The United States is one of the only
industrialized western nation that still engages in this type of punishment. The death penalty is cruel because it is a relic of the earliest days of penology, when branding, slavery and other forms of corporal punishments were ordinary (American). Sentencing someone to death is unusual because only a random number of convicted murderers in the United States are actually given the death penalty (American). Two states in the United States still authorize the firing squad, where a prisoner is strapped to a chair, hooded and five marksmen are given guns and take aim and fire, only one marksmen has live rounds in the gun, the rest of the bullets are blanks. This form of execution is seen as cruel and unusual which is why it is only legal in two states. The gas chamber is also another form of execution seen as cruel and unusual. Hanging is a form of execution that is still legal in Delaware, New Hampshire and Washington (American). Hanging is also a form which has been seen as cruel and unusual because if the drop is too short there will be a slow agonizing death by strangulation but if the drop is too long than the head will be torn off (American). Legal injection is the most common form of execution. Even with this form being the most common “One cannot know whether lethal injection is really painless and there is evidence that it is not” (American). All five forms of execution that are still legal in the United States (depending on state laws) have all seen as cruel and unusual but yet they are still being used to execute prisoners in a modern society in which prides itself on the equality and fairness of the judicial system in the United States.
industrialized western nation that still engages in this type of punishment. The death penalty is cruel because it is a relic of the earliest days of penology, when branding, slavery and other forms of corporal punishments were ordinary (American). Sentencing someone to death is unusual because only a random number of convicted murderers in the United States are actually given the death penalty (American). Two states in the United States still authorize the firing squad, where a prisoner is strapped to a chair, hooded and five marksmen are given guns and take aim and fire, only one marksmen has live rounds in the gun, the rest of the bullets are blanks. This form of execution is seen as cruel and unusual which is why it is only legal in two states. The gas chamber is also another form of execution seen as cruel and unusual. Hanging is a form of execution that is still legal in Delaware, New Hampshire and Washington (American). Hanging is also a form which has been seen as cruel and unusual because if the drop is too short there will be a slow agonizing death by strangulation but if the drop is too long than the head will be torn off (American). Legal injection is the most common form of execution. Even with this form being the most common “One cannot know whether lethal injection is really painless and there is evidence that it is not” (American). All five forms of execution that are still legal in the United States (depending on state laws) have all seen as cruel and unusual but yet they are still being used to execute prisoners in a modern society in which prides itself on the equality and fairness of the judicial system in the United States.