Death penalty is one of the most significant parts in the history of the American justice system. There are different opinions on this issue nowadays: some are against its usage all over the world; the others are for it. This essay is aimed on understanding what category of criminals is executed the most often. Moreover, the second part of the essay will contain my personal opinion on this issue.
Since 1976 there were 1356 criminals executed, 36 of them only this year (Executions in the U.S.). Criminals are executed regardless sex, religion, race or their nationality; they are executed because they have committed a serious crime. However, when looking at statistic data, it is different to see some peculiarities of death penalty verdicts. First, it is worth to mention that Texas takes the first place in “Executions by State” ratings. In 2010 there were 17 criminals executed. In comparison, totally 43 offenders were executed all over the country in the same year.
When speaking about executions, it is significant to mention race of the executed. Nowadays, in the United States of America prisons the number of African Americans and native Americans, awaiting for the execution, is almost equal (44% of the Whites and 41% of the Blacks) (Executions in the U.S.). Moreover, there is a special category of race, determined as “other”, who are executed the rarest: nowadays, only 2% are executed. From the first sight, it seems that there is no racism in the modern justice system of the country; moreover, there are more the Whites than the Blacks. On the contrary, there is another statistics. It shows the ratio “White defendant / black victim” and “Black victim / white defendant”. Since 1976, there were only twenty cases when a White American was sentenced to the death for killing an African American. On the contrary, 262 African Americans were sentenced to the death for killing a White American. This, undoubtedly, shows that racism still exists in the modern justice system of the United States of America.
When analyzing executions in the country, it is worth to mention the gender of an executed. There is a small amount of women executed. For example, in Taxes, the state number one for executions, nowadays, there are almost three hundred offenders awaiting for being executed. However, only ten of them are women. According to statistics, the total amount of women ever executed in the United States of America is only 2.4%.
Although, it might occur that being a woman of “other” race may help avoid the death penalty, it is not true. In 2% of cases, such women are executed. In my opinion, the death penalty should be prohibited all over the country. Nowadays, such prohibition exists only in thirteen states of the United States of America. I consider it wrong. The first reason to abolish the death penalty is that thought an offender is killed, the victim’s relatives do not feel relieved. The offender’s death will not bring the victim back to life. In my opinion, the death penalty resembles more a principle “an eye for an eye”, which is not right. One should not revenge. Besides, the procedure is rather costly. Moreover, tax payers will need to pay for the criminal’s last meal as well as for his or hers staying in a prison. There are different reasons for abolishing the death penalty. I have mentioned only two of them. Hopefully, some day executions will be prohibited.
Resources:
American female executions 1900-2013. 2013. Web. 11 Dec 2013
Executions in the United States. N.d. Web. 11 Dec 2013
