As the title states, "Should death row inmates be subjected to medical testing rather than animals?"

This is my topic for an essay I'm supposed to do in English class. While I haven't done any research yet, I would like to inquire what Vizzed members think of this statement. I'll accept biased opinions, but I need to know why you stated your opinions.

As for myself, I'm against it. It's probably because my mind tends to lean on the more humane answer, but who knows? Maybe I just might change my mind after I've done some research on it.

Mistress : Well not really . I mean they were sentenced to death .. for doing something worth dying ( not in a noble way  for .  They are put to death BECAUSE the the world would be a better place without them ... why study them or conduct experiments on them ? That will just give them more opportunity to ruin what they already haven't  

And I might be being totally paranoid here but what if one of the experiments go wrong and make the inmate ... better .. physically .. make them more powerful ... then that would really be a problem  

That's a pretty deep essay question...I love it! (for those who know me...)

Anyway, it really is hard to choose a side, so I'll state some reason for both. 

YES

-People on Death Row...deserve it, don't they? They have committed a crime that has landed them on Death's Row, so really, why not? 
-If the person on Death Row chooses to oblige, then it's their choice. One might say it's a "noble" cause. Death is death, no matter which way it happens. Either by means of Death Row, or means to medical testing and other outside options. As for noble cause, maybe that person would like to maybe help out society before leaving it forever. The tests would be carried out on a human, which would then make things a little more accurate. 

NO

-As you stated, it's an idea of a humane decision. That person is still a human, and shouldn't be subjected to possible humiliation. I feel this idea of being humane will have a tremendous tug on the rope, more in favor of NO. No one wants to be subjected to life-altering experiments against their will. 

Going with what Mr. Zed said, I would kindly disagree. 

"They are put to death BECAUSE the the world would be a better place without them ... why study them or conduct experiments on them ? That will just give them more opportunity to ruin what they already haven't."

They are going to die in the end...would it matter in what way they may die? And I do not see how they may ruin already what they haven't. Not everyone on Death Row is going to be that menacing guy or gal. Many regret their decisions, and end up becoming humble and accepting the consequences to their actions. They do not have a chance to ruin anything they already haven't while in jail too.
I do not think that there will be a problem with experiments going wrong...those are only for movies. 

I must say, I am in the middle. There is no option for being in the middle for your essay (I presume), so I am glad I am not assigned that essay. Jk lol. I would have to think a little more about this, but the humane part is really tugging my chains and pulling me over to NO...

Good luck with your essay.

I personally don't have a problem with using them as test subjects for medical tests, as long as these medical tests wouldn't potential for causing them excessive pain or mental trauma. Then again, if they die from a medical test, isn't that the point in the first place?

These people supposedly have done something horrible enough where people have decided that they deserve to pay with their life. Rats on the other hand have done nothing. If you murder someone or multiple people, I think it's more than fair to give your body to science. The Nazis thought the same thing, so I'm not sure what that says about me, but that's my opinion.

I'd rather neither to be honest but if I had to choose than I would choose the inmates be the guinea pigs. It's cruel that scientists and cosmetic scientists do that to animals just for there own selfish needs.   

Interesting.

On one hand, they are sentenced to DEATH, not experiments and whatever terrible side effects they may experience.

On the other, if the judge, when sentencing, adds to the death sentenced the "guinea pig" condition, then maybe it would be an ok idea.


I'm just concerned that if we are allowed to conduct experiments on those in death row, we may start treating them inhumanly... and that is usually not acceptable. But then I think about someone who has, let's say, raped his daughter to death and horrifically tortured and killed several toddler... my feeling is that he deserves to have human experiments on him, regardless of the pain and suffering they may cause. But... is that really right?

