Capital Punishment is the lawful taking of a person's life after a
conviction of crime. It has caused much controversy and has raised
difficult legal and ethical issues. Debates about it continue to wage in
both courts and political arenas. There is evidence that the death
sentence is put to disproportionately use to be carried out on the poor,
Negro, members of unpopular groups of society. The Death penalty
should be made against the law because it is a punishment that is
racist, sexist, and discriminatory against the poor.
Racism is the number one argument in the case against the
death penalty. In 1972, the Supreme Court halted executions in the
United States (Wolf 3). They did this mainly because they felt that our
justice system is fallible and our knowledge and judgment can be
influenced and distorted and our moral certainty in neither pure nor
absolute. It states, in the 14th amendment, section five, that it is
unlawful to carry out a sentence of death imposed on the basis of race
of the defendant or victim and allows a person to challenge their
sentences by using evidence that shows a pattern of racially
discriminatory sentencing (McCuen 39).
This makes it so that no judge
or jury can rule out capital punishment based on the race or sex of the
defendant or its victim. A professor of law, David C. Baldus,
conducted a study of his own. The Baldus study, as we know it,
indicated that there is a discrepancy that appears to correlate with race
(McCuen 24). Apparent disparities in sentencing are an inevitable part
of our criminal justice system. A similar study showed that 90 percent
of those executed, in 1973 to 1977, for rape were of African American
descent (Baumgart 74). No white man...
A Little Dry
This essay was well written and well supported by experts but seemed a little heavy on facts and a little light on emotion. I'd delete the "prospect for future rehabilitation." as life without the possibility of parole makes rehabilitation moot.
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