idnt think of capital punishment as cruel and unusual. The Fifth Amendment states "no person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury...nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of the law". The Eighth Amendment states that "cruel and unusual punishment shall not be inflicted" (Allen). Since both of these amendments were passed on the same day, some would argue that executing someone for a capital offense does not qualify as cruel or unusual punishment as long as the individual has not been deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of the law. I think they were more worried about the death penalty being abused, than it being cruel and unusual. To truly measure the effectiveness of the death penalty, you must measure the affect it has on the future actions of the accused, and in deterring people in society. The death penalty saves lives because, by executing murderers, youre preventing them from killing again. The usual alternative to the death penalty is life without parole. When a prisoner is sentenced to life without parole he has a lifetime to commit other crimes while in prison or even attempt escape. In most cases though, people dont spend the rest of their lives in prison if its their first time committing murder. The average prison sentence served for first time murderers is six years. Most people on death row have had a prior felony (66%), and 9-15% has murdered before. Prisoners on death row are 250% more likely to kill other inmates, than inmates in the general population (Allen). After looking at these statistics, I dont think there is too much of a chance that the people on death row dont belong there. In states with no death penalty, there is no deterrent for inmates sentenced to life without parole for killing other inmates or attempting to escape. In fact, because there is no worse penalty it...
