ipl-logo

The Supreme Court Should Rein In The Death Penalty Summary

902 Words4 Pages

Capital punishment, also referred to as the death penalty, is the legal execution by the state for a crime as punishment. These crimes include treason, war crimes, genocide, and, most commonly, murder. The death penalty has been a topic of debate for decades, and while some argue that it is immoral and arbitrary, others believe that it is a just and appropriate punishment for the worst of crimes. In “The Supreme Court Should Rein In The Death Penalty”, Laurence H. Tribe claims that capital punishment often varies depending on countless factors, such as racial bias and geographical location, and therefore should be banned. Alternatively, Bill Montgomery, author of “Arguments to Abolish Death Penalty Refuted by Facts” argues that the death penalty is used sparsely, and when it is used, it is used appropriately. While Montgomery’s argument uses examples of criminals on death row and voter statistics to support his stance, Tribe makes sure that the point of the article reaches his audience by …show more content…

The author provides well founded reasons such as arbitrariness, racial bias, and execution of the innocent. According to Tribe, “It [the death penalty] has also opened the door to disturbing racial trends. Studies show that people in Arizona (and nationally) accused of murdering white victims are much more likely to receive the death penalty” (Tribe). This serves as an example of how the author is able to state a reason and then provide evidence for his statement. On the other hand, Montgomery’s article lacks supporting reasons. In his article, Montgomery provides two reasons for his claim: the rarity of death penalty cases in Arizona and misconceptions about the role that race plays into these cases. This makes it so that Montgomery’s argument is weakened by the lack of well founded reasons to back up his

Show More
Related
1369 Words | 6 Pages

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).

Read More
815 Words | 4 Pages

As a result, capital juries tend to be whiter and more dominated by males than are juries in other cases. It has been suggested that as a result of this, capital juries are about 43% more likely to sentence a killer to die if his victim is white. Undeniably, capital juries show some racial disparities in their sentencing decisions. If juries in capital cases were not subject to death-qualification procedures, there is little reason to believe these racial disparities would survive. The solution, some might suggest, to minimize racial discrepancies in capital sentencing is to eliminate the ability of prosecutors to disqualify anyone with qualms about capital punishment from the jury pool.

Read More
1145 Words | 5 Pages

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

Read More
1912 Words | 8 Pages

Such practices have kept up harsher penalties for alleged attackers of white victims, showing patterns of institutional racism like those before the Civil Rights era. The insights from Missouri, as shared by Lenza, Keys, and Guess, make a strong case that the procedural changes introduced by Gregg v. Georgia haven't managed to stop random and impulsive death sentences. Instead, focusing on legal procedures has missed the important stages of prosecutorial discretion and charging decisions, where biases still enter. This scholarly work highlights the need for a wider review of capital punishment laws and procedures, calling for changes that specifically deal with prosecutorial discretion and ensure fairness and justice in capital sentencing. The academic talk around the death penalty and wrongful convictions reveals deep complexities and differing views.

Read More
1897 Words | 8 Pages

Racial and wealth biases in the death penalty Since the Mayflower first set foot on the shores of North America in 1620, white settlers have relied upon the death penalty for the punishment of those who have been convicted of the most heinous of crimes. The death penalty was supposed to be fair and equal, with Lady Justice seeing nothing but that justice. Rather than fairness, the death penalty has been unequal in function, with African Americans being sentenced at much higher rates and the poor getting unequal access to legal resources. The death penalty has been a failed experiment that, rather than necessary to improve society through deterrence, targeted the vulnerable. To understand minority discrimination with the death penalty, one needs to understand the role of minorities in the history of the United States of America.

Read More
1409 Words | 6 Pages

Regarding an article titled "Race and the Death Penalty," written by the American Civil Liberties Union, "The color of a defendant and victim's skin plays a crucial and unacceptable role in deciding who receives the death penalty in America. People of color have accounted for a disproportionate 43% of total executions since 1976 and 55% of those currently awaiting execution. " For example, in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, murders committed by African Americans are treated as more severe and "deserving" of the death penalty because of the prone, aggravating factors established by the simple initiation of "harm, fear, of pain" through the color of one's black skin ("Death Penalty in Black"). Furthermore, another measure of race's impact on the death penalty is the combined effect of the race of the defendant and the race of the victim. In the Philadelphia study, the racial combination which was most likely to result in a death sentence was a black defendant with a nonblack victim, regardless of the severity of the murder committed ("Death Penalty in Black").

