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Racial discrimination in the death penalty
Racial discrimination in the death penalty
Abolishment of the death penalty essay
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Every country in Europe has banned the death penalty except Belarus, so why haven’t we banned it? As of 2017 in Europe, every country has abolished the death penalty for peacetime crimes except for Belarus, and America is yet to outlaw the death penalty. The first ever recorded execution in British North America was in 1608 on Captain George Kendall for allegedly spying for the Spanish government. It’s been 409 years since the first recorded execution in U.S land, so why are we still continuing execution. The death penalty should be banned in the U.S because many cases have had racial profiling, it is unconstitutional, violating the 8th amendment, it sends the wrong message of killing someone to teach not to kill, and life in prison is a worse punishment than the death penalty. To begin with, the death penalty has shown racial preferences in previous court cases. According to the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center, 56% of minorities are sentenced to the death row and of the 139 capital convicts found innocent 61% of them were found to be of color. Additionally, the death penalty violates the 8th amendment of cruel punishment. The 8th amendment states, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted,” and there isn’t anything crueler than …show more content…
The U.S government is quite hypocritical for killing people to teach a lesson of not killing anyone, it’s ironic that they are doing that and should find a different way to send the message of not committing murder. Some people say that executing people brings justice to those who have been emotionally harmed, however, jail time is a worse punishment than killing someone. People in jail have been gang raped, brutally beaten, and mentally scarred. Also, putting someone in jail is much cheaper than executing, which means we are saving money and bringing
A death penalty is the sentence of execution for murder and some other capital crimes. Capital punishment can also be applied for treason, espionage, and other crimes. The death penalty, or capital punishment, may be prescribed by Congress or any state legislature for murder and other capital crimes. The Supreme Court has ruled that the death penalty is not a per se violation of the Eighth Amendment 's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
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.
There is no point in wasting thousands each year on such a practice that has no effect on criminal decision-making. In fact, according to the FBI’s “Crime Rates in the US”, the states without the death penalty actually have a lower murder rate than states with the death penalty. We should not use the death penalty to teach criminals that killing people is wrong; it’s hypocrisy. You don't teach someone that murder is wrong by murdering the one who's done it just as you wouldn't teach someone that stealing is wrong by stealing something of
Additionally, the problem with legal killing is that it doesn't actually lower the murder rate. Not only that, capital punishments are costly and ineffective. The death penalty actually correlates with making people more violent and accepting of violence. Many countries have now outlawed the execution of human beings but the United States still keeps it around. Carter even talked about how China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United States account for more than ninety percent of executions worldwide.
Capital punishment results in the victims family gaining a greater sense of security, making sure the criminal is able to be punished to the highest degree for his crime, and honoring retribution. The issue of capital punishment has created a division
These are the facts that kill the pros arguments; the death penalty does not deter people from committing murder, and actually in a strange twist of logic death penalty states have higher homicide rates then non death penalty states. Most people believe that it is cheaper to sentence people to death, wrong again. The following states that have reported higher costs for the sentence of the death penalty verses life without the possibility of parole are, Texas, Kansas, Maryland, California, Florida, Arizona and North Carolina. These are the facts that strengthen the cons arguments; there is undeniable proof that all methods used to carry out the penalty of death can cause the offender to suffer in a cruel and unusual way. There is a disparity in sentencing towards minorities for the death penalty, “defendants convicted of killing a white person were 4 times more likely to be sentenced to death then if they had killed a black person” (Stull, 2012). If our sentencing of the death penalty was fair and not racist, then each state that has the death penalty should have around the same number of people given that sentence for a set number of people living in that state. Yet, “82% of the 900 executions performed in the U.S. were carried out by only ten states with Texas and Virginia accounting for more than half of those executions” (ACLU, n.d.) that’s not
Early societies were based on a simple code of law: "an eye for an eye
There is certainly some merit to this argument, and it seems quite fair and logical. Unfortunately, our use of the death penalty is neither fair nor logical. Our criminal justice system's "lip service" to the age-old concept is an insulting disguise for such an obscurity of fairness and logic. The death penalty is frivolous and discriminatory in its procedure because of the unreasonable prices we pay to execute certain groups at much higher rates than others. We pay different prices for using the death penalty.
