Ensayo Argumentativo

The death penalty legal cruelty?

The execution of Gary Mark by a Utah firing squad on Jan. 17, 1977, marked the end of a 10-year of a moratorium of the use of capital punishment in the U.S. Sincethat time, seven more executions have taken place- one each in Alabama, Florida, Illinois, Mississippi, Nevada, Virginia and Texas. The latest innovation in the manner of killing was revealed in Texason Dec. 14, 1982, when Charly Brooks, Jr, was put to death by lethal injection. This new method of execution raises additional ethical issues in the debate over the death penalty. As a consequence ofthese eight executions and the impending death of numerous other death row inmates; the issue of capital punishment is once again in the public forum.
In 1972, at the time of the Furman Georgiadecision, 629 persons were housed on death row throughout the U.S. Today, just over 10 years later, the death row population exceeds 1,100-500 condemned persons more than at the time of Furman! While thedebate over capital punishment has continued sporadically, and for the most part academically, over the past 20 years, the issue today takes on a greater sense of urgency. The sheer size of the deathrow population creates a significant moral dilemma for our society. In addition, since the appeals process for many of these condemned persons has been virtually exhausted, the debate takes on aheightened sense of immediacy. In short, under the present conditions, the debate is far less an academic exercise over the significant levels of deterrence data than it is a significant public issuerelated to the concept of justice in our society.
The fundamental question which must be addressed with respect to the death penalty is under what circumstance does the state have the right to take thelife of one of its citizens? That question, with respect to the use of capital punishment for first-degree murder convictions, was answered by the Supreme Court in the Furman and Gregg decisions....