Death Penalty

Death Penalty

The idea of a person being put to death, no matter what the reason is, is not a light topic, nor a pleasant thing to think about. But the fact is, more than half of the world's countries and 38 U.S. states have a death penalty, so this topic is going to come up. The form which prisoners are executed is changing day to day. In American and a growing number of many countries lethal injection is becoming the most used form of capital punishment. Many people on death row wait years for their court case to come up, and more then half will die before there case is looked at.

Between the 1970 and the late 1980's the death penalty was used in the most extreme of cases and in those years it was used only twice. But throughout the years the toll grew and during 1999 there were 98 people put to death and in 2000, 85. Many of these people were put to death by lethal injection. An inmate on death row lives in a small room which is approximately 5 feet by 7 feet, in there cell they are given a bed a toilet and sink, and a cabinet or two. When a prisoner is finally condemned for his or her crime they are given a date for there execution and are moved to a section of the jail called death watch. Death watch may be located in or out of the prison, in another housing, where in many cases the death chamber is also housed. If the prison they are in does not partake in the death penalty the inmate is moved to another prison where the execution may be carried out.

The last 24 hours before the execution the inmate may have guests that include friends, family, Priests or anyone in the church, and an attorney. The guests and inmate or put in a room called a visitation room, where they are also given there last meal. The prison tries to get the inmate exactly what the requested as their last meal. In the same day the prison warden and the chaplain visit the inmate. The inmate is to have no contact with the witnesses and in many cases may or many not be allowed to see them either.

In some states the male inmate is given a new shirt and pair of pants for the execution and a female in mate is given a dress and a new pair of shoes. The prisoner is also allowed to shower before there execution. But in some states the inmate is asked to remove all outer clothing. The prisoner is connected to a heart monitor, which will stay on the prisoner