Controversy Over "Morality" of the Death Penalty

The death penalty is one of the most controversial political topics now a days due to the past inefficiencies of lethal injections. Clayton Lockett's execution went gruesomely wrong when his lethal injection failed to end his life until after almost 45 minutes of him struggling in pain. Joseph Wood's execution lasted nearly two hours before his actual time of death. Eight months later, the concerns about drug protocol are still being evaluated. The use of lethal injection has been questionable when it comes to constitutionality. However, the use of a combined three separate drugs to cause unconsciousness, paralysis, and cardiac arrest was ruled as not violating the 8th Amendment banning cruel and unusual punishment. After the first cases of complications during executions, the drug midazolam became the suspect. The drug that caused unconsciousness in a series of medications used in a lethal injection had experienced a cut in production. Therefore, midazolam, a sedation and anti-seizure medication, had replaced it. Lawyers of inmates on death row claimed that the drug is being used on an "experimental basis" since it is not FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) approved. Besides the questionability of the drugs used, courts have also stopped executions due to health issues of inmates on death row that could complicate the process. In Florida, a margin of error in IQ tests has made it harder for the state to execute inmates who are potentially mentally handicapped. Charles Warner, who was convicted of murdering and raping an infant in 1997, was not an exception, however. The Supreme Court has allowed the execution to proceed even with the use of midazolam.

Despite the horrific crimes many convicts have committed, no one deserves to die by the hand of some experimental drug. The fact that the drug has been known to have irregular effects and that it is not even FDA approved makes the government look unprepared and lacking thoroughness. I have never been in favor of the death penalty, this being one of the reasons why. The inhumane deaths of killers does not make up for the inhumane deaths of their victims. All the death penalty does is teach that killing is appropriate in some cases. But is it? Murder is never the right answer. In no way am I saying felons should not be punished. Rotting in prison serves as a better punishment. Morally, what does knowledgeably submitting a person to drugs with unknown effects portray? Very few morals at all in reality.