NCJ Number
197180
Journal
Howard Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 41 Issue: 4 Dated: September 2002 Pages: 326-333
Date Published
September 2002
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This article reviews the reasons why capital punishment has recently come under attack in the United States.
Abstract
Support for the death penalty in the United States has been waning in recent years for several reasons. This article explores why the death penalty is falling out of favor among the American public. First, the author cites racial discrimination as a major reason for resistance to capital punishment. He explains that since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, 161 Black defendants have been put to death for killing white victims while only 11 white defendants have been put to death for killing Black victims. Furthermore, it has been well documented that Black death penalty defendants have had substandard defense attorneys. Another point of contention in the death penalty debate is the issue of executing offenders with an intelligence quotient of 70 or below. Less than half of the States that allow capital punishment have banned its practice for mentally retarded offenders. A third issue sited in this article is what has been called “geographical unfairness.” An August 2001 study revealed that in Nebraska, the death penalty was applied unequally in rural and urban areas. Similarly, Nebraska defendants whose victims were affluent were more likely to be put to death than defendants whose victims did not enjoy affluence. Perhaps the most pertinent reason that the death penalty has come under attack in recent years, explains the author, is the number of wrongfully convicted people who have been sentenced to death. According to a Columbia University report, 68 percent of death sentences between 1973 and 1995 were found to be legally flawed. The author concludes by stating that international pressure on the United States for the abolition of the death penalty has put the United States in an awkward position. The author is hopeful that the United States will join most of the world’s countries in banning this ancient form of punishment. notes, references