Since 1977, the overwhelming majority of death row defendants (77%) have been executed for killing white victims, even though African-Americans make up about half of all homicide victims. Since 1973 140 have been released from death row throughout the country due to evidence of their wrongful conviction. In this same time period, more than 1,200 people have been executed. Almost all death row inmates could not afford their own attorney at trial. Local politics, the location of the crime, plea bargaining, and pure chance affect the process and make it a lottery of who lives or dies. 28 foreign nationals have been executed in the United States in 1988. Virtually, none have been informed, upon arrest, of their right to communicate with their consular representative. …show more content…
Many proponents of the death penalty argue that it deters criminals from killing. However, research does not support the idea that the possibility of receiving the death penalty deters criminals from committing murder. In fact, studies by the Death Penalty Information Center show that murder rates tend to be higher in the South (where the imposition of the death penalty is the highest) compared to the Northeast United States (where the death penalty is less commonly applied). So, is the Death Penalty and Capital Punishment really making a difference? Or is it just “legalized” cold-blooded murder? As innocence projects across the country can attest to, the criminal justice system does not always get it right – even for the most heinous of crimes. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, there have been 150 exonerations of death row inmates since 1973. Unfortunately, the system is not perfect, and sometimes people are wrongfully convicted. This means we as a society run the risk of executing an innocent person as long as the death penalty is in
for a dull respondent than for a white prosecutor in a practically identical case. A study in California found that the people who killed whites were general 3 times more slanted to be sentenced to death than the people who killed blacks and more than 4 times more likely than the people who killed Latinos. Looks at exhibit that 96% of states where there have been surveys of race and capital punishment, there was an example of either race-of-casualty or race-of-litigant separation, or both. A respondent was a few times more prone to be sentenced to death if the homicide casualty was white. A January 2003 study discharged by the University of Maryland presumed that race and geology are central point in capital punishment choices.
Crime was so high and the crimes being done were so dangerous that in 1936 little less than 200 people were executed through the death penalty (“Historical Data.” Crime and Justice Atlas). These studies shocked the many that such a
The death penalty sends a message to citizens; a message that says murder is not outrageous, unless the state is doing it as a sanction. This message helps to justify civilian killings of people believed to be deserving of death and may possibly even cause an uprise in vigilante style murders. This message also leaves an almost open air on what is wrong and provides no consistent moral ground for society to base their beliefs on. This does not mean that people will suddenly think murder is a favorable deed, but it may cause some to not realize how terrible it is. Joseph Summer wrote this in an article titled “Some Adverse Effects of the Death Penalty in History”: “…people learned 3 lessons from the government’s violent example: to use
It also needs to be recognized how it may impact a person or groups day to day lives and decision making in these situations. In keeping with time-tested American traditions, black defendants were 38 percent more likely to be sentenced to die than others who committed similar crimes, according to a study by University of Iowa Law School researchers David Baldus and George Woodworth. Their research team analyzed 667 murders that occurred in Philadelphia from 1983 to 1993. Of the 520 cases involving black defendants, 95 were sentenced to die, while 19 of the 147 non-black defendants received the death penalty. (Clarence, Chicago Tribune,1998).
There have been many studies indicating both a positive and negative effect on the homicide count regarding executions. A study by Hashem Dezhbaksh, Paul H. Rubin, and Joanna M. Shepherd published in the Journal of Law and Economics in 2003 concluded that each execution deterred a rough estimate of 18 murders. While another study by Katherine Baicker and Sendhil Mullainathan published in the Journal of Political Economy in 2004 found no evidence supporting that conclusion. This debate in detail would require a whole other paper. Another argument is retribution.
Additionally, many people believe that the death penalty will stop future criminals from doing terrible crimes. However, the South has the highest execution rate in the US and they also have the highest homicide rate while the Northeast has the lowest execution rate and the lowest homicide rate (DPIC). The death penalty will not stop criminals from doing terrible
Haag (2007) writes that the death penalty is feared more than imprisonment because of its finality in that the person is excommunicated from the living. As such, it is a more effective and necessary form of punishment. Berns (1996) writes that the law must be “inspiring or commanding ‘profound respect or reverential fear’” for it to be effective in deterring criminals. However, people in favor of abolishing the death penalty can argue that despite its deterrence benefits, the life of the murderer is important. This means that the victim’s life is less important even though the offender is the one who has committed a crime.
