In reading “The worst of the worst”, it explores the case of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the two brothers responsible for the Boston bombing, a tragedy responsible for the deaths of 5, and 280 injuries. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was recently sentenced to death by a federal jury on May 15, after a long and exhausting trial, costing taxpayers millions. A survey conducted by the washington post poll has shown that 70% of those surveyed feel that justice has been done. (Drehle) However if one thing has been made clear, it is that the process is far from over, and Tsarnaev is in no imminent danger of being executed. He is one of more than 60 federal prisoners that have been sentenced to execution, whereas only 3 federal death sentences have been carried out
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And that is as a powerful tool of white supremacy. (Drehle)The slave laden South was plagued by the threat of an uprising by the very people they sought to put down. As such, many African Americans were made as “examples” of what would happen if they fought back, with capital punishment being the answer to seemingly any offense their white masters deemed fit. This is best exemplified by the very punishment of rejecting slavery, which was a crime punishable by death. Since slavery ran on the fear of blacks, cruel and inhumane punishments were enforced for those who rejected it. Attempting to fight back against one’s master meant certain death. But capital punishment was also used for even lesser acts of resistance, such as the early Georgia statute that invoked the death penalty if a slave bruised his master. (Bunn 1) Another example is the early Virginia law that made it a crime punishable by death for a slave to administer medicine, as “it might be …show more content…
It represents the idea that certain boundaries simply cannot be crossed, and that some crimes are so terrible that death is the only punishment capable of exacting justice. (Drehle) Often accompanying this use of capital punishment is the argument that it is a great deterrent for criminals, however this is simply not the case. A study conducted by Professor Michael Radelet and Traci Lacok of the University of Colorado found that 88% of America’s leading criminologists do not believe that the death penalty is an effective deterrent to criminal activities. (Radelet and Lacock) This is further proven by the 2014 FBI Uniform Crime report, which showed that the Southern United States has the highest murder rate in the country, yet accounts for over 80% of the country’s executions. The Northeast has the lowest murder rate in the country, making up less than 1% of all executions. (DPIC) These statistics show no correlation between the implementation of capital punishment and its effectiveness as a deterrence to crime. In fact, one could feasibly make an argument that areas that strongly implement capital punishment have a higher rate of crime, at least in regards to
And that is as a powerful tool of white supremacy. (Drehle)The slave laden South was plagued by the threat of an uprising by the very people they sought to put down. As such, many African Americans were made as “examples” of what would happen if they fought back, with capital punishment being the answer to seemingly any offense their white masters deemed fit. This is best exemplified by the very punishment of rejecting slavery, which was a crime punishable by death. Since slavery ran on the fear of blacks, cruel and inhumane punishments were enforced for those who rejected it. Attempting to fight back against one’s master meant certain death. But capital punishment was also used for even lesser acts of resistance, such as the early Georgia statute that invoked the death penalty if a slave bruised his master. (Bunn 1) Another example is the early Virginia law that made it a crime punishable by death for a slave to administer medicine, as “it might be …show more content…
It represents the idea that certain boundaries simply cannot be crossed, and that some crimes are so terrible that death is the only punishment capable of exacting justice. (Drehle) Often accompanying this use of capital punishment is the argument that it is a great deterrent for criminals, however this is simply not the case. A study conducted by Professor Michael Radelet and Traci Lacok of the University of Colorado found that 88% of America’s leading criminologists do not believe that the death penalty is an effective deterrent to criminal activities. (Radelet and Lacock) This is further proven by the 2014 FBI Uniform Crime report, which showed that the Southern United States has the highest murder rate in the country, yet accounts for over 80% of the country’s executions. The Northeast has the lowest murder rate in the country, making up less than 1% of all executions. (DPIC) These statistics show no correlation between the implementation of capital punishment and its effectiveness as a deterrence to crime. In fact, one could feasibly make an argument that areas that strongly implement capital punishment have a higher rate of crime, at least in regards to