Are certain kinds of capital punishemtn cruel and unusual?

Question

I am writing an essay for my English IV class and I would like to hear people's opinions on the topic so that I could inlcude those answers in my essayl.

Answer 1

This is a highly opinionated subject.
It has to be answered internally and cannot be answered by others for you.
Use you own moral, ethical, and religious judgement.
Look at the crime, does the punishment fit the crime?
Do you believe in the literal eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, and life for a life philosophy?

Answer 2

As our society has evolved, so have the ideas about "cruel and unusual". At one time hanging was considered okay. In fact, Utah still used the firing squad until about the 1980s.

Then came the electric chair and the gas chamber, both supposed to improve on the previous method. Now, we have lethal injection. All were meant to be more humane.

"Cruel" and "unusual" mean different things to different people. I, personally, don't believe in the death penalty because it's applied so arbitrarily. But I cannot see anything cruel and unusual about lethal injection. It's like going to sleep.

Answer 3

not a fan of beheading, hanging or firing squad, there is too big a margin for error and the person may have to suffer unnecessarily, bad enough they being put to death, electrocution is kind of the same as it is not instantaneous, really, lethal injection is the only 'humane' way

Answer 4

I don't think so. If the crime commited warrants capital punishment, then nothing is cruel and unusual.