Persuasive Essay On The Death Penalty

The death penalty disproportionately targets minorities especially African Americans. In the United States of America there is an unequal and unfair burden against African Americans in the criminal justice system. In 2011, African Americans were only 13.6% of the American population (Rastogi, Johnson, Hoeffel, & Drewery, 2011). However, African Americans in 2011 made up 42% of the total death row population (Snell, 2011). Although a minority of the total population in the United States, African Americans make the majority of inmates on death row facing execution. Furthermore, the death penalty in many states is used as tool that following the racial legacy of Jim Crow laws. Sentences resulting in death are higher in states with a history of lynching (Schweizer 92). States with a history of lynching are predominately found in the Southern United states. The Southern United states has the highest population of death row inmates. In 2009 alone there were 1,630 inmates currently on death row in the South compared to 226 in the North and only 988 in the West (Schweizer 92). In addition, the race of the victim often will determine the sentence. Results from the Baldus Study suggested evidence of racial disparity in the state of Georgia based on the victims race (Schweizer 92). The Baldus study argued African American defendants who committed murdered white individuals had much higher probability of receiving the death penalty. Prosecutors in Georgia pursued a verdict of death in 80% of their cases if the defendant was African American and the victim was white (Schweizer 92). This is purely racial discrimination and prejudice. Finally, “Since 1977, the overwhelming majority (77%) off death row defendants have been executed for killing white victims, even though African Americans make up about half of all homicide victims (Amnesty International).”The race of the both the victim and perpetrator in criminal is irrelevant.

There is also a large disparity between races when it comes to sentencing convicts to Death Row. Looking just at the federal death penalty data released by the Department of Justice between 1995 and 2000, 682 defendants were charged with death-eligible crimes. Out of those 682 defendants, the defendant was black 48% of the cases, Hispanic in 29% of the cases, and white in only 20% of the cases (Coker, 2003).

The study conducted by MSU examined jury selection as well as the decisions made by said juries. “The MSU study of capital charging and sentencing found that those who kill whites are more likely to get the death penalty than those who kill blacks. The MSU study found that a defendant is 2.6 times more likely to get the death penalty if the victim is white.” (ACLU). Following the study, North Carolina passed a law entitled the “Racial Justice Act”. This piece of legislature made it possible for inmates to appeal their sentences due to supposed racial profiling. Since the passing of the law last year, there have been 4 successful appeals. The law doesn’t guarantee that the whole sentence will be reversed; however, it puts in place a system that allows for flaws in the length/severity of the sentence to be readdressed. The passing of the law as well as the MSU study prove that although there are more minorities being charged for crimes, the charges are of ill-willed intentions.

Statistics prove that for many years the death penalty has fallen disproportionately on racial minorities in the United States. For example, since 1930

Still today, the death penalty is a major controversy in numerous states all over the United States. It's hard to grasp the idea of putting another human to death. The death penalty is an execution style punishment which is usually used against criminal's who have committed a horrific crime. The are many arguments that the death penalty goes against the eighth amendment, which was struck down by the Supreme Court. I believe that the death penalty should be abolished everywhere in America. I think it should be abolished because it still isn't proven to deterrent future murders, it's used unfairly, and there is a risk of executing the innocent. The death penalty can be replaced with life in prison, suffering in prison for the rest of their

Racism is often an excuse people use to say how unfair the death penalty is against African Americans. This excuse has been proven false in a few studies. More white murderers have been put to death since 1976 then black murderers, showing that the death penalty is not unjust to African Americans and minorities (Fisanick 26).In contrast, almost half of the criminals, on death row are black. Even though that is the case, blacks commit more murders than whites making it proportional (deathpenaltycurriculum.org). Criminals should not be given a lighter or harsher sentence due to their race, but due to the crimes that they committed and the severity of them.

The article that I read about the racial bias of the death penalty in the U.S. by David Love explained how southern states are responsible for the vast majority of African American executions in the United States. Love explicitly stated that “the application of the U.S. death penalty is unfair, arbitrary, and racially biased.” Most disturbingly, the article explained that whether or not a capital punishment defendant receives the death penalty does not depend on the facts of the case but more so on the race of the defendant and the race of the victim. Moreover, even the county in which the case was prosecuted can play a role in capital punishment sentencing.

