The controversy between opposing views never ends; there is no one absolute as to whether capital punishment is just or unjust. The electric chair has been for long cruel and unusual but the fact that the U.S uses the lethal injection does not justify the fact that it is not cruel and unusual punishment. Inmates who have been executed via the lethal injection have suffered for as long as 40 minutes coughing spasmodically in pain and torture. Creques recommended the use of Nitrogen asphyxiation as an alternative to the lethal injection which will provide a painless death without the inmate experiencing suffocation or any type of suffering.
The fact that innocent lives can be executed is a concerned issue as per the case of Anthony Porter who was released from death row after Dave Protess took his case and was able to prove his innocence. In addition, via DNA technology, many executions of inmates have been found to be wrongfully performed. Despite these facts, Ramesh Ponnuru maintained his view that many criminals have been released of death row despite substantial evidence of the perpetrators’ accusations, as per Jonathan Treadaway’s case where his palm prints were found in the 6 year old boy’s room but claimed that he did not know how it got there.
The question of whether the mentally challenged should be executed depends on the fact of their consciousness. Richard Lowry argues that all mentally challenged are consciously capable of murder therefore they should not be exempted from the death penalty. On the other hand, the mentally challenged are seen as disadvantaged in life and in court according to Jamie Fellner. Similar to Earl Washington Jr., who admitted to a crime he did not commit.
There can be either direct or indirect methods to resolve conflict resolutions between opposing views. Indirect methods are methods which lowers crime rates in order to decrease capital punishment indirectly. Direct methods are alternatives that replace capital punishment. Governor Jeb Bush proposed 10-20-Life in Florida as a means to decrease crime in the state, which proved successful. Byron Johnson’s study, a faith based approach, proved to be successful by decreasing the incarceration of inmates who did receive any faith based rehabilitation intervention.
Christian Fundamentalists perceive capital punishment as just under the basis of “an eye for an eye” where in essence is translated to “a life for a life.” This is the view that if one is capable of killing than the death penalty is an equal punishment for one’s crime. John Kavanaugh is against this view claiming that “an eye for any eye” is a “…stipulation for a lesser punishment for a lesser crime” (2000, 156-157). Thus, an “eye for an eye” does not apply to murder.
The U.S is not the only country or culture in the world that uses capital punishment. In Buddhist belief, capital punishment is prohibited due to one of their precepts, that everyone fears punishment and death therefore you ought “not to kill or cause to kill.” John Paul II claimed to a certain extent against capital punishment “describing it as the “culture of death.” The Dali Laima spoke against capital punishment claiming that it was only a form of revenge. Capital punishment is related and can affect many professions directly or indirectly. Your decision may emotionally affect your persona over the fact that your final report may dictate an inmate’s last breathe. The ultimate judgment of one’s being is up to God and not up to man. The Bible states that judgment belongs to God and not to man, but man has taken responsibility over what God has unsanctioned. We must leave our humanly ruling aside and leave the duty of judgment unto the most high, celestial being, God.