Death Penalty in California - Essay Example

Order 120649 Death Penalty in California The Death Penalty in United s was first introduced, in consonance with the federal law on June 25, 1790, with the hanging of Thomas Bird for murder in Maine. Since its inception, as per the studies on Capital Punishment, 340 persons including 4 women have been sentenced to death penalty and executed under the Federal Law. Out of these 134 were white, 118 were black, 63 Native American, 25 were Hispanic or others. The Federal Government has resorted to the process of hanging, electrocution and gas chamber for executing such 340 prisoners. The execution of most of the prisoners was for the crimes out of murder or murder relating activities. The executions also included convictions for piracy, rape, rioting, kidnapping, spying and espionage. The death penalties were also executed by the State Government laws. However, in 1972, the United States Supreme Court upheld that all the state death penalty laws were not in accordance with the constitution since they permitted for random and unpredictable adoptions. (The Federal Death Penalty) Since the federal statute has similar weaknesses as that of the state laws, no death sentence adopting the older federal statutes has been upheld. During the year 1988, the new Federal Death Penalty law was passed for murder in the course of a drug-kingpin conspiracy. This statute has been formulated in consonance with the statutes approved by the Supreme Court after its 1972 ruling. During the year 1994 the federal death penalty was expanded to include about 60 different crimes. The federal death penalty statute has the jurisdiction over any individual in any state or territory of the US convicted of the murder of certain government officials, kidnapping giving rise to death, murder for hire, fatal drive by shootings, sexual abuse crimes giving rise to death, car jacking resulting in death and also some crimes not ending with death such as managing a rampant drug business. (The Federal Death Penalty) In California 13 persons have been executed with death penalty ever since the year 1976. Presently, about 648 prisoners in California has been enlisted to be on Death Row, out of this 233 are black, 251 are white, 130 are Latino and 14 are Native American and 20 are Asian. It is also noted that the above 648 prisoners on Death Row include 15 women. It has been observed that in the recent years at least three innocent persons on Death Row were exonerated in California. Jerry Bigelow was set free in the year 1988 after the imprisonment for eight years; Patrick Croy was set free in the year 1990 after the imprisonment for 11 years and Troy Lee Jones was set free in the year 1996 after serving 14 years. (State by State: California) The statistics on death row inmates in different states reveal that Texas, North Carolina and Florida all are having large numbers but in California the number of death row inmates is highest. In California it has been found that imposition of death penalty has been negatively correlated to the richness. The more money the convicted have the more is the opportunity to beat the rap. Taking into the consideration the eleven sentences since the year 1970, it can be presumed that the 640 prisoners on death row most likely have deaths of natural causes costing the tax payers in terms of appeals etc to the tune of 100 millions. Moreover, trusting the government to kill people seems ambiguous since it involves trusting them with not making errors in killing the innocent people. (California: Highest Number of Death Row Inmates) The death penalty in California like that of other states is considered to be costlier in comparison to a life imprisonment sentence without the scope of parole. Such costs have been seen not to be the consequences of the frolicsome appeals but instead the consequence of the Constitutional safeguards. It has been provided that Juries must be accorded clear principles on sentencing that give rise to the explicit provisions for what forms the frustrating and extenuating situations. The defendants have been subjected to the dual trial- one to establish guilt or innocence and if guilty a second trial to indicate whether or not they would be sentenced with death penalty. The defendants sentenced to death are also granted oversight safeguard in an appeal to the state supreme court. Such constitutional protections with regard to death sentences involve more extensive jury selection procedure; a cumulative increase in the filing of the number of motions to the extent of about four times; involves more number of investigators and expert testimony; associated more number of lawyers associated with the litigations of death penalty. (The cost of the death penalty in California) The study conducted by the David Erickson on Los Angeles County brings out the comparative cost differences in case of the capital trial with that of the murder trial where death penalty has not been imposed. The study taking into account the costs with regard to the Defense Attorney, Defense Investigation, Prosecution Attorney, Prosecution Investigation, Court, LA Jail estimates the Total