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Nina Wilkinson
Professor Goodroad
College Writing II
23 Sept. 2019
Lethal Injection
The death penalty has been used for hundreds of years across the world. It serves as both
a punishment and a deterrent to keep people from committing capital offenses like murder.
Currently in the Unites States, about half of our states still use the death penalty as a punishment
for capital offenses. In the U.S. Constitution, part of the Eighth Amendment states that cruel and
unusual punishment shall not be used. This raises the question of the constitutionality of lethal
injection as it is currently the primary method of execution in the United States. Some people
think it is, and some people think it isn’t. But lethal injection is constitutional; it does not violate
the eight amendment; therefore, it should continue to be used across the U.S.
In the U.S., lethal injection was not always the primary method of execution. The older
methods that were used include hanging, electrocution (electric chair), the gas chamber, and a
firing squad. Hanging is one of the oldest methods of execution used. In the U.S., it can be traced
back to the beginning of our nation in the 1600s, while hangings around the world can be traced
back as far as 2500 years ago. Modern hangings cause death by quickly breaking the convicted
criminal’s neck, however hundreds of years ago those who were hanged died a slower death by
strangulation. This was the primary method of execution in the United States up until the 1980s.
It was considered to be one of the best methods due to its simplicity, and because death is swift.
Today, only 3 states still allow hanging as a method of execution, and they are Delaware, New
Hampshire and Washington.
Since the introduction of the electric chair in 1890, the number of hangings has steadily
decreased. The electric chair was meant to be an alternative humane method of execution. The
first jolt is supposed to render the condemned person unconscious while the second actually kills
them by damaging vital organs. However, since the introduction of the electric chair, several
people were found to not have died by the first 2 jolts and extra electric shocks had to be
administered. One can only imagine the suffering they went through. Today, the electric chair is
only used as the method of execution when the prisoner requests it, providing that is still legal in
that state. States where prisoners can choose electrocution as their method of execution are
Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Also note that Arkansas
and Oklahoma laws provide for its use should lethal injection ever be held to be unconstitutional.
Another older method of execution in the United States is the gas chamber. In this method,
