The Death Penalty Should Be Abolished in the United States Research Paper

The Death Penalty Should Be Abolished in the United States - Research Paper Example You feel the excruciating pain, each and every nuance of the agony, which comes with the heart-stopping effect of potassium chloride, but you cannot call out because you are completely paralyzed. This is, indeed, a possibility, and a very common one, facing those on death row in the United States today. The issue of death penalty is a contentious one, with very vociferous opinions on either side. However, the death penalty should be abolished in the United States, as it is cruel and unusual punishment. The fact is that the lethal injection, the current mode of implementing the death penalty, is carried often, if not always, carried out by untrained prison staff, without the presence of a doctor. There are a lot of mistakes made, regarding the ratio of the concoction to be administered as well as correctly inserting the IV line. This causes undue pain, as well as downright tortuous pain, to the person condemned to die via the lethal injection. The concoction, if not administered in th e correct ratio, causes paralysis and not unconsciousness, leaving the punishment open to being considered torture (Drehle 2). It clearly makes out a good case for cruel and unusual punishment. ... The recent case of the execution of Teresa Lewis, a borderline mentally retarded woman, in Virginia can be quoted as a good example in this regard. As long as the capital punishment is carried out in the United States, events like this are bound to occur one day or another, where a mentally challenged person is condemned and handed down capital punishment. John Steinbeck, in his novel Of Mice and Men, also pointed out at this flaw in our capital punishment law. Even though the mentally challenged person, Lennie, is killed by his friend George as an act of kindness, however, it is clear that had George not done this, Lennie would have been executed, either by the law or by the lynch mob. This brings us to another factor against capital punishment. There has been a history of mob lynching in the United States, there is, one can say, a sort of mob mentality, where the enraged mob often goes looking for culprit. Often, in this rage, reason is forgone, and emotions become the rule of the day. The truth is often obscured in such cases. The story the Lynching of Jube Benson by Paul Laurence Dunbar points at this flaw, where Benson was lynched based on flimsy evidence, and only because of riled up emotions. Though it is argued that our justice system is not akin to mob lynching, however, it is good to remember that even during trials emotions often run high. Reason and logic are often the first casualties of such emotionally driven trials. It is, therefore, not a good atmosphere for carrying out justice to the accused, who are sometimes not even guilty. So to leave room open for the death penalty is not wise. The justice system in United States is not