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Persuasive Essay On The Death Penalty

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The Death Penalty has been a long standing part of the American justice system. For many years, the death penalty went without opposition, but as of recently it has gained it’s long overdue mass opposition. The Death Penalty is barbaric, and is costing our nation obscene amounts of money. While one would think that modern-day American citizens would have done away with this method, a good portion of Americans reason that it lowers the crime rate and it provides closure (or rather vengeance) to families of victims. For one, the Death Penalty is inhumane and borderline unconstitutional. The sole reason for why it doesn't violate the 8th Amendment is because the new death penalty law has "objective standards to guide, regularize, and make rationally reviewable the process for imposing the sentence of death”, as stated by Congress. While this answer makes it seem as if the inmates are being executed in these said “rational” manners, this is not the case. The whole point of the lethal injection was to execute the inmates in a painless, humane manner; but in actuality, the lethal injection is nearly as gruesome as a firing squad. For instance, in the case of Charles Walker, an inmate that suffered for two hours, “gurgling” and “gagging” due the executioner’s error in injecting the medicine. His death was so appalling that one witness fainted, disgusted after watching their loved one literally gasp and sputter for their life, for more than an hour. Most states use a combination of three chemicals to kill the inmate, one that knocks them unconscious, followed with one that paralyzes their body, and then finally with an injection that kills the inmate, causing excruciating pain if the medicines are not injected in a precise manner and order. Too often records shows that the injections malfunction, leading to a slow, agonizing death. Not to mention the fact that lethal injection is supposed to be the new, “painless” method, meanwhile states such as Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, and South Carolina still leave ancient methods such as a firing squad, the electric chair, and even hanging as legal options of execution. If our new method is nearly worse than our old ones, shouldn’t that we do away with it

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