Capital Punishment Essay: Women On Death Row

Women on Death Row

The eighth amendment protects Americans from the infliction of cruel and unusual punishment. Many death penalty opponents use this as the backbone to their argument against capital punishment. Other than being cruel, I do not think that the death penalty can be used judiciously in the United States or any other part of the world. Personally, I do not think that human beings are perfect and as such they cannot set up a perfect justice system. In any justice system that is flawed and allows bias in certain cases, the death penalty should not be used as a means of punishment because of its irrevocable nature. When I came across Sarah Hawkins’ article regarding the case of Karla Faye Tucker, I was surprised to see the manifestation

This should tip us off to the differences that the judicial system discriminates even in matters as important as murder or other capital offences. But within the subgroup of women prisoners there can be a distinction made between the representations of women more likely to be sentenced to death row, or in this case shown compassion while on death row. Hawkins describes this compassion as “typically extended only to female inmates who fit a certain predetermined societal profile of women”. This definition of “women” or “womanhood” is very interesting and deserves to be explored. In my past, I have a conception of women as being sweet and frail; basically incapable of doing wrong because they are too nice or too weak to do so. Women who are too intelligent or too strong are cast off as being masculine or lesbians. When female basketball players are seen on television, they are perceived as trying to be masculine. Women who are extremely intellectual or aggressive are seen as lesbians by society in order to rationalize their ability to compete with men. We as a society want our women to be weak and subservient, and any deviation from this perception is deemed wrong. All of these tie into the definition of womanhood that Hawkins ties into her claim of the injustices present among female death row

Nobody really doubts her guilt, but Hawkins claims the way that Tucker “performed” for the media aroused a outcry for her release from death row to a life in prison. This performance corresponded with the definition of womanhood hitherto discussed. Hawkins makes reference to previously executed women, such as Velma Barfield who was deemed unattractive and as such was not given any consideration for demotion to life in prison. Karla Faye Tucker’s “enactment of a stereotypical femininity” drew a lot of attention, according to Hawkins. One of the ways we define this femininity is the ability of a woman to be a mother. For this reason, many masculine females or lesbians are excluded from this primary condition. Karla Fay Tucker made it clear that she fit this qualification through her marriage to the prison chaplain, Dana Brown. Not only did this show she was heterosexual, but it also showed that she was in fact some kind of “woman of God”. In our Judeo-Christian society, this is another condition for empathy. This marriage to a holy man sealed the image of being a born-again Christian for Tucker. These perceptions were grouped with a change in demeanor, in which Tucker made it a point that she was no longer a threat to society. Hawkins deems this turnaround with the accompanying characteristics as a “deliberate