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The Pros And Cons Of The Death Penalty

908 Words4 Pages

“According to the Death Penalty Information Center, most death penalty studies that look at race indicate that a defendant is more likely to receive the death penalty if the victim is white, rather than black” (Butler). Paul Butler emphasizes that the death penalty is unconstitutionally cruel because the reason why people are sentenced to capital punishment is due to their race. A person’s race is focused more on a conviction for the death penalty than the actual crime itself. As a result, this causes the death penalty to be unacceptable in society. At least eighteen states have already ended capital punishment since early 2014; however, some states have not and continue to have it because they don’t see it as cruel. It is proven that the death …show more content…

Numerous of people have been impacted by this type of punishment, especially those who are convicted. “At least one study has shown that minority defendants with white victims were far more likely to be sentenced to death than others” (Brown-Dean). Brown-Dean analyzes how a person’s race effects the outcome of the death penalty. Since race has a bigger impact than the crime itself, the fact that the color of one’s skin determines the fate of capital punishment is brutal. It follows then, that the defendant’s race and the race of the victim could cause the punishment of death. The death penalty is biased because people that are Latino or black will most likely end up with a death sentence than white people (Bloodsworth). Bloodsworth claims that the people who end up getting executed or are on death parole, are races other than white. So the death penalty is beyond cruel because it doesn’t serve justice for the victims of color but does serve justice for the victims that are white. In fact, there are more people that are Latino and black that received the death …show more content…

Furthermore, people are still being executed or are on death parole, yet there are innocent. Indeed, there have been unfortunate events where those that were convicted of a horrendous crime, who were innocent, still received an inhuman punishment such as death. According to Kirk Noble Bloodsworth, “The death penalty will never work. It will always be possible to execute an innocent person”. Bloodsworth explains that the death penalty is not accurate enough because a person that is innocent can be punished horribly for something they didn’t do and that goes against the Eighth Amendment. “But application of the death penalty remains so unequal that it offends both the U.S. constitution and international human rights law” (Butler). Butler acknowledges that the execution of people is unfair because it’s vicious and it affronts human rights. The upshot of all of this is that the death sentence has no fairness and kills innocent

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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.

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This disparity perpetuates a cycle of poverty and injustice, as the poor are disproportionately impacted by the criminal justice system. The death penalty, imposed primarily on minorities and the poor, epitomizes the ethical failures of the criminal justice system (Equal Justice Initiative, 2023). Despite overwhelming evidence of racial and economic bias, the death penalty remains legal in many jurisdictions, wrongfully taking the lives of individuals who have been denied justice (Equal Justice Initiative, 2023). The arbitrary and discriminatory application of the death penalty undermines the fundamental value of human life and exacerbates systemic inequalities that plague the criminal justice system. In conclusion, the book raises profound ethical questions about the death penalty.

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This is one example why there should be great cause for concern with the ethics of the death penalty. For instance, “For every 9 who have been executed in the U.S. one person on death row has been proven innocent and released, a shocking rate of error.” (Just Mercy, 2019), The fact that there are several points at which there can be errors or biases within our criminal justice system, the death penalty as a punishment needs to be re-evaluated. I personally believe that even one innocent person executed is too many and therefore makes the death penalty a failure to the criminal justice

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Source A argues that disparities between blacks and whites have been appalling in court. According to Source A, “If a black person kills a white person, they are twice as likely to receive the death sentence as white person who kills a black person” (2). This reveals that a black person has a higher rate of receiving the death sentence when tried for murdering a white person. If a white person is tried for a killing of a black person they have a 50% chance of getting the death sentence, then that means that a black person would receive a 100% chance of getting the death sentence for killing a white person.

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This report is helpful because it highlights how race is influenced on the death penalty. It will help me see if the death penalty is racially neutral. Coker, D. (2003). Addressing the real world of racial injustice in the criminal justice system. The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology.

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Criminals are shielded from cruel and unusual punishments. Finding the better option for good is sometimes the only answer. More so, execution is a crueler punishment than a life sentence without the possibility of parole. The process of entrusting a jury and judge with the power to decide someone's fate and put an end to their life will always be inhumane and seen as a cruel punishment. Although the Supreme Court has ruled capital punishment constitutional, it is difficult to determine if someone really deserves to die rather than just spending life locked away with no possibility of release.

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Another issue that was discussed is the inequality of death penalty in practice. There have been serious issues with racial discrimination. For reference in cases with white victims and black defendants convictions occurred twenty two percent of the time while with black victims and white defendants with percentage dropped to a measly three

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“The law may be color-blind as it is written, but not as it is enforced.” Racial bias in the death penalty can be traced back to Furman v. Georgia, where handing down the death penalty sentence, unfairly, constituted as a cruel and unusual punishment, violating the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. The reinstatement of the death penalty with its new sentencing guidelines, implemented by the Supreme Court, was to ensure that the death penalty sentence was used in a constitutional way. Despite these guidelines, somehow, racial bias has found a way to thrive. It has been documented that an individual is more likely to receive the death penalty in a case where the victim is White than in cases where the victim is Black.

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Studies conducted by the people behind the death penalty information center, have shown that African Americans were over 80 percent of the people condemned by the death penalty in Pennsylvania. In the united states 82% of the studies the race of the victim was found to influence the likelihood of being charged with capital murder or receiving the death penalty. Those who murdered whites were found more likely to be sentenced to death than those who murdered blacks (deathpenaltyinfo). 5. Counterclaim

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748 Words | 3 Pages

Since 1976, African American executions account for 41.66% of all executions and white people account for 42.73% (“Executions”). Similarly, persons executed for interracial murders since 1976 shows staggering evidence that race plays a huge role in whether or not a defendant will be sentenced to death row. In fact, in 1990 the United States General Accounting Office, Death Penalty Sentence said, “In 82% of the studies [reviewed], race of the victim was found to influence the likelihood of being charged with capital murder or receiving the death penalty, ie, those who murdered whites were found more likely to be sentenced to death than those who murdered blacks” (“Executions”). According to the statistics found at deathpenaltyinfo.org, since 1976, only 31 white people who murdered an African American person were sentenced to death but 295 African Americans who murdered a white person were given capital punishment (“Executions”). Another example of this blatant racism is the state of Colorado.

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