The Racial Bias of Capital Punishment in America
Throughout history, minorities have been ill-represented in the criminal
justice system, particularly in cases where the possible outcome is death. In
early America, blacks were lynched for the slightest violation of informal laws
and many of these killings occured without any type of due process. As the
judicial system has matured, minorities have found better representation but it
is not completely unbiased. In the past twenty years strict controls have been
implemented but the system still has symptoms of racial bias. This racial bias
was first recognized by the Supreme Court in Fruman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238
(1972). The Supreme Court Justices decide that the death penalty was being
handed out unfairly and according to Gest (1996) the Supreme Court felt the
death penalty was being imposed “freakishly' and ‘wantonly” and “most often on
blacks.” Several years later in Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153 (1976), the
Supreme Court decided, with efficient controls, the death penalty could be used
constitutionally. Yet, even with these various controls, the system does not
effectively eliminate racial bias.
Since Gregg v. Georgia the total population of all 36 death rows has
grown as has the number of judicial controls used by each state. Of the 3,122
people on death row 41% are black while 48% are white (Gest, 1996, 41). This
figure may be acceptable at first glance but one must take into account the fact
that only 12% of the U.S. population is black (Smolowe, 1991, 68). Carolyn
Snurkowski of the Florida attorney generals office believes that the
disproportionate number of blacks on death row...
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...nfined” (As cited in Lacayo,
1987, 80). With great effort, the judicial controls can begin to battle the
racial bias of Americas Judicial system but to completely eliminate such a bias,
the people involved in the judicial process must learn to look past the race of
the offender or the value of the victim, and instead focus on circumstances of
the crime.
References
Gest, T. (1986 Oct. 20). Black-and-White Issue? US News & World
Report, 101 (16), 24-25.
Gest, T. (1996 July 8). A house without a blueprint. US News & World
Report, 121 (2), 41-42.
Lacayo, R. (1987, May 4). Clearing a Path to the Chair. Time, 129
(18), 80.
Seligman, D. (1994, September 5). Uh oh! More Stats. Fortune, 130 (5),
113-114.
Smolowe, J. (1991, April 29). Race and the Death Penalty. Time, 137
(17), 68-69.
“A report by the United States General Accounting Office in 1990 concluded that 82 percent of the empirically valid studies on the subject show that the race of the victim has an impact on capital charging decisions or sentencing verdicts or both” (86).
On December 11, 1689, in his last act as the King of England, James II fled to France with his wife and son. He threw the Great Seal, the symbol of the King of England, into the Thames River. He did this to signify that no one on earth had the power to strip him of his crown and his divine authority except himself. Even after all his dignity had been lost, James adhered to his beliefs. Ironically a fisherman caught the symbol in his net a few days later. A workingman, the lowest rung on the political ladder, now held the power, symbolically and literally. England’s people had become autonomous.
...system that has existed in the United States or anywhere else in the world” (Alexander 234). W.E.B. Dubois argued that “The burden belongs to the nation, and the hands of none of us are clean if we bend not our energies to righting these great wrongs” (Alexander 217). Our nation must address this burden and correct that racial injustices created by our so-called criminal justice system. The criminal justice system cannot continue to hide behind the front of being a colorblind system - racial inequality and injustice must be challenged.
James from the Stuart House was the son of Henry VII and Mary Queen of Scots, who was executed by Elizabeth I because Mary supported the Catholics, England's enemies. After Queen Mary's death King James was raised as a Protestant and when he became old enough he was of age James VI, King of Scotland. Queen Elizabeth did not have any natural descendants, and James VI became James I of England after she died. The population hoped James would support the Catholics like his mother did, but this did not happen for his Pro...
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
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.
Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System “We simply cannot say we live in a country that offers equal justice to all Americans when racial disparities plague the system by which our society imposes the ultimate punishment,” stated Senator Russ Feingold. Even though racism has always been a problem since the beginning of time, recently in the United States, there has been a rise in discrimination and violence has been directed towards the African American minority primarily from those in the white majority who believe they are more superior, especially in our criminal justice system. There are many different reasons for the ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system between the majority and the minority, but some key reasons are differential involvement, individual racism, and institutional racism to why racial disparities exist in Institutional racism is racism that is shown through government organizations and political institutions. In a report done by David Baldus in 1998, he discovered that when it comes to the death penalty, blacks are more likely sentenced to death than whites, and those who kill whites are more likely to be given the death penalty than the killing of blacks (Touré).
In modern-day America the issue of racial discrimination in the criminal justice system is controversial because there is substantial evidence confirming both individual and systemic biases. While there is reason to believe that there are discriminatory elements at every step of the judicial process, this treatment will investigate and attempt to elucidate such elements in two of the most critical judicial junctures, criminal apprehension and prosecution.
Many inequalities exist within the justice system that need to be brought to light and addressed. Statistics show that African American men are arrested more often than females and people of other races. There are some measures that can and need to be taken to reduce the racial disparity in the justice system.
Blacks are overly portrayed in jails and prisons. Bobo and Thompson stated that in 1954, 98,000 African Americans were in jail or prison. By 2002, there was an increase of 900%, 884,500 African Americans were in jail or prisons. In 2007, blacks made up 39% of detained males in prisons or jails however they make up 12% of the total adult male population. White males make up 36.1% of the male inmate population but they make up 65.6% of the total male population. These statistics demonstrate that racialized mass incarceration exists in the U.S.
This research essay discusses racial disparities in the sentencing policies and process, which is one of the major factors contributing to the current overrepresentation of minorities in the judicial system, further threatening the African American and Latino communities. This is also evident from the fact that Blacks are almost 7 times more likely to be incarcerated than are Whites (Kartz, 2000). The argument presented in the essay is that how the laws that have been established for sentencing tend to target the people of color more and therefore their chances of ending up on prison are higher than the whites. The essay further goes on to talk about the judges and the prosecutors who due to different factors, tend to make their decisions
...rd and poisoned cup. In the deaths of Polonius and Ophelia, and indeed in his own, he learns that means cannot be separated from ends, and that the consequences of his own choice of means – his madness – will come back to haunt him. It is in this sense that Hamlet may be read as a journey of self-discovery, even though the journey ends only in the grave.
1. Most of the democratic countries of the world have abolished capital punishment. Indeed, it was only recently (2005) that the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to sentence a person to death for a crime he committed while younger than 18. For older offenders, however, the United States continues to execute convicted criminals. Why do you think the United States practices capital punishment?
The statistics say 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 have involved a white defendant who killed a black victim.... ... middle of paper ...
Fair Punishment and the Death Penalty 94. Federal attorneys have the power to submit a case to Janet Reno (Willing 3A). These attorneys seek the death penalty for these cases, and why should they not? Why should one who has taken a life, or even several, deserve the air that they breathe? Capital punishment is a harsh punishment created for people who have committed harsh crimes.