Running head: GLOBAL ISSUES REPORT 1

Global Issues Report

Criminal Justice

Anieus Medrano

The University of Texas at El Paso

RWS 1301

Dr. Vierra

November 27, 2019

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Abstract

Using scholarly research, the following global issue report demonstrates how different

countries around the world are starting to eliminate the death penalty. While that is happening

the United States still wants to have the death penalty and even want to improve on it. The

findings also include that the Supreme Court are starting to intervene by trying to find what is

cruel and inhumane about the death penalty. Further research and investigation to find humane

methods for the practice the United States isn’t willing to give up at this time.
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Global Issues Report

Criminal Justice

Capital punishment in the death penalty are global issues at the forefront of policy

debates and humanitarian efforts. The majority of countries over the world have gotten rid of

capital punishment in law or practice. Even though many countries have stopped using the death

penalty, the United States still employs it. In order to understand the viewpoint and mindsets of

global actors we will compare and contrast two scholarly journal articles which illustrate

different practices in administrating the death penalty. UTEP can provide more information on

why the United States still uses it.

Discussion

Many countries outside the United States have eliminated the death penalty. These

countries believe it is unethical or immoral or ineffective in lowering crimes rates. Having the

death penalty will not lower crime rates at all. Countries are getting rid of the death penalty, but

they still have the death sentence. The death sentence will always be around, but the death

penalty is what these countries are trying to get rid of. These countries find the death penalty to

be wrong because it is involving the killing of a human being. Nobody should be sentenced to

death despite the crime he or she have committed. This is one example of varying degrees of

reform and evolution caused by societal influence. Even countries which still use the death

penalty are making efforts to find the process more humane. There has to be a better way to do

the death penalty because the way they do it now is wrong. Countries want to find another way

to do it so it can be more humane. According to Zivot (2012), The United States appears to be

making games on this front; however, as one scholar points out the absence of cruelty is not the
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presence of humanness (Pg. 1). There are a lot of different approaches which aim to solving this

issue which there is no consensus.

Other countries than the United States are developing new ideas when it comes to life

sentences. According to Pormeister (2017), the notion of PAS as a means of mercy is derived

from a recent Belgian case in which a prisoner serving a life sentence received permission to be

subjected to PAS as an alternative to spending the rest of his life in prison (Pg. 2). This is a really

good idea in which the United States should follow. A growing number of countries in Europe

and U.S. states are progressing towards a more tolerant approach to PAS (Pg. 3). Therefore,

other countries are taking a different approach that is similar to PAS. The United States will

listen to other countries, but they will not do what other countries do especially when it comes to

the death penalty. According to Pormeister (2017), when it comes to quantity and quality of life

arguments, one of the problems encountered by resorting to PAS as a means of mercy is the fact

that unlike terminally ill patients, convicts requesting PAS as a means of mercy are not typically

expected to die in the near future (Pg. 6). There are some people who are sitting in prison that are

requesting PAS and the people in the prison don’t like it. It is mainly used for patients who are

really sick, and PAS will put them down. If convicts are requesting PAS, then they are going to

have to wait because there are a bunch of people in prison who get really sick. The ill should be

first when it comes to who gets PAS because they need it and want the pain to be over.

The United Sates are getting rid of certain injections but are replacing them with more

inhumane methods. According to Zivot (2012), Sodium thiopental, a drug once standard in the

practice of anesthesiology, is no longer available in the USA (Pg. 1). The death penalty is still

cruel even though there are certain lethal injections being eliminated. According to Zivot (2012),

according to the United States Supreme Court, the death penalty is not cruel per se, it needs
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improvement (Pg. 3). Even the highest court in the land thinks that the death penalty needs

fixing, and they want to improve it. Instead of getting rid of the death penalty, the United States

wants to improve despite the other countries trying to eliminate it. According to Zivot (2012),

The legal system recognizes that cruelty will always reflect a standard commensurate with

maturation of a civil society and that punishment should be proportionate to the severity of the

crime (Pg. 2). Cruelty will always be around the world, but it depends on what the crime was.

That is the way it should be because if someone didn’t commit a major crime then they shouldn’t

have a cruel sentence to prison. Even though the legal system knows that some things are cruel,

they still won’t get rid of the death penalty. If the United States know that other countries are

trying to eliminate the death penalty, then the United Sates should follow it as well. This is what

the United States does, the crime committed matters so they can decide what the penalty should

be.

The death penalty is something that should be taken seriously, because it involves the

passing of a human being. According to Barry (2019), The Supreme Court’s failure to engage

with the right to life in the death penalty context contrasts not only with human rights and

religious traditions but also with recent changes in the legal and political landscape (Pg. 1548).

