The Death Penalty Is An Effective Deterrent

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.

However, statistics have shown that the death penalty is applied racially and discriminatorily. Three out of five murder cases in which the victim was white and the defendant was black resulted in the defendant receiving a death penalty. Professor Katherine Beckett of the University of Washington reechoed this fact by stating that, jurors in Washington “were four and a half times more likely to impose a sentence of death when the defendant was black than they were in cases involving similarly situated white defendants.” So where is the justice that advocates of the death penalty are imploring? Moreover, the rich are more likely to escape a death penalty than the poor. The DPIC has reported that most defendants in capital cases cannot afford an attorney. Thus, if equal justice for all is anything to go by, then justice should be equally distributed regardless of race and economic

Jack Todd, who has several academic achievements including, Assistant Director of Communications for Kent Denver School, Content Director for the Borgen Project, and an Editorial Intern for Premier Media Group, wrote an article in Borgen Magazine, titled Poverty and Capital Punishment. The article states, “...legal systems inherently favor those who can afford good lawyers, who are educated and who can post bail. Accordingly, the International Bar Association (IBA) reports that in nearly all of the 58 nations that still use capital punishment, wealthy defendants are at a distinct advantage to their poor counterparts.” Of twenty-one nations in 2012, there were 682 executions performed and a vast number were people who came from poverty. According to the same Borgen Magazine Article, statistics say 80-90% lived in poverty before committing their crime, according to the same Borgen Magazine article. The caliber of lawyers that are appointed to poor people typically consists of extremely unreliable and undedicated people. The Death Penalty Information Center document states, “ In many cases, the appointed attorneys are overworked, underpaid, or lacking the trial experience required for death penalty cases. There have even been instances in which lawyers appointed to a death case were so inexperienced that they were completely unprepared for the sentencing phase of the trial.” In

The idea of capital punishment deterring crime is difficult to determine; some could rationalize that the death penalty should in theory stop potential murders from committing crimes. However, this rationalization has never been concretely proven. The research into capital punishment’s effect on deterrence is immense; however, the majority of research on this issue has differential findings. Although some research suggests conclusively that capital punishment deters crime, others found that it fails to do this. Understanding deterrence, the death penalty, and the results of

"…[T]he American people no longer felt that the death penalty was suited to human dignity," they said. Most importantly, however, the attorneys argued that poor people and people of color routinely received the death penalty for capital offenses, at a rate vastly disproportionate to that of whites, particularly affluent whites, accused of similar offenses. This was a clear violation of the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection of the laws,” (Supreme Court Cases: Furman v. Georgia).”

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

Imagine you 're watching the local news, and suddenly you hear a case about a man put on death row because of the murder of a homeless man. Most people wouldn 't think twice about this type of case and think to themselves "that 's what he deserves" or "these types of things happen all the time". A report by the Death Penalty Information Center and titled "The 2% Death Penalty: How a Minority of Counties Produce Most Death Cases at Enormous Costs to Us All (Dieter 2013)" talks about a concerning geographic actuality about death row. The majority of the public may think that capital punishment is a widely used form of punishment today but, the reality of the situation is actually, very displeasing. In states that allow this type of punishment, only two percent of counties have been guilty of the bulk of cases (Dieter 2013). Even worse, counties that have the death penalty in effect are responsible for some of the highest reversal rates and errors of injustice (2013). One example of this issue is the state of Alabama. Alabama sentences more people to death than any other state in the United States. According to ACME International, this is because "50% of the people on death row were granted legal representation by public defenders whose compensation for trial preparation is capped at a maximum of $1000 per case." The reality is that a $1000 cap cannot pay for lawyers, witnesses, and specific

Most death row inmates or victims of the capital punishment are the result of inadequate legal representation. Around 90% of the defendants charged with crimes leading to capital punishment are poverty stricken. Thus, they are unable to afford quality legal representation and are often stuck with lawyers

Despite the Court’s insistence upon such safeguards, and judicial pronouncements that all states currently conducting executions have met the standards, disturbing patterns persist in the application of the death penalty. Statistics show, for example, that people who kill white people are far more

Yale University tries to say that the death penalty costs too much money by saying that it is “more expensive than relevant alternatives because of the appellate process” (Capital). The average

As Bryan Stevenson, executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Alabama, said 95 percent of the 3,350 people on death row were poor in 2007. People who cannot afford to pay high lawyer fee have a higher chance to receive the capital punishment. Horace Dunkins, Gary Drinkard and John Eldon Smith are the examples that were sentenced to death because their lawyers failed their responsibilities. Dunkins’ lawyers failed to show his mentally retarded to prove his non-intention; Drinkard’s lawyer failed to prove that he was unable to murder due to his back injury; Smith’s lawyer lacked of awareness of changing rules. However, in the case of Ethan Couch, he killed four people and got 10 years’ probation with a recommendation for treatment of his “affluenza” only. Punishment failed to accomplish its purpose. It punished the innocent but leave the criminal away. This really hesitated me to support death

The death penalty is irreversible and if evidence is gathered and examined too late, the damage is already done and a human right would have been broken for someone who is innocent. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sent in, "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.’’ This proves an African American's skin colour against a white male/female will always be the outstanding

Both race and poverty corrupt the administration of the death penalty. Race severely disadvantages the black jurors, black defendants, and black victims within the capital-punishment system. Black defendants are more likely to be executed than white defendants. Those who commit crimes against black victims are punished less severely than those who commit crimes against white victims. And black potential jurors are often denied the opportunity to serve on death-penalty juries. As far as the death penalty is concerned, therefore, blackness is a proxy for worthlessness. (Christina Swarns,

The author states that there are four reasons to abolish the death penalty: it’s immoral, does not deter murder, it affects minorities disproportionately, and creates an economic drain on governments with already badly depleted budgets. The author introduces examples to give the reader an idea of just how much it has cost states before. In California, they have executed thirteen people since 1976 for a total of about two-hundred and fifty million dollars, the cost is outrageous. The author lists how this money could be used to pay for police officers, courts, public defenders, legal service agenda’s, prison cells, and a multitude of other things. This source gives great information about how much death row costs, it gives details and examples, provides alternatives to what this money could be spent on, and will be used to give me a source that goes against my current stance to provide another

The American Civil Liberties Union believes that the death penalty is unjust and goes against a lot of what America believes in. Under the Constitution, Americans are promised equal protection under law and cruel punishment is banned. The ACLU feels that the death penalty is the polar opposite from what is stated in the Constitution. Executions planned out spectacles and people gather around to witness a ceremonial killing. They don’t believe the state should have the authority or right to end a human life. Capital punishment is also very expensive. This costs taxpayers more money than it does to house them in a federal prison for life. Not only is it affecting the family of the suspect but it is also affects taxpayer’s wallets. Performing the death penalty goes against all beliefs in our Constitution, specifically the banishment of cruel and unusual