Death Row The death penalty is outmoded and should be eliminated from our justice system. The death penalty is extremely racially biased and is not assigned justly. While advocates claim it is cheaper to execute than to support a felon for life in prison, it is actually more expensive to sentence a man to death. Opponents to the death penalty say that death is actually revenge rather than justice. The number of prisoners on death row is increasing. The public favoring the death penalty is reaching record levels of 80% in some polls. Barring reprieve, four death row inmates are waiting to be executed next week for a record number of executions nationwide in a week. Many of the inmates scheduled to die have arrived at the end of their appeals through a long and tangled legal path. The question now remaining is how should they be executed (Mauro). New York legislators are expected to approve a death penalty bill in the next few weeks. Sponsors say the measure will do away with the electric chair in favor of lethal injection, which some death penalty advocates say is a more humane execution method (Hughes). As of April, in the United States, there are 2,848 death row inmates, half of them minorities. Whites constitute 50%, Blacks 40%, Hispanic 7% and 3% other races. A black man who kills a white man is 63 times more likely to be executed than a white man who murders a black man (McCollum p 12). The prosecutors who pursue capital cases are usually white, a fact that might be responsible for the high percentage of blacks on death row, according to a report out today. The death penalty is more often sought for black defendants, especially in cases where the victims are white. The Black defendants were 38% more likely to be sentenced to die than others who committed similar crimes. This system is extremely racially biased (Jones p3A). In the United States, the largest death row stands in Texas with 324 people: 144 whites, 120 African Americans, 52 Hispanics, 4 Native Americans, and 4 Asian Americans. The smallest states are Connecticut with 2 whites, New Mexico with 1 Native American and 1 white, and Wyoming 2 whites, (Mumia). Blacks constituted some 40% of men on death row in Pennsylvanian, yet blacks constitute just over 9% of Pennsylvanian’s population and just fewer than 11% of America’s.
Racial representation in death row proves that justice system consistently shows bias, primarily through crime victim treatment. Though originally the Supreme Court
Too often times, innocent lives have been wasted away through racial prejudice and societal bias. Innocent suspects of murders that capture media attention are often unlucky targets for capital punishment whose system is initially flawed. Statistics show that for every seven people sent to death row, one is innocent. Innocent lives have been wasted in prison because the case wasn’t thoroughly investigated; because the defendant wasn’t able to afford a competent legal representation; because the wisest and most experienced judges weren’t the ones making the decisions. This, coupled with the fact that society can never be free from racial prejudice and bias, makes correctly judging a capital punishment case extremely difficult.
Since the beginning of modern law, capital punishment has been present in our world. Ranging from the guillotine to lethal injection, over time people have discovered more “humane” ways to execute a convicted criminal. Opinions on the subject may vary depending on certain situations, such as the victim being a family member or close friend. Although there are solid pro-arguments for the death penalty I believe there is enough evidence that implies it should not be legal in any way, shape or form.
In the United States there are currently 3,490 prisoners awaiting execution. Many of these prisoners are poor and are where they are because they could not afford good legal representation. Most of these prisoners are Black, and they have been arrested and incarcerated in southern states. According to the July 2004 Quarterly Report of the NAACP Criminal Justice Project, 52% of the inmates who currently sit on Death Row are Black or Hispanic.
Most death row inmates are members of minority groups that tend to be poor. The fact they are on death row can be explained as a direct result of their marginal economic status. These alleged criminals receive legal representation that is not adequate for the serious crimes of which they are accused, simply because they cannot afford to pay for expensive defense attorneys (The Death Penalty). In virtually all cases of indigent defendants, underpaid and less experienced Public Defense attorneys are appointed by the court to represent the accused. Investigative monies are usually limited or nonexistent. This is one reason why minorities are over-represented on death row. More affluent white defen...
In many cases, bias piles up resulting in an unfavorable situation for African-American defendants. According to research done by Richard Dieter for “The Death Penalty in Black and White: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Decides” compared to all other eligible defendants, African-Americans have a 40% higher rate of being sentenced to death. One main cause, Dieter concluded, was that almost all prosecutors who make the decision whether or not to give the death penalty are white, in fact 98% are white, which is a factor in the racial imbalance in the practice of the death penalty. Another element in the racial disparity regarding capital punishment, is that prosecutors fail to treat the family of the victims depending on race equally. While often times prosecutors reach out to white families about whether or not the death penalty should be pursued but failed to do the same for the families of an African-American victim. The emotional decision of the distraught white families to push for the sentencing of the suspect’s death is a cause of why, despite African-American victims being over 60%, almost 80% of people on death row are in for committing crimes against white people. Among other things, juries play a big role in the role of race in capital punishment. Despite Batson v. Kentucky which ruled the expulsion of jurors based on race
African Americans make up 13 percent of the general US population, but they constitute 28 percent of all arrests, 40 percent that are incarcerated and 42 percent on death row. Caucasians make up 67 percent of the total US population and 70 percent of all arrests, but only 40 percent are incarcerated and 56 percent on death row. Native Americans and Hispanics are also overrepresented in the criminal justice system. The American prison and jail systems are defined by a fence racial disparity in the population of incarcerated people.
