The use of capital punishment is a very touchy subject, as the author’s comment, the emotional suffering involved in such cases interfere with logic, scientific facts and true justice. How can you tell someone that has lost a loved one that the convicted murderer’s life should be spared? Religious beliefs have for centuries guided American’s moral boundaries, for instance the eye for an eye statement has been a constant staple in the justice arena. To further add, the author’s also point out the brutal acts of our past in how death was accomplished based on such premise. Although the author’s recognize they were not about settling “such moral dilemmas” the opening of the chapter does beg the question of what a civilized society looks like and
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Out of the 151 people that have been found to be innocent on death row 78 were African American (Innocence: List of those freed from death row, 2015). In so far as gender, the authors could have elaborated more, although there may not be many women on death row, the majorities are of color and even more are of the LGBT community, furthermore, stereotyping is a powerful issue when it comes to women and crime (Muraskin, 2010b). Even more shocking are the men and women convicted in cases such as arson, child abuse and shaken baby syndrome all of which are under question today as to the accuracy in the forensic findings as seen on PBS Frontline The Child Cases and Death by Fire. And although for years many have argued that under the eighth amendment killing the mentally ill is cruel and unusual punishment on August 5, 2013, Florida executed John Errol Ferguson said to have suffered from schizophrenia (Equal Justice Initiative, …show more content…
The authors note that five states compose of 2/3 of executions with the state of Texas at the top of the list, in fact Southern states have the highest in death penalty rates accounting for 82% of all executions (Hoffer, 2013; Muraskin, 2010a). The author’s argue against the long-standing ideology that deterrence works in relationship with the death penalty, this can further be supported in a trend that appears in states with higher execution rates (southern states) that also show higher crime rates (Innocence: List of those freed from death row; 2015; U.S. Death Penalty Cost, n.d.). Although ethical concerns should trump that of monetary expenses, the cost of executing someone is alarming. Since 1976 there has been a total of 1,404 and each execution is said to cost 2 to 3 times more than cases tried involving life sentences (Muraskin, 2010a). According to Amnesty International even if appeals were removed from the equation death penalty cases still would cost more, in addition they argue that the money could be better spent to uplift and educate society
Out of the 151 people that have been found to be innocent on death row 78 were African American (Innocence: List of those freed from death row, 2015). In so far as gender, the authors could have elaborated more, although there may not be many women on death row, the majorities are of color and even more are of the LGBT community, furthermore, stereotyping is a powerful issue when it comes to women and crime (Muraskin, 2010b). Even more shocking are the men and women convicted in cases such as arson, child abuse and shaken baby syndrome all of which are under question today as to the accuracy in the forensic findings as seen on PBS Frontline The Child Cases and Death by Fire. And although for years many have argued that under the eighth amendment killing the mentally ill is cruel and unusual punishment on August 5, 2013, Florida executed John Errol Ferguson said to have suffered from schizophrenia (Equal Justice Initiative, …show more content…
The authors note that five states compose of 2/3 of executions with the state of Texas at the top of the list, in fact Southern states have the highest in death penalty rates accounting for 82% of all executions (Hoffer, 2013; Muraskin, 2010a). The author’s argue against the long-standing ideology that deterrence works in relationship with the death penalty, this can further be supported in a trend that appears in states with higher execution rates (southern states) that also show higher crime rates (Innocence: List of those freed from death row; 2015; U.S. Death Penalty Cost, n.d.). Although ethical concerns should trump that of monetary expenses, the cost of executing someone is alarming. Since 1976 there has been a total of 1,404 and each execution is said to cost 2 to 3 times more than cases tried involving life sentences (Muraskin, 2010a). According to Amnesty International even if appeals were removed from the equation death penalty cases still would cost more, in addition they argue that the money could be better spent to uplift and educate society