Death Penalty Outline

Understanding the Death Penalty General Purpose: My general purpose is to give the audience a better understanding of the death penalty. Specific Purpose: My purpose is to inform my audience about the different death penalty methods. Introduction: I. We all know Thomas Edison as being the creator of the light bulb, but what most don’t know is he executed animals using his knowledge of electricity. That’s where it all began. II. The death penalty is the execution of an offender sentenced to death after conviction by a court of law of a criminal offense.
III. It is also known as Capital Punishment. The two words merely mean the same thing. Some look at “Death Penalty” as being the penalty received whereas others look at “Capital Punishment” as being the actual execution. IV. What makes capital cases different from other cases is more pre-trial time, more experts, more attorneys, and jurors have to be quizzed on their views of the death penalty. All crimes are not capital cases. Transition: To begin let’s start with the different methods of execution. Body: I. There are five methods of execution. . Lethal injection b. Electric chair c. Gas chamber d. Hanging e. Fire squad Transition: First let’s explore lethal injection. I. Lethal Injection is the primary source of execution used in the United States; The U. S. became the first country to use lethal injection. There are three different drugs used in lethal injection. A. Sodium Thiopental- A sedative drug that puts you in a coma-like, unconsciousness sleep. B. Pancuronium Bromide- Prohibits all muscular-skeletal movements and paralyzes the diaphragm to stop respiration. C.
Potassium Chloride- Interferes with the electrical signals of the heart, causing cardiac arrest. According to U. S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts, along with Justices Anthony M. Kennedy and Samuel A. Alito, There are a total of 36 states now use lethal injection as their most prevalent source of execution. 27 of the 36 require lethal injection to be the method of execution. There is a lethal injection machine, but rarely used because of the fear that it will not work on the first try. II. Transition: Another method is the Electric Chair.

This is the method where a high voltage of electricity is sent through the body. A. Before the execution, the prisoner’s head and legs will be shaved where the electrodes are placed. The prisoner’s head, torso, arm, legs, hips, wrists and ankles are tightly fastened to the chair. (Robert O. Hippe, Judge of the Nebraska Court of Appeals) B. A plate is placed around the prisoner’s head and left calf creating a path through the body. C. Larger sponges which have been soaked in solution are placed under each electrode, next to the prisoner’s skin.
Burning is expected in electrocutions, so a fire extinguisher is kept close by. III. Transition: A third method of execution is the gas chamber. A. During an execution, the prisoner is placed in an air-tight room where potassium cyanide or sodium cyanide is put into a pan of hydrochloric acid causing the prisoner to not be able to process hemoglobin, as stated in the article “First Execution by Lethal Gas” B. The prisoner then falls and chokes to death. C. Only 4 states in the U. S. allow gas chamber as a form of execution. D. Gas chamber is the most expensive method of execution.
IV. Transition: The fourth method of execution is hanging. A. The inmate must be weighed the day before the execution. A sandbag weighing the same as the prisoner is then used a “test dummy” to determine the length of drop necessary for a quick death. B. If the rope is too long, the inmate could be decapitated. If the rope is too short, it will result in a slow death causing the tongue and eyes to protrude. C. Hanging was the most common source of execution in the U. S. up until the 1890’s. V. Transition: The final method of execution is the firing squad. A.
Five shooters will aim at the prisoner, but only four will have live aim. One shooter has a dud that creates the same sound. B. They all shoot at an area the size the palm of your hand. (Kevin P. Robillard, Editorial Assistant at POLITICO) Conclusion: I. Transition: I have informed you about the death penalty and the five methods of execution. f. Lethal injection g. Electric chair h. Gas chamber i. Hanging j. Fire squad II. I hope that now you have a better understanding of the death penalty. WORKS CITED . “Capital Punishment. ” ProCon. org. Encyclopedia Britannica , 25/04/2008.
Web. 10 Sep 2012. <http://deathpenalty. procon. org/view. answers. php? questionID=000988>. Richard, Dieter. ProCon. org. N. p. , 07/02/2007. Web. 10 Sep 2012. <http://deathpenalty. procon. org/view. answers. php? questionID=001022>. . “Forms of execution in the United States,1977-2009. “ProCon. org. N. p. , 16/04/2008. Web. 10 Sep 2012. <http://deathpenalty. procon. org/view. resource. php? resourceID=1623>. . “Did you know?. ” ProCon. org. N. p. , 08/05/2012. Web. 10 Sep 2012. <http://deathpenalty. procon. org/view. resource. php? resourceID=001631>.