DEATH

PENALTY
 • According to the Sacred
Scripture, spiritual death is
separation from God. Humans
• According to Merriam-
are separated from God
Webster Dictionary,
because of sin, which entered
death is the end of life:
the world through the Fall of
the time when someone
Man, and are reconciled to
or something dies.
God through the atoning
sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
 •According to Merriam-
Webster Dictionary, penalty
is punishment for breaking a
rule or law.
 HISTORY OF
• English settlers brought the death • The first established death penalty
penalty from Britain with them
when they came to America.
laws were in the 18th Century B.C.
in the Code of King Hammaurabi

DEATH
• First recorded execution in the of Babylon. The code qualified the

colonies was of Captain George death penalty as punishment for 25

Kendall in 1608 for being a spy for different crimes.

Spain. • In the 11th Century A.D. William

PENALTY
the Conqueror prohibited the
execution for any crime other than
murder.
 DEATH
• According to Kirk Bailey, the death penalty, also
known as capital punishment or execution, is the
sentence of death imposed by court as punishment for
a crime. People who receive the death penalty typically

PENALTY
are convicted of murder and similar capital crimes
like aggravated murder or felony murder. State
legislatures establish the death penalty and set forth
the offenses that maybe punished by death.
 COUNTRIES
PRACTICING
• UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEATH PENALTY
• SOUTH
KOREA
WAYS OR METHODS
IMPOSING DEATH
PENALTY
• Person is bound to gurney and heart monitors are position on

1. LETHAL
skin. Two needles (one is back-up) are inserted into veins in the
arm. Long tubes are connected to several intravenous drips.
First drip is a saline solution that is harmless. The inmate is
then injected with sodium thiopental (an anesthetic) to put the

INJECTION
inmate to sleep. Pavulon or pancuronium bromide is injected to
paralyze the muscle system and to stop the inmate’s breathing.
Potassium chloride is finally injected to stop the heart. Death is
caused from anesthetic overdose, respiratory arrest and cardiac
arrest while the person is unconscious.
 Medical ethics do not allow doctors to participate in
executions. Doctors can only certify if the inmate is dead
or not.
Inexperienced technicians and orderlies perform the
injections.
If the drugs are injected into a muscle or if the needle
becomes clogged, the inmate will experience extreme
pain.
• Person is shaved and strapped to chair with belts that cross the chest,
groin, legs and arms. A metal skullcap-shaped electrode is attached to
the scalp and forehead over a sponge moistened with saline. If sponge
is too wet it will short-circuit the electric current. If sponge is too dry

2. ELECTROCUTION
the electric current will have a very high resistance. An electrode
moistened with conduction jelly is attached to the leg. The prisoner is
then blindfolded. A Handel that connects to power supply is pulled
and a jolt between 500 and 2000 volts (about 30 seconds) is given.
Doctors wait for body to cool down and check to see if the inmate’s
heart is still beating. If it is, another jolt is applied. This process
continues until the prisoner is dead.
• Extremely painful and brutal way • Prisoner often urinates, vomits
to die: blood and drools.

ETHICS OF
• Prisoner’s hands often grip the
chair and violent movement can
sometimes cause dislocations and
fractures.
• Body turns bright red and the skin
stretches to the point of breaking.
• Prisoner sometimes catches fire.
• After death, body is hot enough to

ELECTROCUTION
• The tissues swell and bowels blister if touched.
empty.
• Third degree burns occur where
• Steam and smoke rise from the electrodes met the skin.
prisoner with the smell of burning.
• In most cases, the brain appears
• Eyeballs sometimes pop out and cooked at autopsy.
rest on the cheeks.
 3. GAS
• Inmate is strapped to a chair in an airtight chamber. Below chair is a pail of
sulfuric acid. Long stethoscope is attached to inmate so doctor outside
chamber can pronounce death. Room is sealed and a lever is pressed. Lever
releases hydrogen cyanide gas into chamber. Inmate is instructed to breathe
in deeply to speed up process.

CHAMBERS
• Inmate does not lose consciousness immediately.
• Inmate’s eyes pop, the skin turns purple and the inmate begins to drool.
• Inmate dies from hypoxia (cutting off of oxygen to the brain)
• Once person is dead, an exhaust fan sucks the poison air out of the chamber
and the corpse is sprayed with ammonia to neutralize any cyanide left over.
ETHICS OF GAS
• Federal court in California found method to be a cruel
and unusual punishment.
• Inmate does not lose consciousness immediately.
• Inmate exhibits signs of extreme horror, pain and

CHAMBERS strangling.
• Doctors say the people are unquestionably experience
pain and extreme anxiety
• Day before execution the inmate is weighed and a rehearsal is done using a
sandbag with same weight. The rehearsal helps determine the length of
“drop” needed for a quick death.
• The rope is boiled and stretched to eliminate spring or coiling.

