The Death Penalty's Role In The Justice System

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

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.

While the topic can be overwhelming and complex, it is important to study the racist institution of the death penalty because execution is the ultimate expression of which individuals are valued by our society and which are considered dispensable. What the US expresses through its executions carries some racist undertones when we look at the races of the persons being executed, but it takes on a clearly racial direction when we consider the race of the original murder victim. For example, "the most comprehensive study of the death penalty found that killers of whites were eleven times more likely to be condemned to death than killers of African- Americans."3 On the flip side, "only 31 of the over 18,000 executions in this country's history involved a white person being punished for killing a Black person."4 In capital punishment, we find the modernday counterpart to lynching. Of course, lynching often meant sporadic acts of individual racism. Selective killing today is an official, bureaucratized act of the state and therefore an official statement of what our government stands for. And what the government stands for is the most complete disempowerment possible - death - for a large number of Black individuals.

Capital Punishment is used in the judicial system unfairly and as a weapon against minorities. This is mostly due in part to racism in the courts by the lawyers and judges. Race continues to plague the application of the death penalty in the United States. On the state

An examination of death penalty sentencing procedures within the American criminal justice system suggests that the legal and moral authority to execute condemned criminals granted to a government has been tested time and time again, only to be reaffirmed by the Supreme Court. While the 1960's saw a series of failed attempts to ban the practice, launched by death penalty abolitionist groups firm in their belief that murder can never be justified, it was not until 1972 that a majority of Supreme Court justices ruled to prohibit state-mandated executions. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, a national non-profit organization dedicated to providing a forum for informed discussion regarding capital punishment, "the issue of arbitrariness of the death penalty was brought before the Supreme Court in 1972 in Furman v. Georgia, Jackson v. Georgia, and Branch v. Texas (known collectively as the landmark case Furman v. Georgia (408 U.S. 238))" (DPIC, 2013). While the court previously ruled in Crampton v. Ohio and McGautha v. California that the application of capital punishment did not result in arbitrary and capricious sentencing, the 1972 Furman case challenged the Eight Amendment, whereas the McGautha case cited the Fourteenth Amendment's due process provision.

Aristotle once said “the generality of men are naturally apt to be swayed by fear rather than reverence, and to refrain from evil rather because of punishment that it brings than because of its own foulness.” Capital punishment has been intertwined in United States history for centuries with a number of crimes that could lead to the death penalty if convicted, many of them are some form of murder. Since 1977, three thousand and ninety-five defendants have been on death row and of that, only one thousand thirty eight defendants have actually been executed. But the perilous question is whether or not the defendants were sentenced based on solely the facts and nature of the crime or crimes, or were there other contributing factors that influenced the severity of the verdict. There are several social controversies that surround the people who are sent to death row, predominately bias and discrimination issues which are based on ethnicity, gender, and mental health.

What place does the death penalty have in the criminal justice system? Should it be used to deter other criminals, should it be used to punish those who commit crimes, or does it have any place at all? In understanding the issue of the death penalty from a moral perspective, it is important to look back at philosophers of the past to better understand the ethical ramifications of the concept of capital punishment. We will be examining two notable philosophers—Aristotle and Immanuel Kant. Through their ideas on justice and theories of punishment for crime, we will be able to better understand how they viewed an issue such as the death penalty. Moreover, in modern day discussions of the issue, sides will argue consequentialist factors such as; the pain that capital punishment might inflict, evidence (or lack of evidence) of deterrence, and the cost of an extensive appellate process. Here, however, we will simply be examining the issues surrounding virtue and duty with regards to capital punishment, as Aristotle and Kant were virtue and duty based philosophers, respectively. Through this unique lens we may better understand the issue and ethical complications surrounding the issue as we observe how Aristotle and Kant make their arguments.