Cost to Los Angeles Country to be $1,898,323 in case of the Capital trial and only $627, 322 in case of the regular trial. The cost of incarceration for a death row defendant has been calculated to be $189,603 while that of an inmate sentenced to the life imprisonment is $821,613. In this manner the total cost of the capital punishment in the Los Angels County, as per the study is $2,087,926 whereas it is $1,448,935 in case of the life imprisonment with out possibility of parole. A study conducted by Sacramento Bee stressed upon the fact that California would save $90 million dollar per annum by abolishing the death penalty. The average cost of a capital trial in Texas has been calculated to be $2.3 million that is three times the cost to incarcerate an individual for 40 years. In Florida the average cost of a capital trial is $3.2 million. (The cost of the death penalty in California) The justification behind imposition of the death penalty in California has raised several significant issues. Firstly, the risks of executing the innocent people cannot be set aside. It has been seen that ever since 1973 about 628 executions have been carried out nationwide and about 87 wrongly convicted men and women on death row have been acquitted. This confirms an error rate of executing one innocent person for every seven persons executed. (The Ultimate Price is the death penalty in California's best interest) A study conducted by the Columbian Law School on the capital convictions during the period 1973 to 1995 reveal that grave mistakes have been involved in about two-thirds of all capital cases. Secondly, the involvement of racial disparities in the application of the death penalty also cannot be denied. The evidences reveal, irrespective of fact that the African Americans are only 13 percent of the total population still it shares about 35 percent of all those executed, about 43 percent of those on death row nationwide and 67 percent of those on death row in federal prison system. Thirdly, the efficacy of death penalty in deterring the homicides is really doubtful. Out of the 22000 homicides every year it is seen that only 300 perpetrators are sentenced to death constituting only 1.3 percent. Moreover, the death penalty has been observed to be a random, lethal lottery in that the politics, quality of legal counsel and the region where the crime is perpetrated are the determining elements. (The Ultimate Price is the death penalty in California's best interest) It has been found by a recent survey conducted by the New York Times that the states having no death penalty have lower homicide rates than that of the states with death penalty. It has been indicated that about 10 to 12 states having no death penalty have lower homicide rates than the national average while it is observed that about fifty percent of states adopting the capital punishment have the homicide rates much above it. Thirdly it has been observed that the execution costs more to the state in comparison to the incarceration for life. It has been revealed by a study in California conducted during the year 1993 that each of the death penalty case involves a cost of $1.25 million more in comparison to that associated with a regular case involving a sentence for life and without opportunities for a parole. In addition to such practical realities, from a moral visualization it is open to perceive that several countries in Western Europe, North and South America and above 95 countries around the globe have done with the capital punishment while United States still continues accompanying Iraq, Iran and China, practicing the dubious application of death penalty. (The Ultimate Price is the death penalty in California's best interest) Studies have also revealed that Race and Place has a significant role to play in practice of death sentence in California. The study on impact of Legally Inappropriate Factors on Death Sentencing for California Homicides conducted during 1990 to 1999 reveal that the race and ethnicity of the victim and the location of the crime have profound influence upon the determination of the person to be sentenced to death penalty. It has been revealed that about 80 percent of the executions in California accounts for convictions of killing the whites while only 27.6 percent of murder victims are white. The murderers of white are four times more prone to be sentenced to death than those who murder Latinos and over three times more likely to be sentenced to death than those who kill African-Americans. (New Study Finds that Race and Place Play a Key Role in Death Sentencing in California) A murderer in a white dominated rural county like Napa, King Colusa or Shasta counties is more than three times prone to be sentenced to death than a similarly convicted person who perpetrates crimes in a diverse, urban county like Los Angeles having highest number of homicides in the state. Natasha Minsker, the Policy Director of Death Penalty in ACLU-NC revealed that the death penalty system in California is biased. Erin Challahan, Director of Western Regional Office of Amnesty International USA stated that the death penalty system in California is not