However statistics around the world show that areas that are abolishing capital punishment have lower death rates. For example, statistics were provided in 2003 for the murder rates in Canada and they showed that after twenty-seven years without the death penalty the figures had dropped by 43%. Additionally in Central- Eastern Europe the murder rates have dropped by 60% since the abolishment of capital punishment. Therefore it shows that the death penalty is not a deterrent and if Australia continues to refuse capital punishment the murder rates will slowly decrease as
In recent years, anti-death penalty propagandists have succeeded in stoking the fear that capital punishment is being carelessly meted out. Ironically, Of the 875 prisoners executed in the United States in modern times, not one has been retroactively proved innocent. The benefits of a legal system in which judges and juries have the option of sentencing the cruelest or coldest murderers to death far outweigh the potential risk of executing an innocent person. First and foremost, the death penalty makes it possible for justice to be done to those who commit the worst of all crimes. The execution of a murderer sends a powerful moral message: that the innocent life he took was so precious, and the crime he committed so horrific, that he forfeits
The Death Penalty Information Center has discovered that the states with the death penalty still have higher murder rates that those without, some years even up to a forty percent difference. Additionally, the south accounts for eighty percent of all executions, yet it still has the highest crime rates. Therefore, it is statistically proven that the death penalty is not doing what it was created to do, lower crime rates. There is also the belief that the death penalty is the “easy way out” for the criminals because then they don’t have to face the hardships of prison. The criminal also wouldn’t have to live with what they had done and think about their life choices.
From the beginning of the foundation of America, men have tried to figure out the correct way to deal with law-opposing criminals. From crucifixion and slavery, to death by firing squad and life sentences, the world has utilized different forms of discipline. The death penalty has formed into the most questionable form of punishment, drawing the most attention from the public eye. This sanction is used to punish criminals for committing the most heinous crimes and offenses. The crimes that obtain the death penalty mostly consist of murder which include murder during a kidnapping, murder for hire, drug-related drive by shooting, and genocide.
In fact, a study done by the National Research Council, titled Deterrence and the Death Penalty, even went as far as stating that the claims supporting the death penalty are “fundamentally flawed” (2012). What is more important though, is to see if this can be observed in the real world today; and by no surprise, it can. In 2013, the FBI Uniform Crime Report showed that the Southern states had the highest murder rates, and the highest percentage of executions at 80%, whereas the Northeast has the lowest murder rates and only 1% of the year’s executions. So why does the South still have the highest murder rates even though they perform the most executions? One must assume that such extreme practices like the death penalty has to be unnecessary.
Amnesty International announced that in all 34 states continue to allow the death penalty as punishment for hinges crimes. America is the fifth highest number of prisoners in the world and 13 out of 43 executions took place in
From its colonial days, the United States has long rich history of using capital punishment. Today, offenders facing the death penalty face different characteristics and challenges they every day in prison. Due to these challenges and characteristics they adjust to prison population in a different ways. Felons facing the death penalty also receive special services provided to them.
Death Penalty According to the 2010 Gallup Poll, 64% of the United State of America are supporting the death penalty, I as an American am part of that 36% that is against it. I do not believe that we as human being should determine whether another person should live or die. A second reason that I am against the death penalty is for the reason that the accused person could be innocent and normally the accused person only has one court presentation and is only judged by the judge not a jury of their peer, and is sent to death row where they pay for a crime that they haven’t done. My final reason that i do not believe that the death penalty should count as a punishment for the American people is because, a person that has done a massive massacre shouldn’t just be able to leave the world just like that without paying and suffering for what they have done, Or should the death punishment continue as it is for it has a great benefit to us as citizens of the United States.