4. HANGING
• The knot is lubricated with wax or soap so it can slide smoothly.
• Inmate’s hands and legs secured
• Inmate is blindfolded.
• The noose is placed around neck with knot behind ear.
• Trap-door is opened and inmate falls through.
• Inmate’s weight should cause a rapid fracture/dislocation of the neck.
ETHICS OF HANGING
Instantaneous If rope is too
death rarely short,
occurs. strangulation
If rope is too could take up to
long, inmate 45 minutes.
could be If slow
decapitated. asphyxiation
Death can result occurs:
from slow • The face
asphyxiation if: becomes
5. FIRING SQUAD
• Inmate is bound to chair with leather straps
across waist and head. Chair is surrounded
with sandbags to absorb blood. Black hood
is put over the inmate’s head. Doctor locates
heart and pins a white cloth target over it.
• Standing 20 feet away, five shooters armed
with 0.30 caliber rifles shoot at the inmate.
One of the rifles contains a blank round.
• Inmate dies from loss of blood.
ETHICS OF FIRING SQUAD

• Not all inmates lose

consciousness immediately.
• If shooters accidentally miss
heart, the inmate bleeds to
death slowly.
• Shooters sometimes
intentionally miss heart so the
inmate suffers.
 WHY DO WE NEED
DEATH PENALTY IN THE
PHILIPPINES?
 THESE ARE THE REASONS WHY WE NEED DEATH PENALTY IN THE
PHILIPPINES ACCORDING TO RAMONA LAUREL (2016):

TO REVIVE PEOPLE’S FEAR OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF LAW VIOLATION

It is not anymore a surprise for Filipinos to see fellow citizens violating the law. One cannot just summon its
people to follow a simple traffic rule. There are vehicular accidents left and right and most of it are
because of lack of discipline and lack of fear of the consequences of violating the law. Death penalty
may help put this to an end.
CRIME DETERRENCE
RETRIBUTION
Both the victims and families of the victims of heinous crimes have no voice to shout how they struggle
everyday feeling every bit of excruciating pain brought about by injustice. People do not know what they
need to go through daily just to move on and let the incident past behind them. How can the mother of a
poor three year old, raped and murdered, sleep soundly at night and move on? How can a hopeless
father who drives the jeepney to send his only daughter to a good school look at life the same way again
after she was raped and parts of her body were decapitated?
 LESS EXPENSE AND LESS UNPRECEDENTED OFFENSE

Criminals in prisons exceed the limit of people allowed to be inside a jail. They say it is
because of lack of fund. Most of them sleep literally beside each other, smelling each other’s
breath and feeling each other’s sweat. They wake up and get fed three times a day. They
are even offered livelihood programs and seminars good for the wellness of their being.
TO DISCOURAGE TAKING OF INNOCENT LIVES

They say that imposing the death penalty puts innocent lives at risk, but not imposing it puts
more innocent lives at risk especially if we let the heartless criminals live and kill more
people.
Yes, no justice system is and would ever be perfect. There is always the possibility of
convicting the wrong person, with or without the death penalty, but it is beyond human ability
to ever control it. The unavoidability of a mistake should not serve as grounds to completely
do away with the death penalty any more than the risk of having a deadly accident should
make vehicles illegal.
 ADVANTAGES
AND
DISADVANTAGES
OF DEATH PENALTY
ADVANTAGES
1. IT DETERS BAD PEOPLE TO COMMIT
HEINOUS CRIMES.
One reason supporters of the capital
punishment are for death penalty is
its effectiveness as a crime deterrent.
According to the advocates for death
sentencing, potential criminals will be
scared to suffer such harsh
punishment and as a result, they will
be hesitant to commit crimes like
rape and murder. In fact, for them, it
is the greatest deterrent of criminal
3. THE GOVERNMENT NEED NOT SPEND FOR CRIMINALS WHO ARE MURDERERS AND SUCH.
If there will be no death penalty, criminals who have committed grave offenses will
only get life sentences and stay in prison. With the increasing number of incarcerated
individuals, the government will be spending more and more on food and health care
of these inmates. According to some critics, spending for people committing heinous
crimes is impractical and a waste of taxpayers’ money.
4. IT REDUCES THE NUMBER OF COMMITTED CRIMES.
People who are for death penalty posit that without it, the number of major crimes
like murder and homicide will escalate since bad elements will not be afraid to do
whatever they want., from dealing drugs to killing other people. Without harsh
punishments for their offenses, criminals will be taking advantage of weaker people
and victims.
5. IT IS HUMANE, CLEAN AND SAFE.
Advocates for the death penalty claim that with lethal injection being practiced by
more states and countries over other forms of death sentence executions, it is the better
option. Death by lethal injection is not as barbaric as hanging or firing squad that can
be messy and more painful.
DISADAVANTAGES
1.IT IS NOT A CRIME DETERRENT.
Critics argue that the death
penalty does not really deter criminals from
committing offenses. This is because
there are criminals who suffer from mental
illnesses and a death sentence will
not be able to prevent them from doing
bad things they cannot control without
proper medication.
2. IT CAN RESULT TO PUNISHING THE
WRONG PEOPLE.
3. IT COSTS THE GOVERNMENT TOO MUCH MONEY.
Critics of death penalty contend the view of supporters that feeding the
inmates is more expensive than death penalty. On the contrary, the drugs used in
lethal injection and other expenses related to the execution are more costly.

4. IT CAN CAUSE DEPRESSION AND FEELINGS OF GUILT ON PEOPLE.

One of the disadvantages of this practice is the reality that some of the
people who have been involved in the process suffer from depression out of guilt
from having to end another person’s life. Some of this people end up committing
suicide and others have to suffer living the remaining years of their lives
tormented with the thought. According to a former executioner, there are many
people who have participated in executions whose lives were later destroyed.
Some turned to drugs and alcohol to feel better.
5. IT IS NOT HUMANE AND CANNOT BE UNDONE.
There was an incident where a person who underwent
lethal injection did not die right away and it took more than
30 minutes for him to die from a heart attack. This was
traumatic not only for the person being executed but also
for the people who witnessed the incident since they saw the
man gasping for air and trying to stand up. For people who
are against death penalty, this is not a humane thing to do.
Moreover, they say that if a criminal is executed and after
the execution, a new piece of evidence comes out that would
have proven the person’s innocence, he or she can never be
brought back to life anymore.
THINGS TO CONSIDER TO STRENGTHEN DEATH
PENALTY