No. That was not a part of their sentence. When they are executed, they have paid their debt to society (at least as in the eyes of people who support the death penalty). The thing is, we have a rights that we all are given, no matter what. It doesn't matter if an illegal search ends up proving you slaughtered 50 people. If the search is illegal, that evidence has to be completely dismissed from the case. We have rights to treat everyone equally (mostly). Nowhere in our Constitution or any law does it state that when one is put on death row, that all of their rights are null and void. A police officer is not allowed to savagely beat a death row inmate just because he/she is going to be put to death anyway. That is not how the law is. Now, medical testing is different than a savage beating. But in some cases, it could end up being worse. But that is neither here nor there. The point is, even death row inmates are considered citizens, and they are given rights as such. I think that medical testing would fall under the category of cruel and unusual punishment and even borderline torture, both of which are not allowed under the eyes of the law. They cannot be forced into medical testing just because 'they're going to die anyway'. By that logic, who cares if we tie them up and taze them every morning? What does it matter if people can pay to be in a firing squad with high powered paintball guns? What's wrong with allowing an occasional unprovoked blow to the head with a nightstick? I mean, if they die, isn't that the point of their sentence anyway? 

I find that when a lot of people talk about their opinion on death row inmates, they forget their own humanity a little bit. Yes, they did something horrible. Yes, they hurt more than just the ones they killed. But they are human beings too. I don't see how others seem capable of treating ANY person less than human. Especially those who claim to be Christians, which is supposed to promote compassion no matter what the circumstance. Don't let a death row inmate's actions cause you to lose a little bit of your own humanity, even for a second. 

If our legal system was perfect I wouldn't care too much, but it is run by humans who sadly make many mistakes.  Look up how many people were freed from death row when DNA evidence was first admissible in court.  We were going to kill innocent people.  How many more are sitting in there not guilty.  It is the same reason I don't believe in the death penalty period.

I think the death row inmates should have a choice, a volunteer program if you will, to become medical test subjects. The benefit for the inmate could be like giving them more comforts before their death date, or just postpone their death date until they are no longer able to help with medical testing. Could also let them die via a deadly testing (if they are willing to do so over lethal injection).

I do not agree with the idea of forcing death row inmates in medical studies though; even if they are vile humans, they are still humans.

Doesn't help that I'm not 100% for the death penalty either, though.

no even though there bad people but no that wrong

I would go so far as to say they should be able to do testing on criminals who are in jail, not just those on death row.
They are a burden on everyone else in the initial act that got them thrown in jail, as well as the tax money required to contain them.

The inmates could be given a few choices:
Do hard or tedious manual labor to earn your meals and living cell.
If you're skilled and know a useful trade, put it to use.
Let yourself undergo medical testing to earn your stay.

The main point is that they should be doing something productive, and lifting weights and playing b-ball out in the court sure as hell isn't productive.
The last thing you want is inmates being big and buff unless they're actually putting that strength to good use.

ruesen :  Giving the criminals a choice is a good idea.  

Their rights are forfeit. Lets use them as guinea pigs.

I say only by volunteer. Yes, they do need to pay for their crimes but they can pay while still being forgiven by us. Forcing them to become guinea pigs is just another form of torture. If they volunteer, that's their business.

Absolutely not if it's forced on them.  There's a difference for being punished by death for a crime and being tortured and otherwise experimented upon.  They may have been terrible people but we do not, as a society, take a right to see them tortured and murdered and messed up for their crime.

Many countries that torture are looked at negatively.  I think American culture already has the world frowning at us.  If we started testing on humans, even criminals, that makes us even worse than what we are already assumed to be.

I would have to say that I don't think they should either. Even though they may have done horrible things in there past and possibly not even feel bad about it (some do) they are still human. It would go against their rights and go against about how we stand for equality. What if it was someone that was framed or was sent to prison by accident and they were testing on and they had horrible life changing results only to be told he could be released because they found out he/she didn't actually do it. To me, every human is still a human no matter what horrible things they have done in life. I think they best way to do something remotely like this is to give them a choice about what they want to do. However, unless they are seriously messed up most chances they won't want to test anything like that.

I think to my point of view, I think death row inmates should be guinea pigs with medical testing than using animals, I think to my point of view, with the animal testing, they're a difference between those animals and Humans like the body responds differently to those tests, and another thing why I think testing on inmates rather than animals, so PETA can finally shut up about the whole animal testing issue.

The only thing is in the United States, we have the 8th Amendment in the Constitution, and that is prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment, so that could be a factor that we don't use death row inmates (but I could be wrong though), but in case I am wrong about it and medical testing on them isn't cruel and unusual punishment, then why not do it so we at lease use those bodies.

I believe this is a bad idea. When death row inmates are killed they are killed humanly. When subjected to medical experiments they might die inhumanely which would make the government no better then the people on death row