Is there inequality in the death penalty - Assignment Example

Lecturer: Is there Inequality in the Death Penalty? Structural Functionalism Approach dictates that deviance serves two primary roles in eluding social stability that are; punishing deviant behaviors and setting parameters that create boundaries between populations. Conflict perspective views social class as the main cause of deviance whereby the poor are mistreated. Moreover, Symbolic Interactionism Perspective considers deviance to be triggered by the view of some behaviors by some people as being unacceptable and punishable (Goldthorpe, 792).

The criminal justice systems renders punishments against cases of deviance whereby the magnitude of the punishment is determined by the extent of harm it has caused to the society.The Fact Sheet shows that there is higher death row inmates among the minority races than Whites compared to their racial composition. Blacks have a death row of 43%, Latinos 13% and Whites 42%. Bearing in mind that the racial composition in the society is 77% Whites, 13% Blacks and 17% Latinos, it shows that the death rows are racially disappropriate.

Since the year 1976, there have been witnessed 1144 executions in Southern region, 174 executions in Mid-West, 85 in West, 4 in Northeast and 636 in TX & OK. The region with the highest number of executions (Southern) is the one that is historically termed as the most racist region. TX & OK have high populations of minorities hence facing a higher number of executions that Mid-West, Northeast and West. The online fact sheet of Death Penalty Information does not show the exact States in which the executions took place.

This information is critical in showing how interracial murders involving a Black defendant and White victim attracted executions in different States depending on the population of Blacks who reside in them. It is surprising that Death Penalty gains more support at 33% than Life Sentence without Parole that is supported by 13%. This factor means that the society does not recognize the fact the Death Penalty costs the society more, resolves less problems and it poses high risk to the life of innocents.

Structural Functionalism Perspective can be used to explain disparity of African-Americans, minorities and the poor on death row because the Whites who are racially accepted within the United States and rich are less put under death rows compared to the minorities. The criminal justice system and the society at large views Whites to be exceptional to capital punishments unlike the minorities and the poor (Miller, 534).The film “Black Death in Dixie: Racism and the Death Penalty in the United States” shows that poverty among African-Americans could possibly be a more contributing factor to disparity than race.

Walter MacMillan says how he gets stopped while driving by Whites who start mistreating him and calling him “Nigga” without stating his mistakes. Bearing in mind that African-Americans are the most mistreated minorities in the film, it is arguably that their high poverty levels contribute more to the discrimination than simply their race. They are viewed as being defenseless due to their poverty. Oscar Lewis’ views on poverty explain better about why poor people are overrepresented in the prison system than William Julius Wilsons’ views.

It is because Lewis considers poverty as a sub-culture whereby poor people do not think about how they can live better lives, but to fall victims of societal injustices. It is not the fact that they lack good jobs makes them vulnerable to punishments, but the fact that they consider themselves as being potential prisoners hence doing nothing to avoid the prison systems. This factor makes them to become imprisoned for various offenses, and their naivety makes them unable to fight for their rights (Lewis, 125).

Work CitedGoldthorpe, John. "Rent, Class Conflict, and Class Structure: A Commentary on Sorensen." American Journal of Sociology (2000): 105 (6): 758-975.Lewis, Oscar. Anthropological Essays. New York: Random House, 1970.Miller, Simon. "The Culture of Poverty Research." Contemporary Sociology (2009): 11 (5): 426-483.