The United States should use the death penalty because it is economical and continues to be a deterrent for potential offenders. Take into consideration that the Constitution states that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness can not be taken away without due process. The offenders committing the brutal, heinous crimes have not applied this right to the victims of their crimes. Why should the government take their rights into consideration when the victims rights mean so little to them? People always put forth the idea that killing is wrong in any sense, yet they don’t want to punish the people that commit the crimes.
Audience relevance: The United States is one Nation and that we believe that if you commit any crime you must be punished. If you commit a crime than you should be punish not murder. The death penalty is not a punishment. Also the Death Penalty is costing many of us money without even knowing.
... without parole and let them sit in jail for the rest of their lives regretting their decision rather than providing them with a way out. In response, I believe that the Bill of Rights, specifically the Eighth Amendment, prohibits cruel and unusual punishment (Sangiorgio, 2011). If there is any punishment much crueler than death, please let me know. In addition, it is time to face the fact that our judicial system is prejudiced. For instance; in southern states, 8 percent of the black criminals who murder get the death penalty. Only 1 percent of white murderers get capital punishment. Also, murderers are seven times more likely to get the death penalty for murdering a white person, as they are if they murdered a black person. This strikes me as blatant prejudice (Siennick, 2012). The death penalty needs to removed and abolished through a constitutional amendment.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union (2011), “More than an estimated 15,269 Americans have been executed since the inception of the death penalty dating back to colonial times” ( para 1). There have been 1,348 people sentenced the death penalty since 1976. Of the 1,348, 56% were white offenders, 35% black, and 7% were Hispanic (Statistics Brain, 2014). While there does not seem to be a racial bias in the actual sentencing, 76% of the victims were white. This gives a major implication that if the defendant were to kill a white person, their chances of being one of those previously mentioned statistics, increase dramatically. The Death Penalty Information Center (2014) studies found that black defendants with a nonblack victim had a heightened chance of the death penalty over any other combination whether it is white murdered black, black murdered black regardless of the severity in which the crimes were committed
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.
Saleh-Hanna, a contributer to the book 'The Case for Penal Abolition' has recently done some research and found that, ?research and evidence has shown that most prisoners are poor, they come from minority populations and have faced great discrimination and racism in the community both before they committed their crimes and during the criminal justice process.? The death penalty is racist because there are higher percentages among those of ethical background. Quoted from the book, Death Penalty Cases: Leading U.S Supreme Court Cases on Capital Punishment, Death-penalty opponents respond that the race card plays a role in other ways. When a defendant has been convicted of killing a white person the odds that the defendant will be executed by the state are much higher. Eighty-five percent of those who have been executed since 1976 were convicted for killing a white person, while only 13% were executed for killing a black person. When will people realized that just because a person is of another race that they are more dangerous than another race.
Crime is everywhere. Wherever we look, we find criminals and crime. Criminals have become a part of our daily lives. Does this mean we let them be the darkness of our society? No, definitely not. Eliminating crime and criminals is our duty, and we cannot ignore it. Getting the rightly accused to a just punishment is very important. Some criminals commit a crime because they have no other option to survive, but some do it for fun. I do not advocate death penalty for everybody. A person, who stole bread from a grocery store, definitely does not deserve death penalty. However, a serial killer, who kills people for fun or for his personal gain, definitely deserves death penalty. Death penalty should continue in order to eliminate the garbage of our society. Not everybody deserves to die, but some people definitely do. I support death penalty because of several reasons. Firstly, I believe that death penalty serves as a deterrent and helps in reducing crime. Secondly, it is true that death penalty is irreversible, but it is hard to kill a wrongly convicted person due to the several chances given to the convicted to prove his innocence. Thirdly, death penalty assures safety of the society by eliminating these criminals. Finally, I believe in "lex tallionis" - a life for a life.