Donohue Case Summary

Decent Essays
Donohue (2014) analyzed these five reasons explaining why some are being convicted for capital crimes. Donohue(2014) findings were helped by attorney’s that handled these categories of crime in outgoing cases that used these factors, which determined that race has nothing to do with the conviction. Through the two hundred and five cases they incorporated victims’ pain from the crime, victim’s identity, crimes were planned or had intent and whether there was various victim’s involved in the crime.
Various states have started moving away from capital punishment. Appleton & Grover (2007) explored the findings of Connecticut to discover their philosophy of new punishment. Connecticut’s courtroom demonstrated capital punishment to be unconstitutional.

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    The implementation of the death penalty is a tricky and controversial subject. When writing for the New Republic in 1985, Edward I. Koch and David Bruck shared their judgement on capital punishment. They addressed the topic from two opposing viewpoints and challenged the death penalty’s effectiveness and place in American society today. Edward I. Koch served as mayor of the state of New York for eleven years and was involved in public service for a total of twenty years. In his essay titled, “Death and Justice: How Capital Punishment Affirms Life,” Koch was adamant that the death penalty affirmed the highest value for human life by being the highest penalty (Koch 486).…

    • 1073 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cole Cannon Case Summary

    • 1192 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The U.S. Supreme Court would judge the case on whether sentencing a fourteen-year-old to life in prison without parole violates the Eight and Fourteenth Amendment’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment (Carrizales & Schultz, n.d.). Miller’s counsel argued that sentencing a fourteen-year-old to life without parole without considering certain factors such as his age violates the Eight and Fourteenth Amendments’ ban on cruel and unusual punishment (Carrizales & Schultz, n.d.). The state of Alabama argued that punishing a fourteen-year-old to life without parole does not violate the Eight or Fourteenth Amendment, but serves a justifiable penological goal when the crime is aggravated murder (Carrizales & Schultz,…

    • 1192 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In “A Strong Argument Against Capital Punishment”, Lincoln Caplan expands upon Connecticut's recent choices about capital punishment. Connecticut is one of several states in the United States that brought the issue of capital punishment to the Supreme Court for debate and discussion. The Supreme Court ultimately ruled that the death penalty is unconstitutional in the state of Connecticut. In this debate, the Democratic legislative side leaned against capital punishment; while the Republican legislative side leaned towards capital punishment. The Democratic side reasons that the death penalty violates the state constitution against excessive punishments.…

    • 780 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the essay Race, Capital Punishment, and the Cost of Murder by M. Cholbi, the author examines the issue of racial discrimination in capital punishment among African Americans; also, how African Americans murderers are more likely to receive the death penalty over white murderers. The Author believes capital punishment and the death penalty are just punishments for the actions of perpetrators, however the author believes the unequal distribution of capital punishment is not a just action (Cholbi 1). The argument of whether capital punishment is immoral has shifted to if its distribution among criminals is tolerable and just (Cholbi 1). Cholbi states,”I believe that the issue of racial disparities in capital sentencing deserves to be reinvigorated…

    • 910 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Opposing Viewpoints

    • 789 Words
    • 4 Pages

    We kill people who kill because killing is wrong. This is the idea some states use when people question their use of the death penalty, the execution of someone who has committed a capital offense. The debate over the death penalty is still alive and well, and those against it often use this argument to show just how absurd the death penalty is. Should those who have committed unspeakable crimes be sentenced to death, or is it better to sentence them to life without the possibility of parole, especially when using the death penalty is more expensive and runs the risk of executing the innocent Forty two out of fifty states have the death penalty as a potential punishment when someone commits a capital crime.…

    • 789 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Texas Deterrence Effect

    • 1208 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Snell displays a table that shows the possible capital offenses that can cause a person to be charged with capital punishment. A majority of the states punish first degree murder, capital murder, and aggravated murder with state execution (Snell, 2010). The United States Department of Health and Human Services defines homicide as a death caused by “an injury purposely inflicted by other persons” (Bailey, 1990). Hjalmarsson investigates whether or not felony homicides versus non- felony homicides have a better deterrence effect (2012). The study shows that the probability of a variation in the murder rate is dependent on the timing of the execution.…

