The Death Penalty Is Bad - 1258 Words

The death penalty is bad. Like really bad. Seriously, it’s bad. The death penalty and the use of capital punishment has been a long withstanding tradition in the United States. The earliest record of death penalty laws can be traced back to the code of Hammurabi in eighteenth century B.C. This set of laws laid down death as an acceptable form of punishment for twenty five crimes. Fast forward to sixteenth century Britain; there are now two hundred and twenty two crimes punishable by death, including, but not limited to stealing, and cutting down a tree. This excessive use of capital punishment in Britain was brought with the settler to the new world and sets the stage for American capital punishment; this â€Å"provided the death penalty for†¦show more content†¦The death penalty is an obvious form of cruel and unusual punishment. On April 29, 2014, Clayton D. Lockett was set to be executed by lethal injection. Lockett’s lawyers repeatedly questioned the use of the experimental drug set to be used in his execution, but the state of Oklahoma decided to carry it out as scheduled. First, the executioner had a problem finding a suitable vein to inject Mr. Lockett. After an hour, a vein was finally found, near his groin, and the execution was set to begin. The doctor who was supervising administered a sedative first, and announced that Clayton Lockett was unconscious, and for the lethal drugs to be administered. At this point, two things were wrong. First, just the sheer fact that a doctor was present was in violation of several ethical codes and standards which doctors are set to abide by, the American Medical Association’s code of Ethics states that doctors are not allowed to participate in the killing of an individual, and may only be allowed to provide a certificate of death after the individual has been declared dead by someone else (Black). Second, Mr. Lockett was not unconscious. The drugs used in lethal injection are known to cause excruciating pain if the victim is not properly sedated. No more t han three minutes after the administration of the drugs,