Pro Death Penalty Essay

He tried to flee, and while doing so tripped and fell. The gun that he carried went off and killed a resident of the home. He was eventually convicted of murder and sentenced to death. The question in this case is, “Is the imposition and carrying out of the death penalty in this case cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments?” Reasons for Majority

This lead to the death penalty being ruled illegal within the United States in 1976 for a while, but the Supreme Court later ruled “that the death penalty was allowed only in the event that the sentencing was delivered at the time of the trial and that the jury who had sentenced the individual to death was determined to review the details of the case.”

Roper V Simmions, Falls under the 8th amendment cruel and unusual punishment. In Roper V Simmions there was a 17 year old boy with a mental disabitliy who commited a premediated murder was orginally being tried for the death penalty. In this case however there was another individual who did assist in the murder. He wasnt declared “mentally fit” for the trial but some felt his crimes were heneous enough to warrent the death penalty.

Justice Brennan found the death penalty is in all circumstances cruel and unusual punishment prohibited by the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, Justice Marshall found the death penalty is a cruel and unusual punishment prohibited by the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, Justice Powell found that death is disproportionate punishment for the crime of raping an adult woman where, as here, the crime was not committed with excessive brutality and the victim did not sustain serious or lasting injury (Coker v Georgia, 433 U.S. 584, 1977). The United States Supreme Court reversed the decision by the lower courts even though, not all were in agreement saying the sentence of death for rape would be disproportionate and excessive punishment making the sentence unconstitutional. Justice Powell disagreed because he believed the plurality had gone too far in holding that capital punishment is always a

Which resulted in the states changing their death penalty to function with the court ruling. Also, it made the prisons have more economic problems and overpopulated. The death penalty was itself not unconstitutional, but the way it was administered constituted cruel and unusual punishment. Mistakes were made , and the people(courts) tried to avoid more wrong executions.

The question then asked before the justices was whether or not capital punishment for the crime of rape was “cruel and unusual punishment” under the Eighth Amendment. The Court found that the death penalty was not invariably cruel and unusual punishment when referencing the Eighth Amendment. However, in the case of Coker v. Georgia the Court did find that the sentence of death was grossly disproportionate and is an excessive punishment for the crime; therefore, it is forbidden by the Eighth Amendment as cruel and unusual punishment (Brody & Acker, 2010, p. 55). At the time of the case in question, the majority of States had ever authorized the use of death for the offense of rape (Brody & Acker, 2010, p. 55). In the case of Furman v. George, under that ruling most of the capital punishment statues in the United States had become invalidated, including rape

The Supreme Court has observed that a method of execution violates the Eighth Amendment if it inherently involves “torture or a lingering death” or is “inhuman and barbarous.” This was brought into question in the case of Glossip V. Gross when Oklahoma introduced the drug midazolam as a new execution drug. The case also brings into question whether the court is required to supply a form of execution when the government cannot find one itself. In Baze v. Rees the three-drug protocol was observed for lethal injection by at least 30 states, where barbiturate, an anesthesia that causes the person to go unconscious and two other drugs which paralyzed the prisoner eventually causes them to go into cardiac arrest.

The issue in this case is whether the imposition of the sentence of death for the crime of murder under the law of Georgia violated the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. Gregg argued that the sentencing procedure allows for arbitrary grants of mercy that reflects a misinterpretation and ignores the reviewing authority of the Georgia Supreme Court to determine whether each death sentence is proportional to other sentencing for similar crimes. Gregg was pleading for a life sentence instead of death. Georgia argued that the statute did not constitute a cruel and unusual punishment and did not violate the Eighth and Fourteenth amendments. Georgia also argued and proved that there must be specific jury findings as to the circumstances of the crime to determine whether the death sentence was fair for the case.

1) The reason why the death penalty in Florida was determined to be unconstitutional were due to the U.S. Supreme Court believing judges had too much power in deciding whether someone should be sentenced to death, or receive the lesser penalty of life. Legislators decided to require only ten out of twelve jurors to agree imposing a death sentence in regard to capital criminal cases, when the law was changed earlier this year. While Florida legislators believed their system was rational, the state's high court opposed. The U.S. Supreme Court declared in January that judges had too much say in sentencing someone to death, when constitutionally it was the jury alone.

Oshinsky did a remarkable job explaining the history of the death penalty in a clear and concise way. While the text was fairly short, he effectively provided his readers with well documented and relevant information on how controversial the death penalty has been throughout the past few centuries. He undertook an exceptionally important issue that many Americans do not know much about, or may have conflicting feelings

One of the problems that was the way it was administered. Justice Douglas stated that the death penalty violates the eighth amendment because if the death penalty discriminates against people

Suspending the Death Penalty In 1972 in Furman v. Georgia, Jackson v. Georgia, and Branch v. Texas (known collectively as the landmark case Furman v. Georgia (408 U.S. 238), the issue of unpredictability of the death penalty was again be conveyed before the Supreme Court. Capital Cases results in in arbitrary and capricious sentencing, said Furman. Under the Eighth Amendment, Furman was a challenge, different to McGautha which is a Fourteenth Amendment due process claim. By a vote from 5 to 4 and in 9 separate opinions, the court apprehended that Georgia’s death penalty decree could result in haphazard condemning, which bequeathed the jury widespread sentencing discretion.

Although the methods of execution have become more humane, transitioning from public hangings to private lethal injections,

Georgia the death penalty was said to be cruel or unusual punishment when used as a punishment for even serious crimes and was claimed Unconstitutional. In Mccleskey v. Kemp the defendant tried to argue that discrimination played a part in how often the death penalty was used. Many people in the judicial system argued this was not the case. When the Supreme Court made its decision it was immediately met with ridicule saying that this showed they were condoning racism. In the case of Gregg v. Georgia the prosecution said that in the case of two murders during a robbery that the capital punishment was not “cruel and unusual” punishment.

The Death Penalty, loss of life due to previous crimes and actions, is believed by some to be extremely costly, inhumane, and cruel unlike some others whom believe it is just, right, and provides closure. The Death Penalty is not a quick and easy process. Most who get sentenced to deaths row wait years for their ultimate punishment of death. Some believe that it is not right to punish and kill a human for actions they have done because, they believe that the inmate should have another chance. Then others believe that it is right to punish someone for their actions especially if their actions involve killing another or multiple humans.