This paper explores capital punishment by examining the controversial execution of Dennis McGuire in Ohio, where a new drug combination resulted in a prolonged and painful death. The paper provides a historical and contemporary overview of the death penalty across cultures, then analyzes whether capital punishment actually deters crime through a sociological lens. Drawing on pioneering research by Thorsten Sellin and comparing it with econometric models, the paper concludes that evidence does not support the deterrent effect commonly claimed by death penalty proponents, while raising ethical concerns about the practice itself.
The death penalty, also referred to as capital punishment, represents a form of punishment that involves taking the life of a convicted individual. This is one of the most severe punishments available and is generally reserved for the most serious criminal acts such as rape and murder. However, many cultures have their own ideas about what constitutes a sufficiently heinous crime for capital punishment. The requirements for capital punishment have varied across different geographic areas, cultures, and throughout different time periods. When someone is convicted of a crime and sentenced to the death penalty, the governing body ultimately takes their life through a variety of methods.
Throughout history, many forms of the death penalty were performed publicly, and those convicted might be stabbed, stoned, hanged, beheaded, or tortured. Modern countries that still perform capital punishments have mostly attempted to civilize the process and do not perform the sentencing publicly. They also attempt to take the criminal's life in a way that does not cause pain. Most modern countries in the Western world have eliminated the death penalty completely. However, many countries such as the United States, Sudan, China, Egypt, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, and Pakistan continue the practice.
The use of the death penalty has become a controversial topic in the United States, and many individual states have already stopped using it. Yet there are still some states that use the death penalty regularly. The arguments for the use of the death penalty include the claim that it works to prevent or deter future crimes and that it allows families of victims to fully grieve. A significant amount of debate surrounds these arguments, however, and the effect on deterring future crimes appears marginal at best. Some argue that the practice can actually be counterproductive and promote a more violent society. This analysis provides an example of the death penalty and then discusses this example within its greater sociological context.
Ohio has encountered difficulties in performing the death penalty through lethal injections. European drug manufacturers that produce pentobarbital and sodium thiopental have stopped selling these drugs to U.S. states that wish to use them to perform capital punishment for moral reasons (Preston, 2014). Since these companies ceased selling the drugs, many states such as Ohio and Texas have attempted to develop new formulas for performing lethal injections. However, there has been a period of trial and error as an effective substitute for the previously used drugs has not yet been found.
In Ohio, Dennis McGuire was sentenced to the death penalty for committing murder. He was convicted of murdering Joy Stewart, a twenty-two-year-old woman who was pregnant. The murder occurred in 1998, and hikers found the woman's body in a field. Joy Stewart had been dragged from a car, raped, sodomized, stabbed, and choked. For this crime, Dennis McGuire received the death penalty.
When the State of Ohio performed the death penalty, they had to use a new drug combination for the lethal injection because of the lack of supply of the previous drugs. The new drugs caused McGuire to struggle for twenty minutes before he died. One reporter for the Columbus Dispatch described the execution as follows (Preston, 2014):
"His body strained against the restraints around his body, and he repeatedly gasped for air, making snorting and choking sounds for about 10 minutes. His chest and stomach heaved; his left hand, which he had used minutes earlier to wave goodbye to his family, clenched in a fist."
Many who witnessed the event felt that this execution was far from humane, and some called it a "failed, agonizing experiment by the state of Ohio." There was a lawsuit against Ohio filed by the family of the executed man. "To a degree of medical certainty this was not a humane execution," said Dr. Kent Diveley, an anesthesiologist at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego, in an affidavit obtained for the lawsuit (Johnson, 2014).
Even despite the brutality of the execution, many people still justified its use. They compared the execution to the experience that the victim had. Joy Stewart's family released a statement after the execution (Preston, 2014):
"There has been a lot of controversy regarding the drugs that are to be used in his execution, concern that he might feel terror or that he might suffer. As I recall the events preceding her death—forcing her from the car, attempting to rape her vaginally, sodomizing her, choking her, stabbing her—I know she suffered terror and pain. He is being treated far more humanely than he treated her."
Many others agreed with this statement and felt that the execution was justified based on retribution for McGuire's actions.
Sociology can offer many insights into the practice of capital punishment. The murder of Joy Stewart was certainly a grievous act. However, the execution of McGuire was apparently also quite horrific. The "eye for an eye" approach to justice is certainly questionable, and researchers should look to data to provide insights into how capital punishment is being used. Sociologists can examine the claim of whether the death penalty actually reduces crime and deters future homicides (Goertzel, 2004).
The first comparative study of capital punishment was conducted by Thorsten Sellin, a sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania and one of the pioneers of scientific criminology (Goertzel, 2004). As described by a later researcher:
"Sellin applied his combination of qualitative and quantitative methods in an exhaustive study of capital punishment in American states. He used every scrap of data that was available, together with his knowledge of the history, economy, and social structure of each state. He compared states to other states and examined changes in states over time. Every comparison he made led him to the 'inevitable conclusion . . . that executions have no discernible effect on homicide rates.'" (Goertzel, 2004).
Sellin's work has since been replicated several times and has been further verified. However, other methodologies have produced different results. The econometric model is commonly cited by people who support the death penalty, though the methodology is more questionable than what has been produced by sociologists. Economists began to study capital punishment in the 1970s using regression models to analyze U.S. aggregate data for 1933–1969 and state-level data for 1940 and 1950, and they found a significant deterrent effect (Dezhadbksh, Rubin, & Shepherd, 2003).
Capital punishment will undoubtedly remain a controversial topic for years to come in the United States. However, the worldwide trend suggests that the practice will eventually come to an end. The death penalty is a gruesome practice. If a criminal commits murder and then the state executes this person, it is hard to make a distinction between the two acts. Murder is wrong no matter who commits it. Furthermore, the evidence suggests that there is no benefit to the death penalty, and the sociological approach has shown that it does not reduce the rate of future homicides. In the United States, it is actually more expensive to execute someone than to keep them in prison for the rest of their lives.
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