Read More
1082 Words | 5 Pages

The “death penalty is a lethal lottery: just one out of every one hundred people arrested for murder is actually executed”. Only thirty-one out of more than fifteen thousand recorded executions in the United States have been of white suspects convicted of killing black victims, while black suspects convicted of raping white women were commonly sentenced to death (Amnesty International). Another response to the fact that innocent people have been executed is, that the small number of innocents executed outweighs the number of lives that will be saved since the possibility of being executed will discourage others from committing murder, and also lives will be saved since that murderer can-not kill again. Career criminals and those that plan a crime do not expect to get caught, thus making the consequences an invalid issue. In response to the fact that an executed murderer will never kill again, society must ask itself whether it is honorably and properly acceptable to risk killing an innocent person when an alternative such as life imprisonment without possibility of parole

Read More
815 Words | 4 Pages

“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.

Read More
1291 Words | 6 Pages

Carlos DeLuna was wrongfully executed after he supposedly murder a woman in 1989. It was later discovered that the real killer was Carlos Hernandez (Bushman). This example proves how courts and judges do not scrutinize the evidence thoroughly and effectively. Assuming that Carlos DeLuna committed the crime is inexplicably immoral. In addition to the incorrect convictions, psychologist Brad J. Bushman offers data that help citizens comprehend that there is an existing issue between race and the death penalty, “there are over 3,000 peolple on death row in America today.

Read More
505 Words | 3 Pages

Death sentences are imposed in a criminal justice system that treats you better if you are rich and guilty than if you are poor and innocent,” (Stevenson). Stevenson’s claim proves that there is bias in the selection process for those who are chosen for capital punishment. Also, there is a higher possibility that in the biased selection process that potentially innocent prisoners are executed over those who are more guaranteed to have committed the crime. Some people will argue that the death penalty is given to those who deserve the punishment in return for terrible and merciless crimes and that life in prison is not enough payment for the crime. Though many others believe and eye for an eye is not successful in achieving anything besides ridding of a dangerous person, even though they are incarcerated and typically incapable of causing more harm.

Read More
1790 Words | 8 Pages

“The key decision makers in death cases around the country are almost exclusively white men. Of the chief District Attorneys in counties using the death penalty in the United States, nearly 98% are white and only 1% are African-American.” The third source supports how the death penalty is against United States law itself because it’s unjust and it constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. The article by the American Civil Liberties Union also

Read More
752 Words | 4 Pages

The sentence severity may depend on many factors including crime severity, first time offender or not, why they committed the crime, whether or not anyone was hurt and many other factors. Minority defendants have shown to be treated more punitively particularly in capital cases. The research of this study shows that the death penalty may be a cause of racial disparities in criminal justice, and implicate threats to civil rights and to implicate threats to civil rights, and to effective criminal justice. The ECOSOC (Economic and social council) conducted this

Read More
749 Words | 3 Pages

Capital punishment is defined as the legal authorized killing of someone as punishment for a crime. Historically, capital punishment (also known as the death penalty) has been practiced in most societies and has become a controversial issue. The cost of housing death row inmates is considerably high, the varied ways in which an execution is administered and the individual beliefs, whether society has the right to take the life of another no matter the crime that has been committed are raising the question should capital punishment be carried out? Although barbaric in nature, the death penalty is the irreversible denial of civil liberties. One of the controversial issues plaguing today is recent news and political reports which are stating

Read More
872 Words | 4 Pages

Patsie Egleston Mrs. Furr 29 November, 2016 ENG-113 Capital Punishment Much like abortion or the idea of gun control, capital punishment has been one of the most controversial and talked about topics of the twenty-first century. Many do not agree with the idea of the death penalty, or execution at all for that matter. However, if capital punishment were to be allowed in all fifty states the crime rate would decrease; there would be less government spending due to life in prison without parole; it would provide just punishment for crimes committed against the rights of life; freedom and safety of victims; and others would feel safer with those criminals locked up, waiting to get what they deserve.

Read More
908 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More

More about The Supreme Court Should Rein In The Death Penalty Summary

Related Topics

Open Document