The ongoing debate over the legitimacy of the death penalty has recently made its way to the Supreme Court. In March, the high court heard oral arguments from death row inmate David L. Nelson, one of 15 condemned prisoners challenging the legality of the lethal injection process over the past year. The debate over whether capital punishment should be used has raged since its reinstatement in the United States in 1976. The latest statistics on the death penalty reveal that 71% of Americans favor its use for people convicted of murder, while 26% oppose it. he. But recently, attention has shifted to the question of how painless this method of carrying out the death penalty really is. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on 'Why violent video games should not be banned'?Get the original essayNelson joined a growing chorus calling execution by lethal injection a "cruel and unusual punishment." A Gallup poll taken at the time of Nelson's hearing* indicates that three-quarters (75%) of Americans agree that "states should be allowed to execute prisoners sentenced to death by injection." lethal”. Twenty-one percent said it should not be allowed because it is a form of cruel and unusual punishment. Perhaps in an effort to find a less painful and more humane way of carrying out the death sentence, lethal injection was first proposed as a means of execution. execution in New York as early as 1888, but the State chose electrocution instead. Nearly 100 years later, in 1977, Oklahoma passed lethal injection legislation, but Texas was the first state to carry out an execution by lethal injection in 1982. Since then, there have been 742 executions by lethal injection in the United States. ; it is currently the preferred method of putting prisoners to death in 37 of the 38 states that impose the death penalty. For many years, capital punishment was carried out by firing squad, gas chamber, electric chair, hanging or beheading. In light of these methods, how can lethal injection be considered “cruel and unusual”? The argument is that human error during the lethal injection process can cause problems, sometimes resulting in a prolonged period (up to 45 minutes) before the person dies. Such complaints have led at least one state (New Jersey) to review the entire process, effectively suspending the use of the death penalty until the problem is resolved. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized document from our expert now. writers.Get a Custom Essay A closer look reveals that there are different levels of support among certain demographic and political groups: Women are less likely than men to support the use of lethal injection (70% vs. 82%) . Non-whites are much less likely than whites to support it (58% vs. 80%). Liberals are less likely to support it (57%) than conservatives (81%). But whether or not it is possible to carry out the death penalty in a completely painless and humane manner, feelings about capital punishment and demographic differences are likely driven less by the method of execution than by the issues philosophical surrounding the death penalty itself. These demographic differences are also similar to those found for basic support for the death penalty...