The Death Penalty: Gender Analysis

Capital punishment has been a controversial issue that still exists in America today. Capital punishment is a law passed by the government to punish any individual that has been convicted of committed a heinous crime. The death penalty has been a method used throughout history as punishment for criminals. The punishment also known as the death penalty is a scheduled execution, which would be done with lethal injection. The reason why this punishment is chosen is because when crimes are committed that shock the conscience, the immediate emotional reaction is to retaliate with severe punishment (Schnurbush 2016). The death penalty is debated when it is brought up, opinions vary from one group of people to another, one side says the execution is murder, and the other saying that it is justice being done. Each side presents valid arguments to why people should be for it or against it; people’s opinions are formed by personal beliefs.

According to a dozen recent studies an execution does save lives. For each inmate execution it is shown by studies that three to eighteen murders are prevented. By that it shows a big number that is getting prevented by murders.

The debate on whether or not the death penalty should be abolished has been ongoing for quite a long period of time. While there are those who believe that the death penalty does not serve its intended purpose, proponents of the same are convinced that the relevance of the same cannot be overstated and hence it should not be abolished. In this text, I examine the arguments for and against the death penalty.

The death penalty is a capital punishment that is put into effect for major crimes. The death penalty is a very controversial topic in the United States and throughout the world. There was a time period were the death penalty was banned for about four years in 1972-1976. Many feel that the death penalty is justice because it is retribution toward criminals who have committed heinous crimes. However the death penalty is inhumane and should be abolished in the United States.

Death Penalty should be allowed under circumstances also known as capital punishment, where congress or any state legislature recommend the death penalty for murder and other capital crimes. Majority of the states are favor in death penalty, roughly around 32 states are favor and 18 states are against death penalty. In most cases, many argue that death penalty has violated the 8th amendment, where it bans cruel and unusual punishment. Therefore, they would go against death penalty. However, without the sentence to death, the chances of prisoner escaping prison are really high. If they are able to escape prison and get away with it, then they can continue committing crimes. Although some may argue that death penalty is harsh because if you kill someone; and then you take another person’s life, then why should yours be freed? I personally do not agree with death penalty because taking away another person’s life is not going to regain the victim’s life back. However, the victim’s family would want the person to be sentence to death, so the victim can rest in peace. I think that death penalty should be only allowed under circumstances, but then how can you really determined if the case should be ruled with death penalty? And how would the justice system know that they have made the correct decision? Did the decision of sentence to death turn out to be wrong, where the person is later found innocent? There are multiple of questions that people will be more concern about. The

When discussing the death penalty, rarely do we acknowledge the impact executions have on the men and women who facilitate the process. Although this process is solely voluntary, the side effects are not. According to several executioners, the first experience is far from what they had anticipated. To bring to light the stories of these men and women, Jim Willet facilitates an audio recording which covers the process of executing an inmate and the aftermath which is often felt by the executioner.

It applies to gender as well. According to a paper written by Proff. Sonja Starr, “men receive 63% longer sentences than women do.” Counterarguments to these claims are that men commit worse crimes than women. However, according to Starr’s paper, women are two times more likely to avoid incarceration if they are convicted. On top of that, when a woman walks into the court room, and they are defending themselves against a male, or even vise versa, the sympathy automatically goes to the woman. Many people often assume that women are the victims in any case, even when it is the exact

Republicans like Nancy Reagan, who stated that “more people would be alive today if there were a death penalty”, a controversial statement. On the other hand we have democrats like former secretary of state Hillary Clinton oppose abolishing the practice, and only in certain cases, rising question to whether its okay to subject only certain people to the death penalty like vigorous murderers or terrorists. There is a significant difference between whites and blacks in their support for the death penalty. The data showing that 71% of whites support the death penalty, compared with only 44% of blacks. This stark difference may be the result of the ongoing debate about the overrepresentation of blacks on death rows across the country(CITE). Men and women both seem to accept the ideal of the death penalty but women are less likely to support than men, but does gender really matter when we are considering someone’s life? Do we deserve to kill? Since the 20th century, the entire world has gradually turned its back on capital punishment, but it’s not over yet and unfortunately I don’t think it will be for a long time. It’s a touchy subject and there’s so many pro’s and con’s to each side of the decision. I don’t stand against the death penalty because it’s less money, even though it is, or because there are so many flaws in our government, where wrongfully accused people and mentally ill persons are sentenced to death, I stand against it because it’s morally wrong. Outside of the financial costs for the death penalty, which are in fact more costly than life in prison, what does it say about a society, which practices these killings? The only thing we can do to end the death penalty is to educate

In the early centuries, it was rare to hear about a woman who committed murder, or was incarcerated. However, times have changed, and it has become somewhat of a norm in the twenty first century. According to Kravitz (2010), he states that according to a study conducted by The Institute on Women and Criminal Justice, the number of women in prisons in 2006 is 105,000.

Most women are more fragile and have domestic instincts. Our society describes women to be nurturing caregivers and less likely to receive the death penalty. Morin (2011) describes that women have religious beliefs that deter them from committing harsh crime (p.19). Waterbury, Connecticut district claims that seven percent of females are represented on death row. Gender presents a big gap in our correctional system in the preceding of capital punishment. Examples of the various methods that account towards the termination for capital punishment are clarified below.

CNN’s article, “Death Penalty Fast Facts” evaluates the backstory and archives of death penalty nominees and broke down facts for this article. The article shows the significance of women in death row is miniscule, yet not nonexistent, stating, “Women make up fewer than 2% of inmates sentenced to die on death row in the United States” (caption 1 2017). Capital punishment is legal in 31 states, however New Mexico and Nebraska tried to repeal death row, instead it was not retroactive and inmates are still sent to death row. Pennsylvania also imposed a moratorium on executions in 2015. Prior to the article there are photos of women who were on death row for various crimes, giving faces to these allegations. The article closes with a timeline on

Brooklyn Scobee Dr. David Marble LAW-100-43 10, November 2015 Annotated Bibliography Burgason, K., & Pazzani, L. (2014). The Death Penalty: A Multi-level Analysis of Public Opinion. American Journal Of Criminal Justice, 39(4), 818-838. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12103-014-9261-7

Society and its mixed feelings towards the death penalty; capital punishment is such a harsh and uncivilised way of treating criminals, but do they look at how the criminals are acting towards ending other human beings life. They do not care about the lives they have destroyed, or, the families of their victims. The death penalty can never bring back loved ones back to their families. It seems rationally to think that if potential killers are aware that if they commit serious crimes they would be put to death for it, they are less likely to commit these crimes again.

Two major claims: death penalty serves as a deterrent and death penalty is morally justified because murderers can’t live and you have a right to kill them.

One of the most controversial topics to date is the argument surrounding whether or not the death penalty should be utilized. When majority of the people, think about problems surrounding capital punishment, they automatically jump right to it being legal or illegal. When in reality the problems are so much larger. They're issues involved with Capital Punishment, including racism, sexism and financial status to name a few, when it comes to who is being put to death. Recently, one of the most well known issues has become sexism. Gender inequality has been an issue in the United States and around the world for centuries. Although many people may not ask this question, it has always been wondered why more men are on death row and