Race and Death Penalty - Research Paper Example

? Race and Death Penalty Introduction 1. Absence of discretion Discretion is considered as an important yardstick within the system of justice. It is a fact that nobody expects the prosecutor for pursuing same punishment or sentence for two crimes which look similar. Every crime is unique in itself. This is because the circumstances of each of the victims are distinct and every defendant stands on a different position. In the US Supreme court mandatory death penalty is imposed on anyone who will be “convicted of first degree murder” (The death penalty is applied unfairly and should not be used: Disagree, 2012).But this is indeed unconstitutional and the attributes of discretion should be incorporated into the decision making system of the country. Now, in United States of America death penalty of color is a predominant phenomenon. In this country, the blacks in the death row are very high in number. the In the recent years the Supreme court of the United States also rejected the application of statistical studies that claim bias of race as the prime reason for the purpose of overturning the death sentence (The death penalty is applied unfairly and should not be used: Disagree). 1.2. Relevant statistics Color of defendant and the skin color of the defendant are crucial factors in the death penalty of the Americans. Since the year 1976, the people with variations in skin color accounts for around 43% of the total executions. Still 55 % of the executions are waiting. The jurisdictions in which there are highest percentages of death penalty are US military which is “86%, Colorado which is 80%, US government which is 77%, Louisiana which is 72% and in Pennsylvania which is 70%” (Race and the Death Penalty). It has been found that white victims have accounted for around one half of all the victims of murder where around 80% of all the capital cases included people of white skin. In October, 2002 “around 12 people have been executed where the defendant was white and the victim of murder was black” (Race and the Death Penalty, 2003). Around 178 defendants convicted for murder were black along with white victims. In the month of January 2003, researchers in the university of Maryland governor revealed that the defendants who killed white persons were prone to death sentences. In August 2001, the supreme court of New Jersey released that they were more likely for proceeding against the defendants killing the white victims. In the month of April 2001, a group of researchers from the University of North Carolina published a study of all the homicide cases in North Carolina in the time frame of 1993 to 1997 (Race and the Death Penalty). From the figures of US department of Justice the figures reveal that from the period of 2001 to 2006 around 48 percent of defendants in the cases where death penalty were sought were of the African American origin (Does a person's race affect the likelihood of him/her receiving the death penalty?). 2. Reasons for disproportionate death penalty 2.1 Domination of white in the criminal justice system The criminal justice system of America and its internal mechanics is vehemently controlled as well as dominated by the white people. The death penalty can be symbolized as a control of the white over the blacks. The black males who flaunt a threatening and defiant persona are viewed as subjects of death sentences provided by the middle aged white male prosecutors (Does a person's race affect the likelihood of him/her receiving the death penalty?). But we will highlight our focus to a different trajectory which will yield a bit surprising results. 2.2 Blacks commit more crime American civil rights activists and Baptist minister Sir Jesse Jackson states that in Alabama (a state of United States of America), the African Americans form 25% of the total population of America and of Alabama’s 117 death row inmates, around 43% of them are of black origin. Although it highlights that the African American are more prone towards death row but one of the reasons is also that the blacks commit murder at higher rates than the white people at around seven to eight times higher than the whites (La Griffe du Lion). 2.3 Departure from conventional wisdom The conventional wisdom and the data discussed above points out to the fact that the African Americans are disproportionately subjected to death row can be sometimes revealed in misleading terms. Judged on the number of murders, the African Americans are sentenced to death lower than the whites in a relative sense of term. The African Americans are found to commit more than 50 percent of the murders in the country but they comprise only 40 percent of the death rows. In South of the country there has been excess of African American percentage of murderers as compared to death rows of the African American percentage of death row. An explanation of a racial hierarchy exists within the system. Black defendants murdering white victims were the receivers of highest rate of death sentences. But it was also revealed that the white defendants convicted of murdering the white victims have received death sentence at a more than proportionate level than the former. There were minimal rates of death sentences to the black defendants murdering black victims. The hierarchical stratification points towards the reluctance of the prosecutors to seek death in the cases which involves black victims and more eagerness in seeking death in cases which involve black defendants and the white victims. As the black offenders are often found to murder black victims, reluctance in seeking death in the black victim cases and this offsets the propensity to seek death sentences for the blacks committing white victims (Blume et al, 166-167). 