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The imposition of the death penalty has been challenged under the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution that states, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted.” 6 (United States Constitution) Throughout its existence, the death penalty has been racially bias, performed on the innocent, and administered cruel and unusual punishment. Many cases have been brought before the Supreme Court arguing that the death penalty should be considered Cruel and unusual punishment. “In 1967, the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice found the death penalty is most frequently imposed and carried out on the poor, the Negro, and the members of unpopular groups.” 1 (references of www.deathpenalty.org). This finding supported the claim that the death penalty was unusual punishment because it was not administered fairly to everyone. It also one of the major factors that helped to stop in executions and that lasted nearly ten years. On June 3, 1967, the death penalty was put on hiatus while the Supreme Court entertained arguments that attacked the unconstitutionality of the death penalty. The first case to reach the Supreme Court after the unofficial halt of executions was the case of Witherspoon v. Illinois in 1968. In this case the jury handed down a death sentence. The state had purposely excluded all citizens from serving on the jury who had feelings opposing the death penalty. This was not constitutional for the state to do and the Supreme Court agreed saying, “states cannot exclude from juries in capital cases all persons opposed to the death penalty.”1 (references of www.deathpenalty.org) The case of McGautha v. California was a case in 1971 that argued that leaving the choice between life imprisonments or death to the total discretion of the jury violated the due-process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. McGautha’s appeal was denied, and the Supreme Court gave juries the discretion to impose either a life sentence or the death penalty. A jury could now inflict a death sentence without taking into account the circumstances of the case or the situations involved. It allowed a jury to find a person guilty and then, in the absence of any guidance or direction, decide if that person should live or die. This is giving the juries too much power in deciding if the death penalty fits the crime. This also gives the jury the opportunity to get emotionally involved in the trial and hand down a death sentence to an innocent person. Furman v. Georgia was brought to the Supreme Court on the basis that juries imposed the death penalty in an arbitrary and discriminatory manner. This is a result of the decision in the case of McGautha v. California, which gave the jury freedom to use their own discretion in imposing the death penalty. These cases made the death penalty cruel and unusual under the Eighth Amendment.1 (references of www.deathpenalty.org). Justice Potter Stewart commented on the arbitrarily imposed death penalty by saying, “These death sentences are cruel and unusual in the same way that being struck by lighting is cruel and unusual.” 2 (Congressional Quartely Inc.) Furman violated the death penalty in all 32 states and removed 629 people from death rows.2 (Congressional Quartely Inc.). This was the first time in American history that the death penalty was officially voided by the Supreme Court. States eventually composed death penalty laws that met with the complaints of Furman v. Georgia, and the death penalty was reinstated as constitutional. Many problems were still argued over the constitutionality of the death penalty. In 1984, Pulley v. Harris, it was argued that proportionality reviews are constitutionally required to prevent the arbitrary and discriminatory application of death sentences, which was ruled unconstitutional in Furman v. Georgia. The court ruled “death row inmates are not entitled to a special appeals court review to ensure their sentences are proportionate to sentences given others convicted of similar crimes.” 2 (Congressional Quartely Inc.) The court is stating that those accused of similar crimes do not have to receive similar sentences. This would make the death penalty an unusual sentence if it was only given in few instances where similar crimes were committed. The question of whether or not the death penalty is administered by race was brought to the Supreme Court in 1987 in McClesky v. Kemp. McClesky, a black man convicted of killing a white police officer, produced a study that showed that the death penalty is imposed based principally on the race of the victim. That those convicted of killing white people were more likely to receive the death penalty that those who killed blacks. “If the death penalty is being applied unfairly based on the race of the victim than it would an unconstitutional punishment.” 2(Congressional Quartely Inc.) The cruelty of executions has been documented by many eyewitness accounts of different executions. The descriptions of what happens to those put to death is nothing short of cruel punishment. One graphic description of a witnessed electrocution was given by Justice William J. Brennan in Glass v. Louisiana: “The hands turn red, then white, and the cords of the neck stand out like steel bands...The prisoner’s limbs, fingers toes, and face are severely contorted...The force of the electric current is so powerful that the prisoners eyeballs sometimes pop out on his cheeks...The prisoner often defecates, urinates, and vomits blood and drool...Sometimes the prisoner catches fire. There is a sound like bacon frying and the sickly sweet smell of burning flesh.” 4 (Dead Man Walking, page 19-20, 216-217). This description of an electrocution displays just how cruel an execution really is. There are numerous cases where more than one charge of electricity is needed to kill a person. Louis Evans needed three separate charges of 1,900 volts in 14 minutes before he died. William Vandiver took 17 minutes and 5 charges of electricity before he was pronounced dead. Is this cruel? In the case of Willie Francis, he was strapped to the chair and electrocuted, but did not die. He was returned to his cell and brought back to the electric chair one year later, when he was finally killed. 3 (When The State Kills…) California ruled that it’s gas chamber was cruel and unusual punishment and therefore unconstitutional in October of 1994. Eyewitness accounts of gas chamber deaths are just as gruesome as electrocutions. Doctor’s and witness accounts of gas chamber deaths say, “A prisoner is likely to suffer intense physical pain, mainly an air hunger similar to strangulation or drowning. The symptoms include intense chest pains, such as felt during a heart attack, acute anxiety, and struggling to breath.” 5 (Newspaper Article-California Gas Chamber). There are many horrible accounts of botched executions by firing squad and hanging as well. Even the newest method of execution, lethal injection, is not flawless. A prisoner may have no veins showing from prolonged drug use, or he may struggle causing the needle to move several times. “Perhaps one day this court will develop procedural rules or verbal formulas that actually will provide consistency, fairness, and reliability in a capital-sentencing scheme. I am not optimistic that such a day will come.” U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackman The fact is that there is no perfect method for imposing or carrying out capital punishment. Too many factors such as race and the chance of error or mistakes make the death penalty flawed. It is an extremely cruel and unusual form of punishment and should be ruled unconstitutional. Bibliography: 1) References of www.deathpenalty.org 2) CQ Researcher, Congressional Quarterly Inc., March 10, 1995. Vol. 5, No. 9 3) When The State Kills..., Amnesty International USA, 1989 4) Helen Prejean, C.S.J., Dead Man Walking, pg. 19-20, 216-217 5) Newspaper Article-California Gas Chamber 6) United States Constitution Word Count: 1395
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