American Law: "The Death Penalty...

(…) is discriminatory and does not do anything about crime.” (Bobby Scott, US politician)

“I support the death penalty. But I also think there has to be no margin for error.” (George Ryan, US politician)

These are only two of countless opinions (and actually almost everyone has an opinion) about the death penalty in the United States – a topic which makes the feelings run high. This article is to give you a further insight into its development in the course of the twentieth century as well as events that occurred within the last fifteen years.

Important Events in the Early and Mid-20th Century

The Progressive Period (also Progressive Era or Progressivism; 1890s-1920s) may had its roots as a social movement, e. g. poverty, violence, greed, racism or class warfare, however, it also brought about some changes in connection with the death penalty since it grew into a political movement. From 1907 to 1917, six states completely repealed it, and another three limited it to the rarely committed crimes of treason and first degree murder of a law enforcement official.

In 1901, when Theodore Roosevelt was elected president the Progressive Era gained a strong voice on a national level. There is, however, the thing that a mood is like a pendulum – it swings from one side to another and thus it was that these above-mentioned reforms did not last long. The atmosphere in the United States was frenzied due to the threat of an impending revolution in the wake of the Russian Revolution. In addition, the US had recently entered World War I, and there were intense class conflicts emerging. Between the 1920s and the 1940s the American abolition movement lost support.

Can there be a more humane way of executing inmates?

In fact, is there a humane way at all – and who defines what is humane and what cruel?

Being the first state ever to do so, Nevada introduced the use of cyanide gas in specially built gas chambers in 1924. Today, four other states apart from Nevada authorise lethal gas as a method of execution: California, Arizona, Mississippi and North Carolina.

Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution (ratified Dec 15, 1791)

“Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”

It appears that the governments decide on whether a form of punishment is cruel – and we elect these people. So is it really us who make this decision of vital importance? Don’t worry! It would be wrong to address this matter in this way since everyone has a different opinion and a government’s ruling does not necessarily have to comply with your point of view.

1930s: Executions carried out in the United States reach the highest level in the country’s history with an average of 167 per year; furthermore, the number of death sentences carried out between 1925 and 1949 peaked at a total of 3,644. It is assumed that the reason for this is due, in part, to the writings of criminologists, who said that capital punishment was necessary as a social measure but allegedly also due to the fact that Americans were suffering through Prohibition and the Great Depression (Schabas, 1997 and Bohm, 1999)

It appears to be quite ironic when you read the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 proclaiming a “right to life” and the United States was among the countries to vote in favour of the Declaration, yet still carrying out the death penalty on its own property.

By the 1950s, the public began to turn its back on capital punishment and the number of executions dropped dramatically.

Recent Developments

The state of Oklahoma was the first state to introduce lethal injection as a means of execution in 1977 and in 1982 the Texan inmate, Charles Brooks, Jr., was the first prisoner to be executed using this method. His last meal consisted of a T-bone steak, French fries, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, biscuits, peach cobbler and iced tea.

In 2011, Texas stopped granting last meal requests to condemned inmates due to an incident that occurred with Lawrence Russell Brewers execution who ordered a large special meal (consisting among many other dishes of two chicken fried steaks smothered in gravy with sliced onions; one pound of barbecue with half a loaf of white bread as well as a slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts), but he then refused the meal when it arrived.

The US Supreme Court ruled on June 26, 1986 that execution of insane persons was an unconstitutional violation of the Eighth Amendment adding just two years later in 1988 that individuals under the age of 16 cannot face capital punishment (in 2005, the Court held that the execution of an offender under the age of 18 is cruel and unusual and there unconstitutional).

“(…) nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted.” – Eighth Amendment.

The topic of the death penalty has ever been highly controversial, though-provoking and therefore often been a matter of heated debates not only about pros and cons but also its constitutionality considering moral questions, the occurring costs and various other aspects such as, for instance, botched executions:

April 29, 2014. Oklahoma. Despite defence attorneys having frequently warned about the dangers of using an experimental drug protocol, Oklahoma scheduled the execution of Clayton D. Lockett and Charles Warner.

An hour before the execution of Mr Lockett began, the governor, Mary Fallon, was notified that the executioner was having problems finding a usable vein, but she did not intervene. After the first drug, a sedative, was administered and Clayton D. Lockett was announced unconscious and therefore ready to receive the other two drugs that would actually kill him, Mr Lockett was found not to be unconscious. Three minutes after the latter two drugs were injected, “Locket began breathing heavily, writhing on the gurney, clenching his teeth and straining to lift his head off the pillow.” The blinds were lowered to prohibit witnesses from seeing what was going on; 15 minutes later the witnesses were ordered to leave the room; 43 minutes later: Clayton D. Lockett died of a heart attack, while still in the execution chamber. This is, however, not the only example for botched executions.

The media, as always, also plays an important role in the formation of opinion about a certain topic and the death penalty marks no exception. When the film Dead Man Walking, starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn, was released in 1996, it invigorated the debate on capital punishment. The film is based on the novel by Sister Helen Prejean who released her book of the same name about her role as spiritual adviser for two death row inmates in 1994.