How the Death Penalty Effects Family - Essay Example

What are the effects of the death penalty on the families of the criminal put to death? It would be superfluous to mention that throughout history criminals have existed and along with their mischievous actions family members have suffered the consequences of their misbehaviors. There are also those inmates that have suffered the consequences of other criminal´s actions and have been placed in prisons and put on death row. Some of these inmates have been found innocent, have been exonerated, have been released after years of being sentenced or have been put to death by not having proved their innocence. The extreme consequence of this misbehavior is to have the criminal sent to death row and put to death. It is at this point that family members become devastated, hopeless, and left with the feeling of not being in a position of control to eradicate the sentence. Generally speaking when there is a death involved, the people that stay behind are the ones that suffer and morn. They are the ones that maintain the sense of, if I could have done more and what if? They are the ones that need professional help during the justice process, in this case, during the time of sentencing, and after the criminal’s departure. It is an even more a complex situation when inmates are innocent and placed on death row. In some cases they have been placed on death row and because their lawyers could not find the way to defend them or because of a lack of economy, they were put to death. It is even more detrimental when the family members of the convicted have to turn him/her in, to the authorities and when the family members are misled by the authorities in giving information on how the trial will be handled. This is the case of the Unabomber family members. They were told that Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, would be treated from a humanistic point of view since he suffered schizophrenia, a mental illness. It was handled in this way only until his arrest. When he was arrested all officials looking into the case and wanted a person identified of these actions arrested, changed their modus operandi. They were no longer the humanistic types of persons who proceeded with the case. The focus of the Justice Department was refocused, “…on the goal of taking a human life” (Kaczynski, 2007). Ted´s family questioned the prosecutors´ in change of continuing the case, given another set of rules. They were overwhelmed about this turn around. Kaczynski (2007) thought of the ramifications of this change of thought from the Prosecutors´ office and how this would discourage other families in following Ted’s family example in the future, since it could probably lead to no support from family members. The Catholic Church is against the death penalty and lobbies against it. They present in their article a man who was wrongfully convicted in 1984 and sentenced to death for a rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl in Baltimore, Maryland. He did not commit that crime. He spent eight years, eleven months, and nineteen days behind bars before the DNA proved his innocence. He states, “Every bit of my story exemplifies the problems in the death penalty system. The same systemic flaws that led to my wrongful conviction, such as mistaken identification, inadequate representation, prosecutorial misconduct, and basic human error, plague the cases of innocent people in prison and on death row” (USCCB, 2005). P.5 USCCB states that they have listened to the death row’s family members stating their fear, grief, and shame during this process. They contend that they can only listen while at the same time become activists against the death row. They are not only against the death row because of the injustices caused but because they are opposed of depriving people of their lives given their religious beliefs and creed. Sharp (2005) concurs with USCCB. She examined the impact of capital punishment of the family members of those that are facing execution. She points out, from a sociological point of view that family members and friends are indirect victims of the crimes. She presents the issues of wrongful conviction and how it changes the family structure after the inmate has been sent to death row. According to King (2005) the families of the condemned are the unseen victims since they suffer alone. More attention is given to the families of the victims. USCCB (2005) presents the death penalty in the United States. These are as follows: There were 962 men and 10 women, who were executed between 1976 through June, 2005. They also present the state executions and mention that, “Over 65% of this total were executed in five states: Texas (345), Virginia (94), Oklahoma (77), Missouri (64), and Florida (60)”. They posit that 42% of death row inmates are Black which is a higher number than the overall U.S. population which is 12.9%. At the time when this article was written there were approximately 3,400 men and 54 women awaiting execution. There have been more than 120 that were on death and exonerated (information from the Death Penalty Information Center, 2005 (USCCB, 2005)). King (2005) relates the family members´ experiences. In this case she is relating the experiences by Carolyn, Ray Crone’s sister who visited him at the jail where he was detained in Arizona. Ray Crone was accused of rape and murder. Carolyn recalls how she and her boyfriend Dale were mistreated by the authorities: being rude when they spoke to them; giving numbers to be called upon to visit her brother and that at times their number was not called upon; and, being authorized to be able to spend 2 hours with him because she and her boyfriend Dale were from out of state and cutting their time rudely by an hour without any explanation. She says that the facilities were dirty and that there was no segregation of people according to the committed crimes. She gives as an example, a boy being in prison because he smoked marijuana and someone else in the same facility being there for killing another person. She stated that she was traumatized as any one would be. She had never been in a prison. In Hathorn´s (2006) essays, he also gives descriptions of the agonies felt by families and friends of death row inmates. The agonies they go through, the absence of medication that he observed, the inadequate living for the inmates, and the rudeness and cruelty behavior from the guards. Jeff is another case of an innocent man on death row who died in prison from inadequate medical treatment Dicks (2000). Dicks points out the burden the family went through and the experiences of frustrations in wanting to set Jeff free, only to see him die in this manner. As Sharp (2005) mentions, that there is more information steadily coming out on the families of the convicted prisoners on death row. It has been difficult for this researcher to obtain information on the effects of the families of death row prisoners. There is more research on the families´ of the victims. According to Sharp (2005), the media has played a great role by presenting criminal cases on television. People like to watch television and movies that deal with this topic. She says that they are afraid of being victimized. Due to the overturn of the media presenting the other side of the story related to death row prisoners and their innocence, the public is beginning to question themselves and change their minds concerning this sensitive issue. It was found in this research that some inmates have been placed in prisons where at a latter date their innocence has been proven. There are other inmates that have not been so lucky and they have been placed to death to later discover that they were innocent. Other inmates have been exonerated and others have been released. It is, nevertheless, a harsh and agonizing experience for the prisoners and their families. The structure of the families have collapsed, they have gone through psychological help, they have suffered shame, they have suffered pain, they have suffered grief, they have been lied from the officials of the law, they have been mistreated, and they have missed their loved ones for ever in many cases. There are activists and advocates that want to abolish the death row for prisoners. It has been demonstrated herein that the researchers and in some cases the victim’s families are opposed to the death penalty since most think that by taking a life away will not return their dear ones. Many countries that have done away the death penalty or never adhered to it think it is barbaric that after centuries of sentencing to death, still in the 21st Century there are countries that still maintain it. This researcher is against the death penalty and believes that since he was not able to attain enough sources that considered the effects of the families of the prisoners put on death row, there should be more research done. Due to the fact, that these families are silent (after all the population in general thinks that once the prisoners are in prison they are guilty) they do not expose themselves or their feelings, leaving them in a state of awe. This would be a mechanism that could be used to reach out to these family members. ABOLISH DEATH ROW! REFERENCES Dicks, S. (2000). Death row: Interviews with inmates, their families and opponents of capital punishment. iUniverse Retrieved 4/6/07 4:25 pm http://www.amazon.com/Death-Row-Interviews-Opponents-Punishment/dp/0595149103 Hathorn, G. W. (2006). Reflective glass. Retrieved 4/6/07 4:15 p.m. http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/crimprof_blog/book_club/index.html Kaczyncski, David (2007). David´s story: The death penalty up close and personal. NewYorkers Against the Death Penalty. Retrieved 3/31/07 7:45 pm http://www.nyadp.org/main/david.html King R. (2005). Capital consequences: Families of the condemned tell their stories. Rutgers University Press: New Jersey. Sharp, S. F. (2005). Hidden victims: The effects of the death penalty on families of the accused. Rutgers University Press: New Jersey. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) (November, 2005). A culture of life and the penalty of death. Retrieved 4/5/07 8:33 pm http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/national/penaltyofdeath.pdf Read More