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Death Penalty And The Eighth Amendment - College Paper

Death Penalty And The Eighth Amendment

The expression “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” has taken on a whole new
meaning. Lately, murderers have been getting a punishment equal to their crime,
death. In 1967, executions in the United States were temporarily suspended to
give the federal appellate courts time to decide whether or not the death
penalty was unconstitutional. Then, in 1972, the United States Supreme Court
ruled in the case of “Furman versus Georgia” that the death penalty violated
the Eight Amendments. According to the Eighth Amendment, “Excessive bail shall
not be required, no excessive fines imposed, nor cruel or unusual punishments
inflicted.” After the Supreme Court made this ruling, states ...

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and
firing squad, each of them equally cruel and unusual in there own ways.
When a person is sentenced to death by electrocution he strapped to a
chair and electrodes are attached to his head and leg. The amount of voltage is
raised and lowered a few times and death is supposed to occur within three
minutes. Three whole minutes with electricity flowing through someone's body,
while his flesh burns. Three minutes may not seem like a very long time, but to
someone who is waiting for his body to die, three minutes can feel like an
eternity.
Three minutes is the approximate time it takes for a person to die if
everything goes right, but in some cases it takes longer for people to die. In
1990, Jesse Tafero, a prisoner in Florida, remained conscious for four minutes
while witnesses watched ashes fall from his head. In Georgia in 1984, it took
nearly twenty minutes for Alpha Otis Stephens to die. At 12:18 am on December
12, he was shocked with electricity for two minutes, and ...

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Death Penalty And The Eighth Amendment. (2008, November 20). Retrieved January 13, 2026, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Death-Penalty-And-The-Eighth-Amendment/93387

"Death Penalty And The Eighth Amendment." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 20 Nov. 2008. Web. 13 Jan. 2026. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Death-Penalty-And-The-Eighth-Amendment/93387>

"Death Penalty And The Eighth Amendment." Essayworld.com. November 20, 2008. Accessed January 13, 2026. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Death-Penalty-And-The-Eighth-Amendment/93387.

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 11/20/2008 02:02:44 PM
Category: Legal Issues
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 1151
Pages: 5

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