Racial discrimination has been an immense problem in our society for a very long time. The fact that the race of a victim plays a role in his or her sentencing is appalling. Discrimination within our society needs to come to an end. It’s frightening to think that if you are a minority facing a capital punishment case, which you might be found guilty only because of the color of your skin.
Racism Review: Scholarship and activism toward racial justice. (2010). Race and the Death Penatly 2: Black defendants, White Victims . Retrieved from Racism Review: Scholarship and activism toward racial justice : http://www.racismreview.com/blog/2010/04/17/race-and-the-death-penalty-ii-black-defendants-white-victims/
“Is the government doing enough?” that’s a question most people ask themselves when starting a debate about a sensitive topic. In the Untied States, the capital punishment is limited. People often find it cruel and heartless to punish people by the death penalty. The death penalty is a sensitive topic everywhere; people are either with or without death penalty. Death penalty should be a punishment for murders, rapist and people who commit a crime that destroys another person’s life. Death penalty can be effective because, it’s going to spread fear between criminals, gives the victim’s families closure, reduces the prison population and keeps our society safe from dangerous people.
In conclusion, the death penalty is inhumane because it goes against the constitution and violates the eight amendment by showing cruel and unusual punishment towards people who have been put on death row. People on death row experience abuse both physically and emotionally. The death penalty is also an unsuccessful fear tactic and arbitrary because some criminals will commit crime no matter what the consequences are , and it is arbitrary cause it is a random selection process for who will be sentenced to death and who will not be sentenced to death. The death penalty is also biased because men and African Americans are more likely to be sentenced to death . The reasons stated above are just some of the reasons the death penalty should be abolished.
Race plays a large factor in showing how you are viewed in society. Although there is no longer slavery and separate water fountains, we can still see areas of our daily life clearly affected by race. One of these areas is the criminal justice system and that is because the color of your skin can easily yet unfairly determine if you receive the death penalty. The controversial evidence showing that race is a large contributing factor in death penalty cases shows that there needs to be a change in the system and action taken against these biases. The issue is wide spread throughout the United States and can be proven with statistics. There is a higher probability that a black on white crime will result in a death penalty verdict than black on black or white on black. Race will ultimately define the final ruling of the sentence which is evident in the racial disparities of the death penalty. The amount of blacks on death row can easily be seen considering the majority of the prison population is black or blacks that committed the same crime as a white person but got a harsher sentence. The biases and prejudices that are in our society relating to race come to light when a jury is selected to determine a death sentence. So what is the relationship between race and the death penalty? This paper is set out to prove findings of different race related sentences and why blacks are sentenced to death more for a black on white crime. Looking at the racial divide we once had in early American history and statistics from sources and data regarding the number of blacks on death row/executed, we can expose the issues with this racial dilemma.
Capital punishment is the most severe sentence imposed in the United States and is legal in thirty-eight states. The death penalty is a controversial subject, especially because the U.S. is the only western democracy to retain this consequence (Scheb, 518). I personally believe that the death penalty is a valid sentence for those who deserve it. Some believe it is not constitutional, but those who face this penalty are clearly suspect of a savage offense and therefore should be at a loss of certain rights. The arguments don’t end there once one considers that “the controversy over capital punishment becomes more heated when special circumstances arise” (Sternberg, 2). This issue brings up more arguments against the death penalty because of the constitutionally protected ban on cruel and unusual punishment which is protected by the Eighth Amendment. There have been nearly 15,000 executions that have taken place in America, the first in 1608 with the death of Captain George Kendall (Siegel, 410). Most of these were sentenced to death because of their own action of killing others. However, more and more crimes are now able to be punishable by death. This is the result of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which “dramatically increased the number of federal crimes eligible for this sentence” (Scheb, 520). Even so, the federal government has yet to put someone on death row for a non-homicidal case. The arguments for and against capital punishment are lengthy and strictly opinionated, but are also important to see the evolution of our society as the majority view changes and new influences come about.
The death penalty is racist, it punishes the poor, it causes the innocent to die, it is not a deterrent against violent crime, and it is cruel and unusual punishment. More than half of the countries in the world have already abolished the death penalty and the U.S should abolish it too. It is wrong and cruel. Some states in the U.S still hold the death penalty because they think it will keep U.S citizens safe, but we can just keep the murders in a separate patrolled jail. Abolish it and we may save the lives of the people that may have been executed innocent.
For instance, the 1972 Furman V. Georgia case abolished the death penalty for four years on the grounds that capital punishment was extensive with racial inequalities (Latzer 21). Over twenty five years later, those inequalities are higher than ever. The statistics says that African Americans are twelve percent of the U.S. population, but are 43 percent of the prisoners on death row. Although blacks make up 50 percent of all murder victims, 83 percent of the victims in death penalty cases are white. Since 1976 only ten executions involved a white defendant who had killed a bl...