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Hanging was the principal form of execution in Britain from the 1500’s to 1964 when the death penalty was abolished. ... Shooting was considered a more honourable death for soldiers than hanging” (Clark, 2004). ... Death occurs in 2 to 18 minutes, often with convulsions as the body writhes for oxygen. ... The government spends a fortune on incarcerating death row inmates, but skimps on appointed attorneys. ... This is a very important issue because the system should be completely fair in matters of life and death. ... Today in America men, women, and even children are represented on death row. When viewed from a certain perspective, some segments of society, such as the poor, feel the sting of the death penalty more severely. Racial discrimination, sex discrimination and socio-economic class discrimination are factors that unfairly decide the death penalty.
The administration of the death penalty is disproportionate everywhere. ... The death penalty is a major area of inequity in justice systems and gives the appearance that justice can be bought with a large amount of money for the best legal aid. ... Since poor people are given insufficient counsel and funding, they may not be able to make a strong case in their defense, and be wrongly sent to death row. ...
Out of the 2,000 people that are on death row, almost all of them are poor. Socio-economic class discrimination influences judgments made about the death sentence. It is shown by statistics that over 90 percent of those on death row can not afford lawyers because they are poor. ...
There is an infectious presence of racism in the death penalty system that has not slackened with time, nor is it restricted to a single region of the country. It is a fact that those who are making the critical death penalty decisions in this country are almost exclusively white. ... Unfortunately, the days of racial bias in the death penalty are not a remnant of the past.
Two of the countrys 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. This analysis revealed that the odds of receiving a death sentence are nearly four times (3. ... The data were subjected to various forms of analysis, but the conclusion was clear: blacks were being sentenced to death far in excess of other defendants for similar crimes. ... Marys University Law School in Texas provides part of the explanation for why the application of the death penalty remains racially skewed. Their study found that the key decision-makers in death cases around the country are almost exclusively white men. Of the chief District Attorneys in counties using the death penalty in the United States, nearly 98% are white and only 1% are African-American. ... Examinations of the relationship between race and the death penalty, with varying levels of thoroughness and sophistication, have now been conducted in every major death penalty state. ... The gravity of the close connection between race and the death penalty is shown when compared to studies in other fields. Race is more likely to affect death sentencing than smoking affects the likelihood of dying from heart disease. The latter evidence has produced enormous changes in law and societal practice, while racism in the death penalty has been largely ignored. ... Despite the prior example of legislation in response to similar discrimination in such areas as employment and housing, legislatures on both the federal and state level have failed to pass civil rights laws regarding the death penalty for fear of stopping capital punishment entirely. ... The death penalty presents a stark symbol of the effects of racial discrimination. ... It results in a death penalty in which blacks are frequently put to death for murdering whites, but whites are almost never executed for murdering blacks. ... There are not as many women on death row as men, nor are many women defendants in capital trials. Still, women are the fastest-growing group in the judicial system to receive the death penalty. Although women do not frequently receive the death penalty, a prejudice exists toward them. Perhaps it is a matter of personal wealth, or because fewer women that tend to commit the kinds of crimes that people associate with the death penalty. ... 4 percent of the total prison population and they also account for one out of every eight people nationwide arrested for murder, and one out of 70 people presently on death row (Strieb, 2004). ...
In general, both the death-sentencing rate and the death row population remain very small for women in comparison to that for men. ...
Another death row minority group, children, is also one of the most controversial. The Death Penalty has a tremendous impact among children who commit horrendous crimes, because they are young and don’t realize the true consequences of some actions. As of March 15, 2004, 73 children were on death row for juvenile crimes, or about 2% of the total death row population of approximately 3,500 (Strieb, 2004). ... Children are currently on death row in 12 different states, some have been waiting for their final punishment over twenty-three years. Texas has by far the largest death row for juvenile offenders, now holding 28 (36%) of the national total of 73 juvenile offenders. All of the juvenile offenders on death row are male and had been convicted and sentenced to death for murder.
Approximate Word count = 4519
Approximate Pages = 18.1
(250 words per page double spaced)
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