The death penalty has been justified on the perception that it is normally a humane way to kill the evilest criminals and further deter the occurrence of heinous criminal acts and offenses. Many People lose their lives through this in the human form of punishment. The death penalty continues to be a debatable topic and creates mixed reactions globally. A global view on the death penalty is that it is harsh, cruel and lowers the dignity of humans. Some countries have modified the form of death penalty in order to make more human, such include introduction of lethal injection. But the question whether the death penalty is justified to raise questions globally. There has also been a question whether death penalty violates the eighth amendments that banned cruel and unusual punishment.
The death penalty is currently legal in 18 states and illegal in 32 states of the United States. The question whether the global view that death penalty is too cruel and violates the eighth amendment can be analyzed according to the Supreme Court's 4 principles of death penalty statues. The supreme court through the eighth amendment reinstated that death penalty is only cruel if it degrades human dignity, if it is arbitral, if it is rejected throughout the society or if it is deemed to be unnecessary (Berkson, 2015). These form the four main principles that can address the global view on the extent that death penalty violates the eighth amendment. With regards to the four principles, death penalty occurs in different circumstances therefore before determining whether it is cruel it is important to consider these principles. The death penalty has been instrumental in reducing the crime rate to some extent therefore in addressing the question whether it is too cruel and should be banned the four principles should be analyzed.
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Reference
Berkson, L. C. (2015). The Concept of Cruel and Unusual Punishment . Lexington Books.