    • 1208 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    One truth only institutes beyond question the pervasiveness of racial disparities in the historic implementation of the death penalty in the USA. Between colonial times and 1990, some 18,000 persons were put to death, from that total, only 30 cases involved the execution of a white individual for the homicide of a black person. Nearly all those cases , the social situation of the black victim was higher than the social situation of the white committer. In 10 cases, the black victim was a slave, and the homicide was dealt as a property offense against the white slave owner rather than offense of vehemence against an African American.…

    • 195 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Prompt #2 The American criminal justice system is meant to be impartial, fair, and universal regardless of the defendant’s race or socioeconomic standing. As Professor Roy stated in his lectures, the foundational principles that the legal system is built upon are to be consistent and logical (Roy). These ideals should be utilized when implementing a consistent sentencing and conviction process.…

    • 928 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Race and Crime: Discrimination vs Disproportionate Offending The problem with racial discrimination in the criminal justice system is debatable because there is a considerable amount of evidence that addresses the fact that it is both individual and systemic biases. What is already known is that there is a relationship between race and crime, but through research we aim to find whether or not the cause of this relationship has to do with discrimination or disproportionate offending. The relationship between race and crime is a topic most generally talked about because statistics have shown that members of different races have different tendencies to why they offend. What has been found in research is that, both discrimination and disproportionate…

    • 807 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Historically, America has been predisposed towards racism against African-Americans. However, Americans, for the past century, have effectively ignored the issues with race that the American society still faces in the criminal justice system. In his TED Talk entitled “We need to talk about an injustice,” Bryan Stevenson addresses the issues with the American criminal justice system by detailing the problems and showing the important role the citizens of American can play. Although the topic is a serious one, Stevenson discusses the issues with elegance and carefulness and is able to effectively persuade his audience. Before delving into the information that Stevenson provides in his speech, it is essential to evaluate the setting that Stevenson…

    • 940 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Holcomb, Williams, and Demuth believe that a “white female effect” in regards to victim gender and race creates a perpetuating disparity in homicide cases leading more often to the death penalty for defendants. The researchers (again) cite Kleck (1981) and Baumer (2000) as postulating that the legal system as a whole must view crimes against females as more harmful than crimes with male victims. The data set utilized by the researchers (n=324 death sentences) was drawn from the FBI Supplemental Homicide Report for the years 1981-1997 from the state of Ohio. Holcomb, Williams, and Demuth conclude that the odds of a death sentence are 1.766 times greater for defendants who murder white victims. However, the researchers also reported that felony circumstances (as predicted by Kleck) and age (victims under 12 years) significantly increased the odds of a death penalty outcome.…

    • 1212 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Racial bias can make the defendant’s family feel subjective in our correctional system. Capital punishment doesn’t just have an outcome for the defendant and the prosecutor it also affects the family of the defendant. Today, in our criminal justice system we just focus on the victim of the crime, but in research there is really more than one victim. However, this victim is not believed in cultural views to be a victim. Research in investigating other victim’s such as family members of the defendant that has gotten the sentence of capital punishment.…

    • 475 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This article discussed why penal policies sometimes change and do not change. Blaming it on the many histories, and culture of many places and locations. Each country dealth with crime with different punishments, for example, the Unites states being for the death penalty and other countries did not include the death penalty as a punishment. This article felt medium penal policies and low imprisonment rates correspond with low levels of income inequality, high levels of trust and legitimacy, strong welfare states, professionalized as opposed to politicized criminal justice system and consensual, rather than conflictual. This article also tried to dig deeper to find out why African Americans were likely to be arrested, convicted, incarcerated, and executed when compared to white Americans.…

    • 714 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Encouragement of guilty pleas is generally an unaccepted practice in the American legal system as well. Consequently, there remains the possibility that capital punishment is allowed based on retribution, deterrence, and economy. While at times the justification for capital punishment is argued in terms…

    • 1998 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Similarly to the controversy surrounding Ron Williamson’s conviction, widespread debate over the legality of capital punishment has rooted itself within the American Nation. In the early 1970’s, capital punishment was reinstated with the ruling in Gregg v. Georgia. The majority of states that continue to practice capital punishment tend to be conservative, southern states as opposed to liberal states who oppose the death penalty. There have also been numerous instances in which innocent people were convicted due to the uncertainty contained within the American Criminal Justice System. Today, American Society is divided between the continued legalization of capital punishment.…

    • 2310 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Great Essays