A Few Random Thoughts

While conducting research and talking to my mom over Thanksgiving break three interesting points came to mind.

#1) Why does it seem that there is a cultural reluctance to execute women?
#2) Is it possible to die without feeling any pain?
#3) Is mental retardation an excuse for not being sentenced to death or at least being held accountable for the crime?

In my next few posts I will examining the reasonableness of both sides of the controversy, examining naming v. labeling the sides without any bias, defining the arguments and their rationale without any bias, demonstrating contradictions on both sides and seeing how the sides are arguing for the same thing but coming to different conclusions. Before doing any of that I will be examining the different sides, the factions within the sides and the camps within the factions.

Things to Think About and Research

1. Why is there still one man sitting on New York's death row when that state's death penalty statute was declared unconstitutional in 2004?
2. Why constitutes being black, Hispanic, white and other?
3. Why is there an enormous difference in the execution rates between there is a white defendant and a black victim and when there is a black defendant and a white victim?
4. How can someone be sentenced to death in more than one state?
5. What is the case of Roper v. Simmons?
6. What is the case of Atkins v. Virginia?
7. What is the 2004 FBI Uniform Crime Report?
8. Who was involved and when and where did the two executions by firing squad since 1976 take place?
9. Why had the overall support for the death penalty dropped from 80% in 1994 to 65% in 2006 according to the May 2006 Gallup poll?
10. Why did more people choose life without parole as opposed to the death penalty when given a choice between the two options?
    

Statistics

All of these statistics were taken from the Death Penalty Information Center as of June 19, 2007.

Total Number of Executions

• 1080
• Peak in 1998 with 98 executions
• Low points in 1976, 1978 and 1980 with 0 executions
• 2007 (as of June 19, 2007) = 23 executions

States

• With = 38 (most = TX with 394 executions since 1976)
• Without = 12

Number of Executions per region since 1976

• South = 882
  
• West = 67
  
• Midwest = 125
  
• Northeast = 4
  
• National = 491
  

Race of Defendants Executed

• Black = 365 (34%)
  
• Hispanic = 73 (7%)
• White = 618 (57%)
  
• Other = 24 (2%)
  

Race of Victim in Death Penalty Cases

• Black = 14%
  
• Hispanic = 5%
  
• White = 79%
  
• Other = 2%
  

Juveniles

• Roper v. Simmons (2005) = no death penalty for juveniles (under the age of 18)
• Prior to 2005, 22 juvenile defendants had been executed since 1976
  

Mental Retardation

• Atkins v. Virginia (2002) = unconstitutional to execute defendants with mental retardation
  

Women

• 50 women on death row as of June 7, 2007 (1.7% of total death row population)
• 11 women have been executed since 1976
  

Opinion of Deterrence (notion that death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder)

• Yes = 12%
• No = 84%
• No opinion = 4%
  

Murder Rates per 100,000 (2005)

• South = 6.6
  
• West = 5.8
  
• Midwest = 4.9
  
• Northeast = 4.4
  
• National = 5.6
  

Method of executions since 1976

• Lethal injection = 911
• Electrocution = 153
• Gas chamber = 11
• Hanging = 3
• Firing squad = 2
  

Race of Death Row Inmates (total = 3,350)

• Black = 1,397 (42%)
• Hispanic = 359 (11%)
• White = 1,517 (45%)
• Other = 77 (2%)
  

For and Against

I can not simply say that someone is for or against the death penalty. I have to define "for" and "against". For my purpose "for" means "favoring executing those who commit a crime deemed by law to be worthy of death" and "against" is defined as "punishing those who commit horrible crimes by methods other than execution."

On a later post I will answer the question "Where does the controversy exist unbiasly?"

My Free Write

This is just me going on and on without censoring my thoughts. Feel free to make comments on this if you want to. I will be posting something else a little later.

Why is the death penalty even an issue? Why are people so scared about taking the life of a criminal? Why am I concerned? I wonder how we can be certain that this person deserves to have their life taken from them. Once you have ended someone's life you can not give it back. Do we have the right to decide whether someone should die because they took someone else's life? What about the first life that was taken? Is the death penalty our way of fixing the problem of people killing other people or is it simply to seek revenge? Does one death justify another? How else could we punish the people the commit the most horrible of crimes? What aspects of people's lives affect their opinion of the death penalty? For me it is my religion and the opinions of my parents as well as those of my peers. One of the Ten Commandments is "Thou shalt not kill" but this was written under specific circumstances and these must be understand in order to comprehend the full meaning of the commandment. Can you use a scripture reference to justify your thoughts and actions since The Bible is not accepted by everyone? How can one justify executing another? Can it be justified or is this a ritual that we take part in without giving it any thought? This is exactly what I struggle with. If we can't justify something should we even take part in it? This brings me back to the subject of revenge. Does executing the criminal really solve anything or does it simply inspire others to fall down the criminal path?

Things to do for My Next Post
#1) Examine my bias and what I am forgetting
#2) Research aspects of the death penalty that I do not even think about

What do you think?

