Death Penalty Debate

The death penalty has been around in the United States for decades and has been a debated topic over the last thirty or forty years. But after a lethal injection went wrong in Oklahoma a few days ago people are again questioning if this is “cruel and unusual punishment” which is illegal under the American Constitution. There are some problems with the process of the death penalty and some states have outlawed the action but is it cruel and unusual punishment? And what are the consequences of the death penalty as a whole.

            According to FOX News, an execution went haywire in Oklahoma after a new substance for the lethal injection was introduced. An inmate was injected with the new substance and after falling unconscious experienced heavy breathing and convulsions from the injection. After this occurred the inmate experienced cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead. This has brought up a lot of debate whether this was “humane” for the inmate to experience such a horrific death. But what people have to think about is what that person might have done to get into that situation in the first place. The inmate that was killed shot and killed a man after he was getting caught robbing a house. After that he buried the guy with two accomplices hoping that the body would never be found. What he did was cruel and unusual.

            I am not saying that convicted felons should all go through a time of torture because that should not be the case. But defending the criminal after doing such a harmful thing not only to the man killed but to his family is a bit crazy. The killer should have no room to talk about any type of punishment and if he wouldn’t have done such a thing in the first place he would not be in the situation to be executed. Defending a killer or rapist for what they did is ridiculous. A person has the decision to kill a person and the victim might not be able to do anything about it. The killer should get a fair trial but should not be defended after being convicted.

            The death penalty is in no way a cruel way of punishing people. If people are going to be stupid enough to kill another person out of cold blood or rape some innocent person they need to be stopped. If people know the consequences of their actions crime could go down. The more strict rules we have against these types of crime will make sure that people will not do them. It keeps everybody in check and makes sure that every victim get the justice that they deserve.