Drexel Autism Support Program

Other - Drexel Autism Support Program

Evan Wax

Bennett S. LeBow College of Business Business and Engineering

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Amy D. Edwards Drexel Autism Support Program School of Education

Criminal Justice: Reforming the Current Methods of Capital Punishment

Capital punishment has remained at the forefront of justice and security ever since it was first invoked in 1608 when Jamestown resident Captain George Kendall was executed for being a Spanish spy. Current methods of execution that are legal in the U.S. include lethal injection, electrocution, lethal gas, hanging, and firing squad. Practices of capital punishment, although vital to America’s criminal justice history, have recently been called into question due to supply issues and ethical concerns. Nitrogen gas, medicinal concoctions, and death by guillotine, have been used as experimental alternatives to address surfacing legal and moral implications. To ensure there is no constitutional violation of the Eighth Amendment and safety officials are left without psychological trauma, a more suitable solution would be a nine thousand-milligram dose of secobarbital. The self-administered drug would provide death row inmates with a quick and painless death without the active participation of safety officials in the execution. The goal is that this new approach will maintain the integrity of the death penalty in a way that is deemed morally acceptable by the public.

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2021 STAR Scholar