The purpose of criminal justice system was to reduce crimes, punish convicts, and rehabilitate the criminals.(Law Street) To root out crimes, government execute death penalty. The penalty is biggest issue whether to abolish it, because it is an execution of the convicts sentencing death.(ProCon.org) Some people support the death penalty in the sake of justice, while other people disagree with it due to costs, and its effectiveness. To be more clear, death penalty proponents state that they need to keep death penalty, because it suitably pays back to criminals, whereas opponents say that it does not have considerable impact in reducing crime rate and citizens of country must significant amount of taxes. Government should decide whether to execute death penalty depending on the crime.

Many believe that there is racism within capital punishment, as well as many other aspects of life. The race of defendants executed in the US since 1976 are 34.5% black, 55.6% white, 8.3% Latino, 1.6% other. This shows that though there may have been racism geared towards African Americans in the 1930’s, it has since changed and

What I chose to research my final paper on was the death penalty and the impacts on society it has. As the death penalty is widely discussed topic from many angles and perspectives so within this topic there was many ways for me to go about this and research it. One of the methods I personally enjoyed was watching American death row documentaries. These documentaries show a perspective that 's hard to understand from just reading it on a scholarly or pop culture source.

In recent years, the death penalty has been a frequent topic of discussion, as our recent technological advancements have evidently led individuals to consider the “new found” legitimacy of our court systems, as statistics display that our previous racial bias and the apparent morality of the practice itself have a miniscule impact on our conviction rate. Both the advancements and ethics that the death penalty provides become apparent through the utilization of anecdotes and statistics, as the death penalty has prevailed as an effective and reliable tool in regards to the conviction process.

In today 's world, terrible crimes are being committed daily. Watching the news, listening to the radio or reading a newspaper shows proof of this cruelty. So what can be done about these criminals? Capital punishment has been exposed throughout history; “In the Jamestown colony of Virginia in 1608, Captain George Kendall was hanged for the capital offense of treason. Among other serious capital crimes in colonial times were murder, rape and witchcraft” (Fridell). The death penalty has been under discussion for some time. While there are many supporters, some still disagree. Currently, “there are thirty-one states in which the death penalty is enforced, and nineteen states that have abolished it” (Death Penalty Information Center). The Death penalty is a form of punishment that involves executing a person after he or she were found guilty of a major crime by the legal system. Should the death penalty be used for murderers, rapists, and serial killers and no other crimes? Research shows that “the major reasons why people support the death penalty is because of deterrence, retribution, and incapacitation” (Booker, Renee, and Hubbard). Racism also can play a part of capital punishment. The death penalty is an effective tool for reducing violent crimes and eliminating the costs of supporting violent offenders in the prisons. The death penalty’s effectiveness is based on its ability to deter, promote retribution, and ultimately to incapacitate violent offenders.

Capital punishment, death by execution, or the death penalty is a government sanctioned punishment. Crimes that result in the death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. Today the death penalty is viewed quite different throughout different countries and states. But is the death penalty worth it by all means? If a person is already aware of the possible outcomes for committing a crime, is that going to stop them? Usually once a course of action has so much time spent planning it, there is no turning back. If they are willing to take such a high risk for something that seems rewarding to them, these criminals will not care about what comes after because they do not intend on getting caught.

What do you think goes thru the mind of a killer, like Jonathan Nobles from Steve Earl’s “A Death in Texas”, who brutally murder innocent people? Killers like Nobles disregard the gift of human life and violate people’s right to live. The death penalty is a necessary element in the judicial system to not only prevent the offender and others from committing a similar crime again, and to relieve the never ending flow of criminals that fill the prisons, but also most importantly to punish the heinousness of the crime and to provide closure to the victim’s loved ones.

This study was conducted to identify the characteristics of capital punishment and establish findings related to cost, racial bias, socio-economic class, innocent persons on death row, and cruel and unusual punishment. A questionnaire was provided to participants to gauge the level of education regarding issues and knowledge of the death penalty. Capital punishment is defined as the legal process to which a person is put to death by the state as punishment for a crime. Capital punishment is also hereby referred to as the death penalty.