just and since the system is not just, it cannot be labeled as accurate. In August 2004, the Justice Commission consisting of fourteen members is formulated to review the reasons and incidence of erroneous convictions and wrongful executions in California as well as examining the protection essential to bring a qualitative improvement to the criminal justice system in California. The Program Director of Death Penalty Focus, Stefanie Faucher stressed upon that it has become significant than ever that executions are temporarily halted in the state till the report of Justice Commission is brought out for addressing the grave concern. (New Study Finds that Race and Place Play a Key Role in Death Sentencing in California) Besides, these elements of risk with regard to human errors in executing innocence several factors also are associated with the Death Penalty that weakens its stand as a mode of prosecution. The Death Penalty can bluntly be denied to be unjust taking into consideration the basic fact that no one is above the redemptive, transformative power of God. Normally, two schools of thoughts advance their arguments against the Death Penalty, one advocating their stand labeling the penalty as one of arbitrary, capricious, racist and classicist and another group advocating their stand on practical point of view labeling such penalties as ineffective and unworkable to deter crime. The death penalty is arbitrary and capricious and involves the risk of executing the innocent. The Stanford Law Review study revealed that about 7000 people were executed in United States since the year 1900 out of which a minimum of 23 percent were found to be innocent. This is contrary to very idea enshrined in Judeo-Christian Jurisprudence that better to let the guilty go liberated than to punish the innocent. (Legal Arguments against the Death Penalty) It is evident that death penalty has been applied as an arbitrary and capricious punishment to an extreme point and highly biased in terms of geography, financial condition of the defendant, race and class and all the loopholes of imperfect justice system. The death penalty in reality involves the risk of a murder of an innocent one by the state. Besides, the concept of death penalty has become more heinous with the infusion of racial bias into the prosecutorial decisions of imposing the death penalty. The Capital Punishment is normally imposed in case of serial or unusually gruesome killings. In case of the middle ground murders the probability of the death penalty being imposed in cases with white victims was mostly double to that of the cases associated with the black victims according to a study performed by David Baldus, professor of Law at the University of Iowa. It has been observed that during the period since 1976 till date 88 black persons have been executed for murdering whites while only two white men have been executed for killing the blacks. Moreover, the studies have indicated that the state execution increases and worsen the trend of death and violence. (Legal Arguments against the Death Penalty) It is evident that in about eighteen states out of twenty states having highest murder rates are practicing death penalty. As many as seventeen of the cities having the highest murder rates fall within the regions practicing death penalty. The huge cost involved in imposition of death penalty in comparison to incarceration for life without any scope of parole is another argument labeled against death penalty. Taking into consideration all such legal, constitutional, practical and empirical facts the death penalty has been regarded as a sheer failure in fulfilling its prime objective. This led suspension of executions in South Africa and Russia since 1990 and the practice of the death penalty has diminished the American vision to one of the primitive blood vengeance of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. (Legal Arguments against the Death Penalty) References California: Highest Number of Death Row Inmates. Retrieved from http://deadlinethemovie.com/blog/california_highest_number_of_death_row_inmates.php Accessed 12 April, 2006 Gregory, David L. Legal Arguments against the Death Penalty. Retrieved from http://www.vincenter.org/95/gregory.html Accessed 12 April, 2006 Leno, Mark. The Ultimate Price is the death penalty in California's best interest 28 January, 2003. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved from http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgifile=/chronicle/archive/2003/01/28/ED8333.DTL Accessed 12 April, 2006 New Study Finds that Race and Place Play a Key Role in Death Sentencing in California. 21 September, 2005. Retrieved from http://www.aclunc.org/pressrel/050921-deathpenalty.htm Accessed 12 April, 2006 State by State: California. Retrieved from http://deadlinethemovie.com/state/CA/index.php Accessed 12 April, 2006 The cost of the death penalty in California. Retrieved from http://www.worldpolicy.org/globalrights/dp/dp-cost.html Accessed 12 April, 2006 The Federal Death Penalty. Retrieved from http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.phpscid=29&did=147 Accessed 12 April, 2006 Read More