Capital Punishment

Capital Punishment

Introduction

Capital punishment or also known as death penalty is a process that makes an individual undergo a legal frame, putting one to death for a specific crime. This is done by the state and it has defined the crimes that can lead to death penalty. Such crimes are known as capital offenses and capital crime (Mandery, 2011). Capital punishment has been a debate for long time, some supporting while others being against it. The issue is if the execution is considered to be justifiable for crimes which are intense in nature such as murder.

However, it has also been observed that race and class has a role to play in capital punishment. The purpose of the study is to analyze and evaluate the capital punishment and the role race and class plays in it.

Discussion

Since 1930s, death penalty and racial discrimination has been an interesting matter for scholarly research. The legal system of the nation has been aware of the issue which trace back to the 1960s, civil right movement. Many courts have condemned the idea or racial discrimination influence on administrating the capital punishment (Baldus et.al, 1998). The legal system supports the idea of having no place of such discrimination, whether it is racial or class discrimination in the circumference of the rule of law.

Racial Discrimination in Capital Punishment

There are many studies that depicts the racial biasness in administering the capital punishment. The report 'Racial Discrimination and the Death Penalty' by David Baldus in 1998, claimed that black defendants are being sentenced to death for killing the white in a greater proportion than the opposite. Even Jennifer Eberhardt supports this study and presents a worse picture (Baldus, 1998). The study claims that juries and judges have a perception of the defendants who have that physical traits that are mostly associated with blackness (stereotypically) such as dark skin, broad nose and big lips are more prone to be death worthy. Eberhardt's study shows that commonly defendants that come under the category of black looking are twice in the ratio to be sentenced to death. Although the sociologist understand that race does matter in the capital punishment, however, the Supreme Court had refused to regard this matter since the decision of McClesky v Kemp in 1987 (Kennedy, 1988).

The opponents of death penalty justify the claim to abolish the capital punishment as the racial biasness exists. Some do not agree with the statistics supporting this claim and find it to be untrue. Not all studies in capital offenses supported racial disparity. Judson, Pandell, Owens, McIntosh, & Matschullat (1969), for example collected data on the cases using questionnaires that were sent out to key players in court processing and the California Department of Correction found that neither the defendant's race, nor victim's race had any effect on sentencing (Pojman & Reiman, 1998). For every thousand African Americans that were arrested for the non- negligent manslaughter or murder, on average the result were 11.6 blacks being sentences in comparison to 15.8 ...