Racial bias in sentencing, especially in capital cases has long been a big problem in our criminal justice system. For example, a report sponsored by the American Bar Association in 2007 concluded that one-third of African-American death row inmates in Philadelphia would have received sentences of life imprisonment if they had not been African-American (“Death Penalty and Race.”) As this bias can strengthen the punishment, it can send an innocent person straight to death row, too. Because recognizing this fact means recognizing a big problem in the practice of the death penalty which will put doubt on their belief in death penalty, some supporters of the death penalty choose to ignore this bias and call a case in which an innocent person is executed a “miscarriage of justice.” My teammate, Jessica, argues that DNA will keep innocent people from being killed no matter what color their skins are and maintain the excellence of the criminal justice system. However, I strongly disagree with that argument because of three reasons. First of all, DNA evidences do not always exist so that the tests can be conducted. Secondly, although the average number of people who have been exonerated and freed from death row is not many, average five people per year from 2000-2007 ("Facts about the Death Penalty.”), and some of them may be white, it is not just five people but five families and those families do not do anything do deserve going through that ordeal as well as the ordeal can traumatize the children of those innocent people for life. Secondly, if a system is as excellent as it is proclaimed, it should try harder to eliminate any cause of that bias.
In my opinion, there are several reasons that cause the racial bias: narrow minded prosecutors, over-worked legal counsels and undereducated suspects. Base on those reasons, I have some suggestions for a reform. First of all, in order to overcome narrow minded prosecutors, I suggest that states that have the death penalty and the federal court should tailor legislations such as North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act so that death row prisoners can challenge their death sentences if racial bias is evident (“North Carolina Racial Justice Act Becomes Law.”) Secondly, there should be more funding for the state to fix the problem of overworked public defenders because according to Maureen Dimino of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, “Many public defenders are feeling the squeeze at this point, and they consider challenging their growing caseloads in court” (Donna Leinwand). Finally, the most important thing is that there should be more educational program for people who are held as suspect or even the accused so that those people know their rights and can vocal if their rights are violated. At this point, some supporters of the death penalty will probably disagree with my suggestions, and their reasons would be that I have overlooked the need of victim’s family for comfort in finding closure of their lost because those suggestions would create more hurdles for the prosecutors to condemn a person for a crime. However, I think that everybody should deserve a fair trial and if a wrong person is condemned for a crime because of racial bias, there is no doubt that the victim’s family would not find any comfort, either.
In conclusion, the debate about the death penalty is a hot debate with many solid arguments from both sides. For me, although I have mixed feelings about the death penalty, I strongly believe that there sure is a racial bias in its practice, and this bias has corrupted the effectiveness of that punishment. Therefore, I call for a reform in the criminal justice system and have some suggestions for that reform: tailor new legislation, increase funding for public defenders, and provide more social programs to educate the suspects as well as the accused about their rights.
Worked Cited
“Death Penalty and Race.” www.amnestyusa.org. Amnesty International USA. Web. 4 Sep. 2009.
"Facts about the Death Penalty.” www.deathpenaltyinfo.org. Death Penalty Information Center. 1 Sep. 2009. Web. 3 Sep. 2009.
Leinwand, Donna. “Public Defenders Reject New Cases.” usatoday.com. USA Today. 11 Sep. 2008. Web. 7 Sep. 2009.
“North Carolina Racial Justice Act Becomes Law.” www.amnestyusa.org. Amnesty International USA. Web. 4 Sep. 2009.
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I have to agree with you that it seems that more minorities are exectued then whites for heinus crimes. I know the arguement for awhile was that African American committed most of the violent crime. Today when looking at the U.S.Department of Justice web site. I came across these stats.
ReplyDelete1976-2006 Murder statistics.
Victims: White 50.9%
Black 46.9%
other 2.1%
Offenders White: 45.8%
Black: 52.2%
Other: 2.0%
When looking at these numbers there is not a whole lot of differance in numbers,When looking at black vs white.
If it could be proven that, in fact the execution rates of blacks is much higher then there white counterparts. I would have to agree that the use of execution is bias.
The U.s. Department of Justice
ReplyDeleteHttp://ojp.usdj.gov/bjt/homicide/race.hlm
Cam, I think that you have a very well written post. I would like to point out the fact that you should have more than just race for an arguement on why you are against the death penalty. If I were to prove you wrong on your statistics what ground could you stand on then?
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to using race when looking at the death penalty you also need to look at demographics. Several websites and books will all concur that the number of Caucasians on death row compared to any other race is higher. The number of African Americans that have committed an interracial murder and been executed is higher than Caucasians that have committed murder against African Americans, however, overall, Caucasins still make up the highest number of people who have been executed for crimes that have been committed (Facts about the death penalty). As of 2009 the number of African Americans to number of Caucasians on death row is about even, the numbers rest at 42% African American to 45% Caucasian (Facts about the death penalty). Myth: Most inmates executed are black.
Truth: 56% of inmates executed were Caucasian totaling 648. 35% were African American totaling 401. The numbers for interracial murders 15 Caucasian on African American and 235 African American on Caucasian (Facts about the death penalty) which does seem high, but this is where I would suggest looking at the demographics.
The demographics for death row vs US population race is as follows: Number of African Americans on death row is 42.9%, the percentage of people in the US that are African American is 12.8%, number of Caucasians on on death row is 55%, the number of people in the US that are Caucasians is 82.2%, number if Hispanics is 11.2%, number of the US 11.8%, Native Americans 0.8% on death row, US amount of Native Americans 0.9%, Asians on death row 0.9%, and total US for Asians is 4.1% (This was taken from a website that was a page out of a book called The Prison Index by Peter Wagner). Now looking at these demographics really with such small numbers in the US, some minority groups if even one person on death row is from that minority group it is going to look like the death penalty is racist.
Seeing the facts, I would not tell you that you need to change your stance but the facts seem to not add up. You see the numbers the idea that the death penalty is racist starting a long time ago in the south when the KKK was running rampant. This is due to the fact that the KKK would elect the politicians and the politicians would act out the death penalty. At that time it is possible that the death penalty may have been more racist but if you look overall it really isn't.
I hope that this information helps you to have a different outlook on racisim and the death penalty. I do feel that everyone has a right to their own opinion and I am not asking to change yours, I am just trying to help give correct facts.
Works Cited:
Wagner, Peter. The Prison Index. North Hampton. 2006. Print.
Deathpenaltyinfo.org. Death penalty Info. Center, 17April2009. Web. 4Sept2009.
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