Luka Bedalov

Roenicke, Period 1
December, 2
Capital Punishment Speech
The death penalty is a flawed form of punishment that violates the 8th amendment. The
8th amendment prohibits the federal government from using cruel and unusual
punishment. Since its reauthorization in the 1760s,this has been a long debated issue
and still, 1,386 executions later, it remains a great topic of interest.
The death penalty is arguably a form of mental and physical torture. A death row
inmate, especially one with a long term imprisonment before his/ her death, would have
nothing to do but sit and think about their death to come. This could easily be enough to
drive one to insanity. While they may have been sane during their trial, they may not
even know what is happening and furthermore putting an insane person to death was
banned under the 8th amendment in the 1760s. In addition, many executions have been
done wrong and if so, the inmate would have to endure complete torture for longer
periods of time. For example,according to Huffington Post, an execution in Oklahoma,
took 20 minutes and the man was tortured to death. The death penalty is an inhumane
type of torture.
The death penalty is also quite inconsistent for the punishment that the government
gives. Undoubtedly, many people have been put to death for crimes that they did not
commit and their punishment is irreversible to themselves to their families and to their
friends. Data shows that more than one in ten people that are killed turn out to be
innocent afterwards. One example of this was in Texas when police encouraged a
witness to lie about who shot him. The police had been having trouble with a local
troublemaker and wanted to get rid of him. The man (Ruben Cantu) was only 17 when
he was put to death. The hardships that his family had to face must have been
incredible, first dealing with their son being accused of murder, and then being put to
death. The death penalty ruins lives regardless of being innocent or guilty.
Data shows that the Death Penalty puts more minorities to death than white people. The
death penalty is discriminatory and is used disproportionately on the poor, minorities
and members of racial, ethnic and religious communities. As progressive as America
claims to be, we are still very discriminatory to other races. America may need to have
another civil war because currently police are harassing african american men without
any severe consequences. People are raging all around the U.S after the death of 18
year old, african american, Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri because the jury
decided not to indict his white killer, Darren Wilson. This is one of many outrages that
have people protesting and broadcasting their opinions.
In conclusion, the death penalty is an inhumane type of punishment that should not
exist due to its violation of the 8th amendment. People have to endure many different
forms of torture. The death penalty is a tortuous form of discrimination to minorities and
in many cases, an irreversible retribution.