The Death Penalty
AJS/552 WK 4
Professor: Joseph Laronge
March 31, 2015
By: Tammy J Argie

In a time when the people ask that all crimes be punished in some way shape or form the one that has caused the most controversy is the death penalty or also known as capital punishment. Whether on is for or against the death penalty we must remember it has been around since the late eighteenth century B.C. All crimes in that time were punished by death no matter what the crime was. When William the Conquer ruled he allowed only hangings to take place for murders and nothing else (Part 1: History of the death penalty, 2015). The first person to convicted and killed under a death penalty law was Captain George Kendall for being accused of being a spy for Spain. As times changed so did the laws for the death penalty as well as the methods. When hanging, crucifixion, burning alive, drowning, and impalement where used new methods over the years have changed. The use of the electric chair was built in 1860 but began being used in 1890. The first execution by the electric chair was William Frances Kemmler who was convicted of murdering his lover (Part 1: History of the death penalty, 2015). This would be the method used for years to come. As the years progressed and laws changed so did the sentencing of crimes and the death penalty. The last person to date that was electrocuted in the electric chair was Robert Gleason on January 16th of 2013 (Daily mail, 2013). Robert Gleason wanted to be executed and told the corrections officers that he would continue to kill and hurt other inmates until the killed him. Other executions that were performed were by lethal injection. This was said to be less invasive and not as cruel. It was said to be quick and painless but when it was recently used to execute Clayton Lockett we were shown different. It was long, drawn out and painful. According to reports sixteen minutes after the injection he was still alive (Wallace-Wells, 2014). Lockett was reportedly dead forty-five minutes after the injection had taken place. This was something that was not anticipated and has been the reason for bring back the debate over the death penalty. Many felt that after this incident that the death penalty falls under the cruel and unusual punishment. Over the past one hundred years there has been much documentation of botched executions that not only prove that executions do not always go as planned but that when it comes to death some are more stubborn and hard-wearing that others. According to studies 3 % of the hangings that were done did not go well, about 2% of electrocutions did not go as planned, and more than 5 % of gassings were botched as well. Lethal injections were even at a higher percentage rate of 7% for being botched than any other form of execution
(Wallace-Wells, 2014). With examples like these who can blame most of America for wanting to do away with the death penalty. The government wanted to find was to make executions less horrific and human. So with the proper research they felt that lethal injection would be a perfect solution. The process was thought to be simple. First the inmate would be strapped down to a gurney then given what is known as a paralytic who will paralyze the inmate to where they are unable to show any pain or move. Once they are sure that the inmate is sedated the will begin to inject lethal doses of drugs in to their system which will cause death. They will ruin it to complications that they will have to account for in order to ensure that there are no mistakes. Such complications like anything else are obesity and clogged veins. Once these factors are seen too then they can proceed. They were wrong when they thought this was the quickest and less painful way to execute a prisoner but they were proven otherwise (Wallace-Wells, 2014). As listed above 7% of lethal injections went wrong and with one inmate still on death row because of the botched attempts.