What are your first thoughts when you read the headlines in the morning paper "CONVICTED SENTENCED TO DEATH" or "ANOTHER DEATH ROW INMATE EXECUTED"? I automatically think about what crime could have been allegedly committed. What type of crime is worthy of being put on death row, usually for quite a few years? I can almost feel myself making automatic judgments about the people involved in the alleged crime, especially the one being charged in the case. When you see that newspaper headline does your mind automatically say guilty or do you contemplate the fact that unless the judge's ruling is overturned someone's life will be taken from them? Then do you think about the life that was taken in order for it to be decided that another person should lose their life as well?

Additional Critical Links

US Dept of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Statistics
This website provides statistics on executions and the people with the death sentence. The statistics are provided based on state, race, gender and method of execution.

Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
This website provides trends on the death penalty in the United States, racial bias, executing the mentally ill and children. Arguments for and against the death penalty are also provided as well as religious opinions on the death penalty, supposed alternatives to the death penalty and current news concerning the death penalty.

Death Penalty Focus
This website is anti-death penalty and features a nice advertisement for the 2007 WALK TO STOP ALL EXECUTIONS on the homepage. This site also highlights the cases involving Greg Wilhoit and Larry Griffin. Information about lethal injection, mental illness, race and how the death penalty applies to women is also provided.

Critical Links

Death Penalty Information Center
This website provides a fact sheet with various statistics on the death penalty and links to websites dealing with issues such as clemency and innocence as well as, a brief writeup on the latest issues with the death penalty. The site seems to have limited bias and is more focused on simply providing information rather than taking a definite stand on the issue.

Pro-Death Penalty
Well obviously the bias of this website is towards suggesting that the death penalty is a good thing. This website provides death penalty facts for each state as well as a list of issues with the death penalty (innocence, life without parole, etc.). Excerpts from legislation from all 50 states is also provided on the website.

Amnesty International USA
This website as bias towards suggesting that the death penalty is wrong. The thing about this site that captured my immediate attention is the picture on the home page of a death row inmate strapped to a stretcher and three individuals standing over him.

American Civil Liberties Union ~ Death Penalty
This website just by the very fact that it is run by the ACLU is anti-death penalty. The following is an excerpt from the home page: "The death penalty is the ultimate denial of civil rights."This website has links to the Supreme Court website and current legislation dealing with the death penalty.

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
Like previous sites this website has a page of statistics. It also contains an alert system on the most current action taken in current death penalty cases. There is also a blog section and a section of current news regarding the death penalty.

Campaign to End the Death Penalty
The first thing I saw when I visited this website was the picture of people in a protest march carrying a large banner that reads "STOP EXECUTIONS." The following is an excerpt from the website and I am sure who can find the bias in it. "On August 30, just hours before he was scheduled for execution in Texas death chamber, Kenneth Foster was taken off death row. Relenting to a wave of pressure from thousands across Texas, the nation, and the world, Governor Rick Perry did what few thought he was capable of - - he sided with justice and granted clemency to a death row prisoner." The key words in that are "justice" and "prisoner."

Information on the Death Penalty from Cornell University Law School
This website analyzes the legality side of the discussion about the death penalty by examining both federal and state legislation.

Information on the Death Penalty from the American Bar Association
The eye-catching aspect of this website is the collage of pictures on the homepage of some death row inmates. This site focuses on the effort of the American Bar Association to "raise awareness about the lack of representation available to death row inmates, to address this urgent need by recruiting competent volunteer attorneys and to offer these volunteers training and assistance. We also work for systemic changes in the criminal justice system that would assure those facing death are represented at all stages of the proceedings from trial through clemency by qualified, adequately compensated counsel."

My Plan of Action

#1) The topic of my blog is the use of the death penalty in the United States. I will also analyze the specifics of certain legal cases.



#2)

-What, if any, is the causal relationship between the region of the United States in which one was raised and the likelihood that they will commit a crime deemed by the law to be worthy of the death penalty?

-What, if any, is the causal relationship between one's childhood and the likelihood that the will commit a crime deemed by the law to be worthy of the death penalty?

-What, if any, is the causal relationship between one's gender and the likelihood that they will commit a crime demmed by the law to be worthy of the death penalty?

-What, if any, is the causal relationship between one's ethnicity and the likelihood that they will commit a crime deemed by the law to be worth of the death penalty?

-What, if any, is the causual relationship between one's economic situation and the likelihood that they will commit a crime deemed by the law to be worthy of the death penalty?



#3) Now is the time for me to show my own bias in regards to the topic of the death penalty. I honestly feel that if someone killed one of my family members, especially my immediate family, I would call for them to suffer the same fate. Anyone who kills one of my family members for no particular reason deserves to die. Am I justified in this statement? This is where the bias comes in. Some would say I am justified and others would not.

Blogs I find interesting

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The Modern Consenus on the Theory of Evolution

www.lifesizesuperman.blogspot.com
Poverty and Homelessness

www.ageroth.blogspot.com
Stem Cell Research