The Death Penalty

Tessa Zivkovic

Mrs.Curry

English 11 AP

4/5/15

The Death Penalty

In our court system, inequality and unfairness are commonly present. When criminals are charged and appear in court (even though the justice system fails to admit it) they base their accusations on characteristics and traits of the suspect. The only way for a person to be sentenced to death row, is to have committed murder. Even though murder is a serious offense, should the death penalty be an option of punishment? The death penalty should be abolished due to the lack of justice, constant racism on trial, and the violation of basic human rights.

In our court system there are many flaws that tend to effect the jury’s decision of the verdict on the suspect. The main issue we face in the court system is the racial bias that is applied in a court case. “The death penalty is often used in a disproportional manner against the poor, minorities, and members of racial, ethnic, political, and religious groups.”(“Racism”) Time and time again, the court system goes against the basic moralities that are commonly held and racially discriminates the criminal, which leads to an unfair verdict. A recent study shows that the percentage of African Americans on death row is lower than the percentage of white people. Since 1976, about 56.6% of people executed in the U.S. were black and only 34.6% of people were white(Henningfeld 73). In fact, white-victim cases are eleven times more likely than black-victim cases to result in a sentence of death. Since the death penalty was reinstated by the Supreme Court in 1976, more than half of those under sentence of death have been black. Racial discrimination in the justice system has been present for over 60 years and many have tried to oppose this discrimination but to no avail.

A major court case in 1987 was able to develop a realization to the general public about racial discrimination in the court system. The case involving Warren McCleskey demonstrates his belief that the death penalty goes against the U.S. constitution. McCleskey, a black man, was involved in an armed robbery along with three accomplices. As McCleskey and his partners were robbing the furniture store, the silent alarm was triggered and two officers were sent to the scene. As one of the officers entered through the front of the store, McCleskey fired two shots at the officers head, which instantly killed the officer. When McCleskey went to trial several weeks later, the jury convicted him of murder and recommended he be sentenced to death. McCleskey then filed for a petition stating that the death penalty was unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment. In support of McCleskey’s claim, he offered a statistical study performed by Professor David C. Baldus that demonstrates that the death sentence is based on race of the murder victim and the race of the defendant. The Baldus study showed that defendants charged with killing white people received the death penalty in 11% of the cases, but defendants charged with killing blacks received the death penalty in only 1% of the cases(Friedman 67). These numbers indicate the reverse racial disparity, leading the Baldus study to show that only 4% of the black defendants received the death penalty as opposed to 7% of the white defendants(Friedman 69). The Baldus study concluded that a black defendant murdering a white victim was 4.3 times more likely to be sentenced to the death penalty, as opposed to a white defendant murdering a black victim who in most cases would not even receive the death penalty. “As a black defendant who killed a white victim, McCleskey claims that the Baldus study demonstrates that he was discriminated against because of his race and because of the race of the victim.”(Henningfeld 126)

In the criminal justice system, when the defendant is sentenced to death, there are a multitude of ways to carry out the action. In states such as Texas, Louisiana, Montana, and many other states, the death sentence is carried out through lethal injection. This is considered to be the most convenient and fastest way of death for criminals. In other states such as Kentucky and Iowa, lethal injection is still commonly used along with hanging. These states believe that hanging is considered to be a more shameful death. The southern states such as Virginia, Tennessee, and South Carolina use electrocution as one of the ways to carry out the death sentence. Electrocution is used since it is the most painful and prolonged punishment. In some cases, the day the criminal is set to be executed the court will allow members of the public to watch the electrocution. The court allows this because it is said that witnessing the death of the criminal will aid family members or friends of the victim to grief in peace knowing that the assailant was “properly" punished. Even though the death penalty is an option of punishment in 31 states, it is not a humane way of convicting a person. Murdering a person(no matter who it may be or what they have done) is morally wrong. Witnessing or participating in another persons death, will have a major mental effect.