In fact, only 454 counties out of 3,146 have carried out any executions. Just 14 counties have executed more than 10 individuals, but together these counties constitute 30% of the national total (Baumgartner & Richardson, 2010)
Research reveals that those who kill white victims are much more likely to receive the death penalty than those who kill black victims. One study found that for similar crimes committed by similar defendants, blacks received the death penalty at a 38% higher rate than all others (Dieter, 1998)
Rawls claims that this phenomenon requires that a set of social principles be established to ensure justice so that the advantaged do not unfairly gain by their position. He goes on to say that these principles must be chosen "behind a veil of ignorance" so that "no one is advantaged or disadvantaged in the choice of principles by the outcome of natural chance or the contingency of social circumstances" (Rawls, 1971)
Police chiefs rank the death penalty last as a way of reducing violent crime, placing it behind curbing drug abuse, more police officers on the streets, lowering the technical barriers to prosecution, longer sentences, and a better economy with more jobs. Continuum of Moral Justification for Taking a Human Life There are many circumstances to be considered when examining the moral and ethical issues surrounding the taking of human life (Thiroux & Krasemann, 2008)
Since then the death penalty has almost always been a part of the criminal justice system ("History of the Death Penalty & Recent Developments," 2000). Proponents of capital punishment argue five purposes for its use, to remove from society someone who would cause more harm, someone who is incapable of rehabilitation, to deter others from committing murder, to punish the criminal, and to take retribution on behalf of the victim (White, 2011)
Other parties however condemn the act basing their argument on the fact that these criminals are human being and thus entitled to life. Because this subject is of great concern, it has seen a significant change in reforms over the world in the past, some enacting and others abolishing capital punishment laws (Kronenwetter, 2001)
However, chances are there that some people obtain death sentences that are not comparable to their crimes. In addition, the relatives of those on the death row have extreme psychological suffering in relation to convictions (Mandery, 2005, p
Instead, there is widespread agreement among both criminologists and law enforcement officials that capital punishment has little curbing effect on homicide rates. This fact is amply evident in a recent survey of 70 current and former presidents of three professional associations of criminologists (the American Society of Criminology, the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, and the Law and Society Association), where 85% of the experts agreed that the empirical research on deterrence has shown that the death penalty never has been, is not, and never could be superior to long prison sentences as a deterrent to criminal violence (Borg & Radelet, 2000)
This places the burden of proof on those who believe that capital punishment exercises a deterrent effect on the potential criminal." (Fattah, 1981, p
While a few countries do retain capital statues for dealing with extraordinary crimes such as treason, only Japan, parts of the former Soviet Union, and the United States still carry out death sentences for "ordinary" crimes of violence. Interestingly, even among those countries that still impose the death penalty, it appears that the United States stands in stark contrast to the international trend with capital punishment flourishing, accompanied by a corresponding wave of public support (Haines, 1996, p
Capital Punishment Is Barbaric The imposition of the death penalty for political and civil crimes is not a new concept in the history of human civilization. On the contrary, the death penalty has, from time immemorial, been universally accepted as the ultimate weapon in the defense of the state and its citizens (Joyce, 1961, p
for, as Sarat points out, a state that takes life and how it takes life insinuates itself into the public imagination, even if the moment when that power is exercised is hidden from public view. Therefore, in effect, a practice such as capital punishment helps us understand who we are and what we as a society are capable of doing (Sarat, 1999, p
In recent challenges to the death penalty, the two sides were bared in Raleigh over the execution of Joseph Keel in 2003. (Charbonneau, 1) The argument served was that outlawing the death penalty would be unfair to the victims of violent crime and their families
In such an odd -- and unprecedented -- state of affairs, the only way we could really live up to the prohibition without abandoning the practice in conflict with it is if we were able somehow to subtract souls from existence without having to work through the bodies these souls inhabit." (Smith, 2) This execution mentality is contrary to American practices of doing away with corporal punishment, punishment to the body, and therefore to cause someone to cease to exist is extremely contradictory to modern concepts of punishment
Most, in fact more than 80%, of all executions take place in Southern states. In 2002 alone, 61 of the 71 executions nationwide were in Southern states (Robinson)
That is, a potential murderer may be deterred from his crime if such a severe punishment awaits. In this view, the existence of the death penalty serves to reduce violent crime (Bailey, 1974)
"Americans were struck with a compromise between adopting and abolishing the death penalty that embodied the worst of both options. Yet the issue was so important that neither side would budge," (Banner, 2002, p
All Americans -- supporters and opponents of the death penalty alike -- should recognize that DNA testing provides a powerful safeguard in capital cases. We should be thankful for this amazing technological development," (Hatch, 2000)
Some Issues Surrounding Capital Punishment "Until approximately the eighteenth century, death was not the harshest punishment available for law enforcement in civilized countries. Torture was," (Van Den Haag, 1983, p
"There was a time, when the punishment of captives with death or servitude, and the indiscriminate destruction of peaceable husbandmen, women and children, were thought to be essential to the success of war, and the safety of states. But experience has taught us, this is not the case," (Vila & Morris, 1997, p