This is a human being that is being talked about whether or not it should be the right thing to do.

Given these developments, the time is right to break the silence. When the Court eventually

confronts the validity of the death penalty per se, it should speak to the fundamental right to life

under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments (Pg. 1550). Therefore, the Supreme Court needs to

realize that we are talking about human beings, and it needs to be handled differently. There

should be no reason to give the death penalty to someone no matter what the crime was that they

committed. It doesn’t make sense how these other countries are eliminating the death penalty,
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but the United States still has it. Not only that they want to keep it and improve it. It is just

fascinating how the United States works when it comes to things like this. Other countries know

it is the wrong thing to do but the United States doesn’t care. The United States want’s things

done their way and they could care less what other countries do. For over forty years, the Eighth

Amendment has paved the road toward the abolition of the death penalty—but there remains no

end in sight, no welcome sign on the horizon (Pg. 1553). Even in the Eighth Amendment it is

trying to get rid of the death penalty and it still hasn’t been done. It has been forty plus years, that

is how long it has been going on. Sooner or later the death penalty will be gone. Maybe not gone

but hopefully the legal system has other ways of doing it. If they can find other ways to do it,

then people wouldn’t be complaining about the death penalty. This type of problem happens all

over the world because everyone has their own opinion. Other countries besides the United

States is eliminating the death penalty. The United States won’t even try getting rid of it. Other

countries are already working on it and sooner or later the death penalty will be gone. People

find the death penalty inhumane because it is, it is the killing of a human being. It is not the right

way of handling things. It shouldn’t matter what the crime was committed by the person. It is

going to be interesting to see how the death penalty plays out. To see if these countries actually

are falling through with it. There could be a chance that the countries don’t get rid of it. That is

unlikely to happen because these countries are already starting to eliminate it but there is a

possibility. The death penalty is inhumane, and countries are starting to realize it, but not the

United States. The more countries that get rid of the death penalty, the more the other countries

will realize what they are doing to these people is wrong. No human being should go through

that no matter what he or she did. People need to have a better understanding of what the death
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penalty actually is. There is more that goes into it and who decides if he or she gets the death

penalty.

The UTEP Criminal Justice department and its professors and students can continue to

conduct academic research which can help policy in the future. As well as train future leaders in

the field of Criminal Justice. UTEP can train future practitioners so they can use the knowledge

in the future. UTEP can continue hosting academia and government collaborations. UTEP is

advancing their Criminal Justice by offering a new master’s of science degree in Criminology

and Criminal Justice. This program will not only help students learn more information but they

will come up with their own knowledge while in the program. By having a one hundred percent

online degree program for undergraduate majors, it brings in more students which then leads to

more degrees.

Conclusion

Capital punishment in the death penalty are global issues at the forefront of policy

debates and humanitarian efforts. Countries around the world are eliminating the death penalty

because it is inhumane. The United States finds the death penalty to be fine and are even wanting

to improve it. UTEP can add a Criminal Justice course here at the school that can specifically

talk about the importance of the death penalty and can also talk about how other countries deal

with it. The death penalty because it is an important topic that people need to know. The people

need to know what the death penalty actually is and how the United States deals with it. Needs to

be talked about more also because other countries are eliminating the death penalty.
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References

Barry, K. M. (2019). The Death Penalty and the Fundamental Right to Life. Boston College Law

Review, 60(6), 1545–1604. Retrieved from http://0-

search.ebscohost.com.lib.utep.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=137618961&sit

e=ehost-live&scope=site

Death Penalty Information Center. (n.d.). Policy Issues. Retrieved from

https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/international

Pormeister, K., Finley, M., & Rohack, J. J. (2017). Physician Assisted Suicide as a Means of

Mercy: A Comparative Analysis of the Possible Legal Implications in Europe and the

United States. Virginia Journal of Social Policy & the Law, 24(1), 1–23. Retrieved from

http://0-

search.ebscohost.com.lib.utep.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=134979967&sit

e=ehost-live&scope=site

Zivot, J. B. (2012). The absence of cruelty is not the presence of humanness: physicians and the

death penalty in the United States. Philosophy, Ethics & Humanities in Medicine, 7(1),

1–4. https://0-doi-org.lib.utep.edu/10.1186/1747-5341-7-13
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Figures

Figure 1: This photo talks about the percentage of male and female who used PAS. Photo

also shows the percentage of race that used it and their age.

Figure 2: This photo shows a picture of the United States and the states who have legal

Physician Assisted Suicide.

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Figure 3: This photo provides the number of people who have used PAS from two states

in the United States and from other countries. Photo also includes where the patients came from

and provided a date from 1998-2008.

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