Race And Capital Punishment Research Paper

This essay will critique “Race, Capital Punishment, and the Cost of Murder” by M. Cholbi. The critique will discuss and point out some unnecessary concepts and flaws in the author’s argument along with logical fallacies. The author appeals for a moratorium among capital punishment due to racial disparities. This essay will analyze the author’s paper on the subject of race and capital punishment. The subject of capital punishment is controversial, as some citizens believe capital punishment is unconstitutional.

Samantha Smith once said, “Well, I just hope we can have peace, and I hope it’ll do some good”. This quote makes me wonder if senseless homicides are slowly becoming a new way of life or if hoping for the world without murder just seems like a never-developed reality? The recent murders of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Laquan McDonald, and Amber Monroe makes it seen as an overdue alarm call for not only the African-American community to start taking action, but outside the African American community to fully unite and work together as one to combat race-related homicides in our nation.

"We simply cannot say we live in a country that offers equal justice to all Americans when racial disparities plague the system by which our society imposes the ultimate punishment." (Senator Russ Feingold, 2003). It has been proven that death sentencing across the USA is determined by the race of the victim and race of the defendant. In 1990, there was a report from the General Accounting office which concluded that those who murdered whites were more likely to be sentenced to death than those who murdered blacks. (Focus, 2003) This injustice amongst us are because people are scared and don’t know. They don’t know whether a black man is pulling out a gun, their phone, wallet, etc. So just to remain safe, they retaliate by killing our men. Society has grown to function on the fear of black men. Capitalism and the imprisonment of black people have become profitable. They’ve made a big business to just imprison black men. Black men are inheritably a threat to the capitalist structure of America, it protects their money, their politics, and their society.

For my final project I chose to focus on Race and sentencing. The United States is about 5% of the world’s population but when it comes to world prisoners the Unites States is about 25%. In the United States African Americans are incarcerated 5 times more than whites in state prisons throughout the country and also 10 times more than whites in 5 states. In this paper I am going to research and study specific articles and studies that document the rate of incarceration for African Americans and Whites. This is not only a problem state by state sentencing but it is also problem for federal sentencing as well. Not only am I going to look at race and sentencing but I am going to also

The death penalty is one of the most controversial issues on American soil. Blacks are more likely to face the death penalty than whites in the commission of identical crimes(CNN, 2014). The history of capital punishment dates back to the days before Christ. The Old Testament adage 'an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,' has survived throughout the ages despite the New Testament's rendition of 'thou shall not kill'. Today's American victims endure a more demure of style of cruel and unusual punishment; death by lethal injection has replaced the barbaric traditions of the past.

An Impassioned Debate: An overview of the death penalty in America depicts the facts about the eighth amendment. The eighth amendment is the prohibition on cruel and unusual punishments (Masci 1). There are two significant cases that have inflamed the debate over the capital punishment, The Baze v. Reese case, and the Kennedy v. Louisiana case. The first case reveals the strong debate that the execution by lethal injection is inhuman and in violation of the eight amendment. The second case inflamed the

Racial discrimination and capital punishment has been a heated topic discussed ever since the 1972 case Furman v. Georgia. In the article, “Does Racial Discrimination Make Capital Punishment Wrong?” by Stephen Nathanson, his position in this argument is affirmative as he argues that racial discrimination makes capital punishment wrong since death penalty is administered in an arbitrary manner. Arbitrariness is the quality of being determined by chance or impulse, and not by reason or principle. He claims capital punishment has been used disproportionately and arbitrarily since black people who murder are more likely to be executed than white people.

To look closely at many of the mechanisms in American society is to observe the contradiction between constitutional equality and equality in practice. Several of these contradictions exist in the realm of racial equality. For example, Black s often get dealt an unfair hand in the criminal justice system. In The Real War on Crime, Steven Donziger explains,

There are huge contrasts in the way individuals see capital punishment. Some contradict it and some concur with it. There have been many investigations attempting to demonstrate or refute a point with respect to capital punishment. Some have viewed capital punishment as an impediment, and some have viewed it as state endorsed kill and not acculturated. Capital punishment has been established to social orders for many years. All the more as of late, as we turn out to be more socialized, capital punishment has been addressed to be the correct advance towards equity. Capital punishment is a very questionable subject. No one knows who's privilege or who's wrong. In this paper, we will discuss racial discrimination in capital punishment and see if there is more death from blacks resulting from the death penalty. The issue of racial inclination in capital punishment has for quite some time been a noteworthy worry in the arrangement of capital punishment. Many investigations over the United States have discovered the race of the litigant to be a remarkable indicator of legal hearer basic leadership in capital cases, with Black defendants slaughtering White casualties to be well on the way to get capital punishment. Racial inclination in capital trials has all the remarks of being connected with the accompanying the ethnic foundation of the head prosecutor pursuing capital punishment; the racial breakdown of the members of the jury in capital cases; hearers' inability to comprehend

Inside of the universe of equity there is maybe no region as exceptionally challenged as that of the death penalty. In the current time, the inquiry has over and over been raised: would it be a good idea for us to keep on utilizing capital punishment as a discipline for some wrongdoing? Despite the fact that the utilization of the death penalty is never taken daintily, our general public is moving towards a period and spot where it is no more a worthy type of discipline. The utilization of capital punishment ought to be abrogated from the equity framework for three noteworthy reasons. To start with, from an ethical perspective, it is not an accommodating discipline. Second, from an experimental perspective, capital punishment is not attempting

Death Penalty, and Negro criminals come in for much more than their share of the

In addition to being discriminative to the poor, capital punishment actually fosters racism and other social prejudice. According to several studies conducted by professors of law, black defendants are almost four times more likely to receive a death sentence than white defendants committing the same crimes. Interracial murders with the combination of black defendants and white victims are found to have the most severe punishment.

The death penalty is a simple name for a very controversial practice. Once a common way to deter people from performing cruel crimes, capital punishment has never before been under such political scrutiny. Abolished throughout Europe, the U.S. still uses it in 31 states. Supporters deem it necessary to protect and provide order while anti-death penalty advocates label it as outdated and inhumane. Both sides argue to be the morally right decision; one that would protect the most people. However, once examined carefully, it becomes obvious that the death penalty suffers too greatly from a regression of support, racial discrimination and inadequacy as a criminal deterrent to fulfill its moral purpose. Rather than receive federal support,

The issue of racial bias is greatly present in capital punishment cases. The issue of putting someone with a mental disability on death row is always a possibility. Although, the Supreme Court has ruled executions of the mentally ill illegal, there stands a chance that the execution will end up happening. Considering all the possibilities of racial injustice and mental health stigma, the death penalty should not be used as form of punishment in the U.S

The use of the death penalty is an extremely hot topic. It is an issue that I would say divides our nation, and everyone has their opinion on it. Those who are for it say it is a necessary punishment, as some people are just too disgusting, their crimes too heinous to stay alive. Those who oppose it say that it violates the 8th Amendment, that too many people, after their executions, are found innocent. No matter which side you stand on, it is interesting to note that people do not bring up race too much on either side, and I feel like that is something that really should be discussed more, especially considering the way our criminal justice system does seem to discriminate against certain races. Through the use of not only our class materials, but my own research as well, I will be answering the questions: Is the death penalty racially biased and to what extent? Does the race of not only the offender, but of the victim as well, greatly influence who receives the death penalty?