[Date (January 1, 2014)]
Ending a guilty person’s life licenses no one to be cruel. All the more so, when the clearest most certain evidences leading to a verdict are still at scope for human error. These odds of innocence were enough to entitle a degree of respect to anyone. Those people who stand as witnesses to an execution, such as the relative of the victim and offender, the prison staff, and sometimes assigned journalists, come from distinct perspectives. Nonetheless, a good person would not look forward to see someone break a neck, as in the case of hanging, being electrocuted to death, or bulleted behind his back. A usually silent claim of life through lethal injection is a punishment by itself, no more any less.
In the case of electrocution, a general idea should be argued about the major consequences if the responsible party of the execution staff neglects even a single procedure. Each step during this routine plays a vital role in ensuring the safety of everyone inside the room, including making the final moments of the sentenced lesser painful. A critically acclaimed film of an original novel, which starred by Tom Hanks, showed a graphic depiction of what would become of the criminal on a poorly-attended electrocution process. It closely represented the many experiences inside an actual death row. During the movie, the fatal mistake of not dousing the head of the concerned person, to speed up conduction, led to the extension of massive surge of electricity. Aside from disrupting all power lines in the building, the police staffs were left to wait until the affected body was entirely consumed with the high amount of voltage (The Green Mile). The condition of the deceased was enough to leave an unsettling recollection to any observer.
Everybody who studied about World War II would be all too familiar in the words ‘gas chamber.’ We bear knowledge of the ruthless accounts regarding mass killings during this time. Yet, The Bureau of Justice Statistics, Capital Punishment in 2011, displayed that Arizona, Missouri, and Wyoming still authorized the use of this penalty (“Methods of Execution”). This method entails the sealing of cyanide crystal fume inside a room occupied by the constrained accused. One doctor professed about the state of physical trauma the body sustains after invasion of this poisonous gas, it was comparable to that of a full-blown heart attack (Weisberg). Witnesses recounted to have seen eyes burst out of sockets, great altering of skin color, and copious amount of saliva foaming around the mouth amidst screams of terror. These actions clearly parallel an old saying that goes ‘a tooth for a tooth.’ It suggest of committing a primitive and merciless response as a solution to an equally heinous crime. While doing this research, it was plain that this posed the most number of horrific accounts from watchers who described the physical and mental torture demonstrated by the sufferers inside the enclosed space.
The legal process of a firing squad as a way of capital punishment is a straightforward approach. It was done by military personnel and the prisoners were usually blindfolded. The shots were done simultaneously with the slayers aiming at the heart. One story by a Pulitzer Prize winning writer and Texas University professor expressed a detailed recount of a prisoner requesting for his blindfold to be removed and bravely deal with his fate (Oshinsky). It continued to narrate how the shot missed the heart. The viewers all stood and met with a sight of a man who bled to his death for half an hour.
Lethal injection easily draws a stark comparison with the aforementioned techniques in terms of rendering more acceptable images beheld by witnesses. Based on media studies, there were still occurrences where lethal injection could fail; they coined it as ‘botched execution’ (“Lethal Injection”) Still, by basic understanding, introducing doses of a fast-acting barbiturate to the system until it completely shuts down lies at a more toned down spectacle of a person about to face his final hour. This alone roused awareness among large parts of the United States such that it has now been advocated to over thirty five states in the United States as the primary capital punishment. It will be a task to understand what is going on inside a guilty person’s mind, but, quite easy to recognize acts of compassion even to those who does not deserve it. It entails true character when an individual retains sense of morality even when confronted with the unforgiving actions of a person. To decide on choosing the kindest path possible for an already doomed person reflects a stronghold of an unyielding principle towards aggravating deeds of men. Lethal injection stands the lowest chance of having a haunting memory of an uncomfortable viewing of a condemned soul.
Works Cited
"Office of Planning and Analysis: The Death Penalty." A History of the Death Penalty in Georgia (2010): n. pag. Dcor.state.ga.us. Office of Planning and Analysis, Jan. 2010. Web. 15 Nov. 2014.
"Methods of Execution." Death Penalty Curriculum. Michigan State University and Death Penalty Information Center, 2004. Web. 15 Nov. 2014.
The Green Mile. Dir. Frank Darabont. Perf. Tom Hanks, David Morse, Bonnie Hunt, Michael Clark Duncan, and James Cromwell. Warner Bros. Pictures, 1999. Film.
Weisberg, J. "This is Your Death," The New Republic, 1 Jul. 1991. Print.
"Methods of Execution." Death Penalty Information Center. Death Penalty Information Center, 2011. Web. 15 Nov. 2014.
Oshinsky, D. "Capital Punishment on Trial: Furman v. Georgia and the Death Penalty in Modern America." Journal of American History 97.4 (2011): 1187-188. Print.
"Lethal Injection." Amnesty International USA. Amnesty International USA, 2013. Web. 15 Nov. 2014.
