Argumentative Essay: The Ethics Of The Death Penalty

This year the state of Nebraska abolished the use of the death penalty as a punishment for murder. The Nebraska legislature voted 30-19 to override the veto of Governor Pete Ricketts according to Berman (2015). A total of 19 states currently do not have the death penalty for reasons ranging from cost, the quality of the defense, and whether or not it is cruel and unusual punishment. The Eighth Amendment of the Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, punishment to include torture, barbarous punishments, degrading punishments not known to the common law, and punishments so disproportionate to the offense as to shock the general moral sense (U.S. Const. amend. VIII). The ethics of the death penalty have long remained as a source of debate. My hypothesis …show more content…
There are many reasons that it may be unconstitutional, but I found arguments with each. These arguments lead me to still support my hypothesis that the death penalty does not fall under cruel and unusual punishment and it is constitutional. The limitation of the articles I found is that they do not support my hypothesis. I had trouble finding an article that did support my hypothesis. I did however provide my argument that contradicted their hypothesis and supported my own. I believe that in further research, more articles supporting the death penalty as constitutional should be researched. There are many arguments why it can be considered constitutional. It was upheld by the Supreme Court before and continues to be. The death penalty has been abolished in many states and I feel that it will continue to be abolished in others. I do not believe that it will be abolished entirely. Some states will hold out and continue. As long as the Supreme Court continues to support the death penalty by upholding the use of certain drugs the death penalty will