The ethnicity of a defendant in a capital case should not play a role whatsoever in their sentencing. However, it plays a significant and crucial role in deciding who receives capital punishment. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, minorities account for a disproportionate “43% of total executions since 1976 and 55% of those are currently awaiting execution.” An interesting piece of information that I found from the article was that only 12 people have been executed where the defendant was white and the murder victim was black which is disconcerting when compared to the 178 black defendants who have been executed for the murders of white victims. The racial disparities in these statistics are alarming and troublesome.

In fact, the death penalty is considered immoral for it goes against the Constitution and ethnic code. The Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution states that the use of “cruel and unusual punishment” is considered unconstitutional. However, majority of the capital punishments are filled with discrimination and injustice. The fact that the majority of prisoners who are sentenced with the death penalty are African Americans, reflect the cons of our society. Aside from racial discrimination, socio-economic discrimination also contribute to the flaws within our justice system. One of the top reasons why innocents are being executed or accused, allowing the guilty to get away with their crimes is that criminals who are exceptionally

The injustice that comes from this prosecution isn’t taken as seriously as it should be, with it ruining lives of loved of victims and the victims themselves. A study by Katherine Beckett, details how jurors in Washington State were 3 times more likely to impose the death penalty to a person of color than a white person. Deaths that have included white victims make up 80% of Capital cases, while these victims only make up one half of all murder cases. By 2002, 12 cases of the defendant being white and the murder victim being black have been sent to the death penalty, while 178 cases of the defendant being black have been executed. Discrimination in a court of law that relates to the death penalty correlates directly with the prosecution and defense provided. 94.5% of elected prosecutors that reside in death penalty states are white, even going as far as 100% white in 9 states like Washington and Tennessee. These statistics showcase how the legal system is much more harsher and likely to punish people based on their skin

The article that I read from Amnesty USA was about how the race of homicide victims affects the results of whether or not a defendant in a capital case will receive the death penalty. The article provides a graph that showed how death row inmates who have killed white victims have been executed 77% of the time. However, death row inmates who have killed African American victims have only been executed 15% of the time. Since 1977, the vast majority of defendants in capital cases have been executed for killing white victims, even though African-Americans make up more than half of the total number of homicide victims.

According to Two of the country's foremost researchers on race and capital punishment, law professor David Baldus and statistician George Woodworth, along with colleagues in Philadelphia, have conducted a careful analysis of race and the death penalty in Philadelphia which reveals that the odds of receiving a death sentence are nearly four times (3.9) higher if the defendant is black (http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/death-penalty-black-and-white-who-lives-who-dies-who-decides).

The death penalty is one of the most controversial forms of punishment in the United States criminal justice system. For many, the death penalty seems like a way to gain retribution, and to help make this country a better place, however there are many reasons why the death penalty is also not a good thing. My main points that I’m going to talk about for my paper is why I don’t believe in the death penalty. Throughout the paper the reader will be able to understand exactly what the death penalty is, the pros and cons of the death penalty, and eventually be able to depict for themselves whether the death penalty is “good” or not.

Also another study also say’s that, “The rate at which eligible black defendants were sentenced to death was nearly 40% higher than the rate for other eligible” (Dieter) This shows clearly also that the amount of black defendants sentenced to death is nearly 40% higher than any other person eligible,so that means that black defendants are most likely to get a death sentence than anybody else which shows that our judicial branch has some racism in its roots when it come to the death

When a person is charged with Capital punishment we automatically think they are a dangerous criminal, but what if someone was charge simply because of their race. Well, there have been many researches done along with statistical evidence to confirm that this may be in fact the case for African-Americans. The United States Constitution was established so that every Citizen in America is guaranteed their basic rights which include; guarantee a fair process in all hearings and equal treatment under the law. African-Americans have struggled throughout our history with unfair treatment and equality. For example, the decades of slavery and the struggle of passing the equal voting rights bill in 1965. This may have passed us, but many African-Americans are still dealing with racial discrimination and this time it’s with the Criminal Justice system in particular, Capital Punishment. There have been intensive studies and evidence coming up showing how race can in fact play a major role when determining if you get a sentence to Capital Punishment or not, even if you are in fact innocent. We are to believe with our Constitution, bill of rights, and laws that every citizen no matter what race you are will be treated equally fair and justice will hopefully be served, but throughout our history up until now we are finding out that ultimately what will decide the outcome of a citizens fair and equal trial is the color of their skin.