2.4 Numbers do not always tell the truth As per the statistical records in December 2005, there were 37 prisoners who were sentenced to death under the federal government jurisdiction. Among these prisoners around 43.2 percent were white, 54.1 percent were of African American origin (Muhlhausen). The figures revealing majority of the prisoners on the death row are comprised of a minority in the aggregate population of United States may generate the notion that the government has been discriminating against the black people. But there is very little evidence to back this up Does a person's race affect the likelihood of him/her receiving the death penalty?). 3. Case laws and fourteenth amendment The fourteenth amendment states that, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” (Is the death penalty unconstitutional?). In a case of Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, No. 74-6257, the petitioner Gregg was convicted with the case of armed robbery and murder. Evidences stated that George killed and robbed two men. At the time of trial stage, the jury “found the petitioner guilty of two counts of robbery and two counts of murder” (Gregg v. Georgia (No. 74-6257)). But Gregg challenged the decision of the court and stated that capital punishment was cruel and unusual punishment which has violated the eighth and the fourteenth amendments. The decision was in favor of the court with a 7 to2 win. In criminal cases when a defendant has been found guilty of intentionally murdering another person then careful and sensible application of the death penalty may is required. In this case the issue was handled with proper judgment with a bifurcated proceeding where trial and sentencing was conducted in a separate manner. The court was also not prepared in overruling the Georgia by stating that capital punishment in this case acts as a useful move for restricting future capital crimes. It also acts as appropriate means of social retribution against the most serious offenders and in this case the fourteenth amendment was not violated (GREGG v. GEORGIA). 4. Death penalty is currently constitutional-limitation in empirical data As of December 2012, statistics on the death penalty reveal that the blacks were 35%, Latinos were 7%, white people were 56% and others constituted 2% of the death convicts (National Statistics on the Death Penalty and Race, 2012). This data shows that the whites are increasing in numbers than the blacks which shows a reverse mechanism. From the case of Gregg v. George evidence directs that racial discrimination did not lead to the death sentence. The justification was made in an unbiased fashion. Evaluated on an unbiased manner, capital punishment acts as a learning mechanism for the criminals and they will understand the graveness. The current statistics reveal a reverse scenario where the whites are more sentenced to death rows than the blacks. The limitations in the empirical data lie in the sense that disproportionate data of the death rows of the African Americans were due to their high crime rates. Again apart from the numbers there were no other empirical data of racial discrimination associated. 5. Conclusion Statistics reveal that death penalties for African American who are the minorities of USA are quite high. Apparently it could be concluded that this disproportionate death rows of these African American population can be regarded as an indicator of the gender discrimination but the detailed study of the paper reveal that one of the reasons for this was that these people commit more crime and compared to that the rates of death sentences are quite normal. Racial discrimination is not seen as a predominant variable in influencing the death sentences of the African Americans. The particular case of Gregg v Georgia also does not reveal violation of the fourteenth amendment. The current figures of death sentences are showing more inclined towards the whites as compared to the blacks. The statistics are true but racial discrimination cannot be associated a cause for this statistics. References Blume et al, 2004, Explaining Death Row’s Population and Racial Composition, Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 1.1, pp. 165-207 Does a person's race affect the likelihood of him/her receiving the death penalty?, n.d.. December 7, 2012 from: http://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=001187 Gregg v. Georgia (No. 74-6257), n.d. December 7, 2012 from: http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0428_0153_ZS.html GREGG v. GEORGIA, 1975. December 7, 2012 from: http://www.oyez.org/cases/1970-1979/1975/1975_74_6257/ Is the death penalty unconstitutional?, n.d. December 7, 2012 from: http://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=1715#3a La Griffe du Lion, 2000, December 7, 2012 from: http://lagriffedulion.f2s.com/DP.htm Muhlhausen, David B, The Death Penalty Deters Crime and Saves Lives. 2007, December 7, 2012 from: http://www.heritage.org/research/testimony/the-death-penalty-deters-crime-and-saves-lives National Statistics on the Death Penalty and Race, 2012, December 7, 2012 from: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/race-death-row-inmates-executed-1976#defend Race and the Death Penalty, 2003. December 7, 2012 from: http://www.aclu.org/capital-punishment/race-and-death-penalty The death penalty is applied unfairly and should not be used: Disagree, 2012. December 7, 2012 from: http://deathpenaltycurriculum.org/node/20 Read More