Response #1) I think the fact that there are so many steps involved in this process helps secure the rights of the accused. Each step is made to ensure everything is backed with evidence and the decision of death penalty is as sure as possible. However, those who cannot afford a lawyer have an extreme disadvantage. This is where there is a fault in our justice system. Each step does not require the defendant to have a lawyer, but without one, an innocent person may have a hard time defending himself.
Response #2) I cannot believe some of the executions that were used even with the eighth amendment in place. Hanging is incredibly risky because so many factors could lead to a slow death. Same goes with firing squad, plus the fact that someone is being torn up with bullets by execution is just inhumane. The electric chair seems like one of the most painful experiences with the description made by William Brennan. Similarly, the gas chamber seems very painful and slow with symptoms similar to a heart attack. Caryl Chessman nodded his head that it was painful before he died. When being executed, no one should feel pain and their death should be quick. None of these executions followed the 8th Amendment because all were cruel and unusual. The lethal injection seems somewhat humane because it puts the person being executed asleep before they die. This allows them to feel no pain. However, there are some flaws to this, such as not being injected into the vein. If the needle is put into the muscle it could be very painful. This is something we should not be risking when considering the lives of people. Until we find a flawless quick and painless execution, we should not execute at all.
Response #3) Generally the states with the most executions are in the south, but there are exceptions. I'm not quite sure why this is, maybe people in the south generally embrace it more. Most of the states that have no execution are in the north, with the exception of New Mexico. I also find that the states with higher population have more people on death row. This makes sense because there is more people. I found that the ratio of whites to blacks on death row are about even, but the ratio to blacks and whites who have been executed is not. I found that generally more whites have been executed. This is strange because most things I've heard from say the system is prejudice toward blacks and more blacks have been executed. There is far more men than woman on death row for psychological reasons that I don't want to get into. The state with the most women on death row is California, most likely because its high population. There are no statistics for juvenile executions because as of 2005 in Roper v. Simmons, the supreme court ruled that it is cruel and unusual to execute someone that has committed their crime under the age of 18. I was surprised to see any states at all to still have hanging and firing squad as a form of execution. They both seem so out dated and cruel. Most states use lethal injection as a form of execution because it is seemingly the most ethical. As of today, Illinois has had only 15 death row inmates and 12 executions. Illinois is currently in favor of the death penalty and uses only lethal injection. Surprisingly California only had 16 executions, but leads all other states in number of death row inmates with 690. Texas takes the number one spot for most executions with ease more than quadrupling its runner up with a whopping 451 executions. I still notice a large trend of southern states favoring the death penalty. Perhaps the south is more conservative.With the number of black to white inmates just about even I don't see any prejudice in the system at all, though there may be a slight more amount of blacks. And there is more whites that were executed than blacks so it evens out a bit. Judging by this data I would say justice is blind and everyone on death row is treated equally.
Response #4) This data strengthens my previous response when I said the ratio of black to white inmates on death row is about equal. However, this does not eliminate racial prejudice in the justice system when determining the death sentence. One chart convinced me that prejudice is in our justice system. From this chart and other information, it was found that one was 3.5 times more likely to be executed if their victim was white. Those that killed whites were 3 times more likely to be sentenced to be sentenced to death than those who killed blacks and 4 times more likely than those who killed Latinos. Heres another statistic, 98% of all district attorneys are white. Coincidence? I THINK NOT! So this changed my perspective, because its not so much the execution itself where racism resides, its in the victims of the defendant. What I really like about this site, is that it gives a lot of raw fact and information, but not only this, it gives the opinions of Americans and professionals. Americans go about 50/50 when it comes to the death penalty. However, I don't think they all know how much they're paying for the death of some convict. The California death penalty system costs taxpayers $114 million per year beyond the costs of keeping convicts locked up for life. If I knew this while being a tax payer, I know I wouldn't be pro execution. Not only this, but 88% of criminologists believe that the death penalty does not lower the rate of homicides. So what good is the death penalty doing? Thats opinion coming from an expert, so its convincing to me. Looking at this information overall, I would most defiantly say its leaning toward anti -execution. It provides so many information suggesting that the death penalty brings no good and only does harm to a community. I must say this informational site did a good job because it convinced me. The information and statistics is all laid out for me to make the choice, its all raw fact. Although, perhaps they may have left information that might help the other side of the argument. I believe its best to provide both sides of the argument so people can make a good choice. After looking at this, I believe there are problems regarding racism in the process of the death penalty and I've come to decide that the death penalty is a pointless and expensively unnecessary punishment for inmates.
No comments:
Post a Comment