Essay On Coker V. Georgia

Coker v. Georgia is a case about a man, Ehrlich Anthony Coker, that was serving time for sentences of murder, rape, kidnapping, and assault. He managed to escape from prison and commit several other crimes once he escaped. Of these crimes committed once escaped were rape, armed robbery, and other offenses as well. Coker broke into a Georgia family’s home and raped the women home at the time and stole her car. Due to the nature of his crimes, he was sentenced to the death penalty. After receiving this sentence, the courts decided that they needed to decide whether this was the best punishment for the crimes Coker committed. There were two opinions for this case. First, that the death penalty for his rape conviction was cruel and unusual punishment.

Ideally, all of those crimes had a victim. PTSD, anxiety, depression, and so much more are all common symptoms of trauma that many victims display. One may suggest that victims of certain crimes like rape, assault, murder, etc., are mentally injured in the way that these crimes will stick with them for the rest of their lives. Anger, guilt, and frustration are all emotions that victims of these crimes may feel, especially when dealing with trauma. Due to these emotions, victims oftentimes hope for the person who inflicted crimes upon them to receive harsh punishments. Marilyn Armour and Mike Umbreit suggest, “Moreover, it may be assumed that receiving the ultimate penal sanction gives control back to survivors, allows them to move on, ends the ordeal, and confirms that bad things happen to people who do bad things, which denies the operation of chance and redeems the victim as a person of value” (Armour, Umbreit 396). This quote is significant because it suggests that the death penalty can be effective in helping the victims of a crime in many ways. Like mentioned in the quote, it can allow for victims to move on, feel like the whole ordeal has come to a close, and even to feel as though a sense of karma was inflicted. Samuel R. Gross and Daniel J. Matheson suggests, “In some cases, victims' relatives explain the relief they feel after the execution in apparently concrete terms: Now the defendant is no longer a threat to them or to anybody else” (Gross, Matheson 490). This is important because, like mentioned previously, the death penalty can help the victims or their families in so many ways. Oftentimes, victims will be looking over their shoulder for the rest of their life in fear that the