According to the Death Penalty Focus, the lethal injection is the practice of killing a person using a lethal dose of drugs administrated intravenously, meaning through or within a vein. The history of lethal injections states that physicians in Nazi Germany initially used them in the course of the Nazi euthanasia program against the physically and intellectual disabled children and adults in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s. Many thought that the use of the lethal injection would cause less pain for the inmates, but that’s not the case. The lethal injection, if not given correctly, could cause severe …show more content…
But today many states use the gas chamber, hanging, the lethal injection, the electrical chair, or the firing squad, which seem to all fall in “cruel and unusual punishments”. Executing someone found guilty of a terrible crime seems to be “cruel or unusual”. In the case of Robinson v. California, the Supreme Court made two rulings on the meaning of the “cruel and unusual punishment” clause of the 8th amendment. As stated before the 8th amendment guarantees that “excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted”. The issue in the Robinson v. California was the constitutionality of a California Criminal law that made being a narcotics addict a crime. The court ruled that the 8th amendment applied to the states through the “due process clause” of the 14th amendment. According to the Free Dictionary, Robinson was stopped in the street by a Los Angeles police officer, who noticed that he was filled with needle marks. The officer arrested him, and he was sent to jail. He arms were examined the next day and it turns out that the marks were a result of an injection of unsterilized hypodermic needles. The police officer claimed that Robinson did admit he used narcotics. Robinson was charged