Blacks and Capital punishment
In the United States, about 13,000 people have been legally executed since the colonial times. The 1930's executed up to 150 people yearly. Due to the lack of support of the death penalty from the public the rate went to nearly zero by 1967. The United States Supreme Court banned the practice in 1972. It was later authorized for resumption in 1976. The book The Death Penalty in America provides a table from 1968 to 1980; the total number of blacks on death row during that period of time was 3,014 verses 3,099, the total number of white men ( Bedau 63-64). One thing to keep in mind is that blacks make up only 12% of our total population. Racism is a nasty word, and many people would prefer to look the other way and deny it existence. But not only does it exist, it exists in one of the most sensitive areas of our judicial system: capital punishment. Many African American people believe that race is an important factor in determining who will be sentenced to die and who will receive a lesser punishment for the same crime. Research on the capital sentencing patterns over the past 20 years has shown that race considerations permeate decisions of life and death in the state courts. This topic has cr
This is something that has yet to be accomplished. " ( Bishops) These rights are a part of every person until they die, " even in the case of those who by their actions have failed to respect the dignity and rights of others," and they must be protected. And those receiving death sentences, only a fraction is executed. " I think there can be no discussion of capital punishment in America without a discussion of race, without a discussion of class, without a discussion of power" says Abu-Jamal. Forer, author of A Rage to Punish ,says, "It is a deplorable but indisputable fact that blacks are sentenced to death disproportionately, especially for interracial killings" (107-108). When viewing the racial composition of United State prisons, one should bear in mind the fact that fifty-one percent of the victims of murder are black. Allen from The Blade ,he interviewed a black man on death row, Mumia Abu-Jamal death row, prisoner no. In the case of armed robbery, for example national statistics indicate that sixty-four percent of all victims describe their attackers as black. " We're in a country that has 15,000 murders a year and less than 1 percent of end up facing execution," says Richard Dieter, a death penalty opponent, and director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington. The question of racism and capital punishment to me is the black man on death row last resort to save his own life. the pardon and parole board had recommended that he grant clemency, but Governor Roemer chose not to do so. ------------------------------------------------------------------------**Bibliography**. Many people believe that once a crime such as murder is committed, the criminal forfeits his rights. Forty-eight of the sixty-eight killers executed in 1998 were white; only 18 were black.
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Acceptance Essays
