Many people who are against capital punishment are only thinking of the criminal and how cruel it is for them. But, shouldn’t we think of the families that are broken apart now because of the merciless acts of these criminals. Think of Susan Smith, how she knowingly drove her car off into a lake with her two children strapped to the seats. Think of how t

But does it do any good? Does executing someone for such crimes actually prevent future occurrences? Statistics say no. When comparing a state that uses capitol punishment to a state that does not, statistics prove there is not a significant difference in the amount of murders in each state. This does not surprise me. If everyone who was put on death row were immediately executed I would assure you the statistics would show differently. ( show visual)

The Gas Chamber was first used in Nevada in 1921. it is an airtight room with a chair into which the accused is strapped. Death is caused by exposure to cyanide gas, produced when sodium cyanide is dropped into sulfuric acid. The suffering caused is deliberate and plain to see: writhing, vomiting, shaking and gasping for breath for many seconds. This horrendous technique is used only in a few US states.

The electric chair was first used in New York in 1890 and still in use in 13 states. "old sparky" was the outcome of Thomas Edison’s attempt to show the dangers of the AC power supply being promoted by his rivals. The condemned is strapped to a wooden chair, electrodes are attached, and a shock of thirty thousand watts is applied. The prisoner is literally cooked internally, and death my require multiple shocks.

Unlike in the nineteenth century, we do not make our executions as public as they did. We do not take the criminal and hang them in the streets in broad daylight for everyone to see. It was a fanfare ritual back then. Now it is just an unseen deed done at prisons. We should bring it back into the open so that everyone can see the consequences of their crimes. It would send out the signal that anyone who can commit the crime can also pay for it.

Some topics in this essay:
Chamber Nevada, Susan Smith, Death Row, Death Penalty, Thomas Edison’s, , death penalty, capital punishment, death row, gas chamber, justice system, lethal injection, condemned strapped,