Capital Punishment And The Death Penalty - 2003 Words

Death Penalty What’s burnt to a crisp and did something illegal? Picture a man sitting in a dark room blindfolded with his legs and hands tied. Two thousand volts of electricity are going into his body. It only takes five seconds for this person to die. He is not a victim. He has received what the American justice system calls the worst punishment that can be given. Yet we find Capital Punishment to still be a controversial topic. Capital punishment is a judicially ordered execution of a prisoner for a serious crime, often called a capital crime. Society has very split views on the death penalty, ranging from inhumane to a person should be held accountable in the most severe way for their crimes against society. There are individuals that†¦show more content†¦Scriptures in the Bible say that death should take place for stealing, killing and rape. There are currently several forms of performing an execution, one of them being lethal injection. Oklahoma became the first state in 1977 to make lethal injection a means of execution. Today 32 states that have the death penalty use this method. When this method is used, the inmate is usually restrained on a stretcher and a member of the execution team places several heart monitors on their skin. Two needles are used, one is a back up and the other is inserted into larger veins, usually in the inmate’s arms. Long tubes connect the needle through a hole in a cement block wall to a few intravenous (I.V.) drip bags. The first step is to start a saline solution that is harmless. Then at the warden’s signal, a curtain is raised allowing the inmate to be seen by witnesses from a viewing room. Then, the inmate is injected with sodium thiopental, an anesthetic, which puts the inmate to sleep. The next drugs given are pavulon, or pancuronium bromide. These drugs paralyze the entire muscle system, which stops the inmate’s breathing. Finally, the flow of potassium chloride stops the heart (Evans, 61). Another form of execution is by using a large quantity of electricity. The person is usually shaved and strapped to a chair with belts that cross their chest, groin, legs, and arms. A metal skullcap-shaped electrode is attached to the scalp and forehead over a