Steven Bright, a human rights lawyer, says: "You can argue that rapists deserve to be raped, that mutilators deserve to be mutilated. Most societies , however, refrains from responding in this way because the punishment is not only degrading to those on whom it is inflicted, but it is also degrading to the society that engages in the same behavior as criminals." According to the Eighth Amendment of the Bill of Rights, criminal punishments shall not be cruel or unusual (Bill of Rights). This exempts judges from requiring extremely high bail, from being shot, from being strangled, burned, etc. (Bill of Rights). Now, does the Eighth Amendment include or omit capital punishment? Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, can be defined as the authorized killing of a criminal as punishment for his crime (Merriam-Webster). There is no proven correlation between criminal deterrence and capital punishment (Green). The main problem with capital punishment is the possibility that an innocent person will be killed; To reduce the chance of innocent people losing their lives, we need to invest in the stages before the actual murder. The problem with capital punishment is that once the time for the crime has passed, there are no solutions. People sentenced to life without parole have the ability to give back to society by having the opportunity to receive an education. Most inmates manage to learn the individual lesson as to why their crime was unjustifiable, however, capital punishment prisoners do not have the opportunity to do so. What does capital punishment teach those who have already committed a crime? Many citizens who vote in favor of capital punishment remain convinced that knowing that the death penalty will be an op...... middle of paper ......ted"Bill of Rights | Constitution | Law of the United States." LII/Institute of Legal Information. Np, nd Web. April 14, 2014. "Capital Punishment: Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary." Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online. Np, nd Web. April 14, 2014. Ted. "David R. Dow: Lessons from Death Row Inmates | Talk Video | TED.com." TED: Ideas worth spreading. Np, February 2012. Web. April 14, 2014. Green, Melissa S. (March 24, 2005). "The death penalty: specific issues". In Melissa S. Green, compiler (1998-2009), Focus on the Death Penalty (website). Justice Center, University of Alaska Anchorage. (April 14, 2014). “Executed 14-year-old George Stinney should be tried again for murders of girls, lawyers say – San Jose Mercury News.” MercuryNews.com. San Jose Mercury News, January 14, 2014. Web. April 14. 2014.