execution, hanging is still used in
Delaware. The inmate is weighed the day before execution so that the proper length of drop for a
quick death. Strangulation could take as long as 45 minutes.
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Immediately before the execution the inmates’ hands and feet are tied and a blindfold is
placed over the eyes. The noose is placed around the neck. The inmate is placed on a trap door
that is opened causing the inmate to fall and this will either break the neck or strangle the inmate
to death.
There are currently 34 states plus the U.S. government and the U.S. military that use the
death penalty leaving 16 states and The District of Columbia that do not.
Murder Rates per
100,000-2009
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
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Work Cited
Cornell Law School. Death Penalty. Law.Cornell.edu/wex/death_penalty. Aug 19, 2010.
Sept 9, 2011.
Mcfeely, William. Trial and Error: Capital Punishment in U.S History.
Historymatters.gmu.edu. Jan, 2001. Sept 9, 2011.
Description of Execution Methods. Deathpenaltyinfo.org. Sept 7, 2011. Sept 9, 2011.
Death Penalty Information Center. Deathpenaltyinfo.org. Sept 7, 2011. Sept 9, 2011.
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