In the case of Moore v. Texas In 2002, “for the first time the Supreme Court held that using capital punishment on the intellectually disabled offenders constitutes as cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment” (DuPey 781). Due to this ruling, offenders, that commit the same crime as an intellectually disabled person, will be given the death penalty and the intellectual disabled will not suffer the same consequence. The constitution is not subjective. It is law governing over the entire country that must be abided. There should not be a debate when and under what circumstances the death penalty should be inflected. If the constitution is not subjective, and if using capital punishment against intellectually disabled is found as cruel and unusual punishment, that standard should be the same for all offenders.
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Image credits: Art Lein. The image is a depiction of the court case of Moore v. Texas
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The alternative punishment of a life sentence without parole would render the death penalty unnecessary and obsolete. Life without parole accomplishes the same goal as the death penalty. Prisoners with this sentence pose no threat to the security of the public nor do they pose a threat to the security of the nation. Offenders are punished by the emotional distress of prison and have to live out their natural lives accepting the self-accountability for their actions. Another added benefit of life imprisonment is that it gives a larger window to possibly prove the innocence of someone wrongly convicted of murder.
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Image is from the Philly Voice Staff. Depicts barbed wire outside of a prison.
Furman v. Georgia the Supreme Court overturned a death sentence and ruled that the death penalty could not be issued on the grounds that it constituted cruel and unusual punishment. William Henry Furman broke into and entered a home and attempted to rob it. During the robbery he shot and killed the home owner. After finding in this case of murder, the death penalty constituted cruel and unusual punishment it exemplifies that the death penalty is unconstitutional in all murder cases. The murder of the home owner in the case Furman v. Georgia is no different than majority of murder cases that occur.
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This image was found on google images. Credit for this image goes to Reaghan Scott and Brooke Sampson. It depicts the Supreme Court and Henry Furman and the verdict of the court case.
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