The Death Penalty Is Biased in Favor of Women

Women and the death Penalty

If a man and a women commit the same crime, a man is more likely to receive the death penalty than a woman although “ women roughly commit ten percent of murders in the United States yet receive two percent of the death penalty when being charged”(young 51) . The relationship between gender and the death penalty has generally been seen as biased in favor of woman because woman are viewed inferior when committing a crime versus men, they are said to be using self defense, and have committed less murders than men to receive the death penalty.

Woman are seen as inferior when committing a crime versus men which gave Director Richard Dietor the opinion that when it comes to murders “ jurors just see woman differently than men” Woman are often depicted to be acting under the influence of others and are not as accountable as men when committing the same crime. Females are often influenced by emotion which makes it okay to believe that “it’s easier to convince a jury that a woman suffers from emotional distress or other emotional problems more than men” (Streib 2014). Females who often undergo Emotional problems that could stem from physical abuse, mental abuse, child hood problems ,and anything that could disturb the emotional capability of woman who commits a crime often used as an upper hand in the court room when pleading innocent.

Women are often seen as weaker and more emotional to a man that is supposed to have the stereotype of strong and not as emotional like woman supposedly are especially when compared on trial. When considering woman as fragile they also hold a different appearance in the court room than men. A theory called “Evil woman” is a theory that woman who hold a certain appearance gain protection from chivalry. The Woman in a court room who are “often seen as feminine, docile, mothering, chaste woman who are usually white and heterosexual” (Oliver 62). These women are the females that hold the eye of what men and woman see as what a woman is supposed to be in society. Females who hold the appearance are not seen as a threat compared to woman who appear unladylike, aggressive or sexually promiscuous woman. These women are often convicted when on trial.

Females are said to have committed less murders than men. In the past one Hundred years, only forty women have been executed because of their crimes. The crimes women commit are usually murder women “commit thirty percent of spousal murders, Homicides, and self defense included but only fifteen percent are imprisoned when sentenced to death for killing a spouse (Young 61) .Guinever Garcia murdered her husband and was sentenced to spend ten years in jail. Upon being released she murdered her stepson and was sentenced to death, but got out of it days before the execution. It has been proven that “woman get out of the death penalty days before execution before it is put into effect” (Hinds 56). Females who drop out of the death penalty are not recorded as men are which lowers the amount of crimes recorded and capital punishment for females.

Women accounting for the deaths men and woman commit, Men commit ninety percent of the 15,095 murders committed in 2010 but that also included the murders that were not eligible for the death penalty system less than two percent of known murderers are sentenced to death (DPIC 2016). Men are accounted for murders not eligible for the death penalty so the statistic for male murder is higher than woman who gives them a disadvantage in a court room because they are seen to have committed more murders and their appearance makes them seem like a threat to society because of how men are stereotyped.

Huff post took into account to believe that” men are sentenced to death more than woman because of how the statues are written and how the circumstances around the crime are weighed”. Taking into account woman are seen as fragile and woman can claim emotional distress and it be socially acceptable in a way because their crimes are not as nearly violent as men, but crimes compared to woman, It is believed according to Amanda Oliver of Huff Post that statues for murders are written by “old, white men “So that