The race, age, and social status of death row essay

People who oppose the Death Penalty have long argued that the system of putting criminals on death row is unfair, favoring the white and the wealthy.

The startling statistics behind the death penalty and death row inmates is a large factor in their argument. This paper is going to tell about the people who have been executed and the people who are currently on death row. It will not only focus on the statistics amongst the races but also will discuss the average age, social status, and educational achievement of the people sentenced to die, the difference in the crimes that got them sentenced, and the small amount of women who have been faced with this court decision. The sentencing of death is claimed to have double standards based on these characteristics. I will present the facts and let you, the reader, form your own opinion on whether or not these claims against the death penalty are true or not. Surprisingly, the ages of the people who have been faced with the death penalty does not really very.

The average age at the time the crime is committed is 30. The numbers adding to this average, for the most part, are pretty consistent in staying very close to this number. The average age of inmates on death row is 40. 87 and the average age at the time of execution is 42. 75. Inmates are on death row for an average of eleven years and five months. According to www.

deathpenalty/history. org, juveniles have played a small role in the death penalty but it has been an important one. The first juvenile ever executed was back in 1642. Only three hundred and forty nine out of the nineteen thousand confirmed executions since 1608 have been juveniles. There are fifty-eight that are currently on death row. The cases of these children have allowed the states that carry out the death penalty to put an age limit on the people they can execute. Seventeen out of the states that support the death penalty use 18 as the minimum age, five use the age seventeen, and the last seventeen states use the age sixteen.

The youngest person that the state of Texas has executed was 24, the oldest was 62, and the average age that Texas executes is 39. Women have also played a very little role in the Death Penalty. Of the nineteen thousand executions only five hundred and fifteen have been women. That is less than three percent.

The race of people is said to be a large and illegal factor in deciding if a person should be sentenced to live or die. According to www. coadp. org, an African American is four times more likely to be sentenced to die than a white man. There have been one hundred and seventy four black people killed when they had a white victim and only twelve white people killed when they had a black victim. Looking at these statistics, I” m sure that people think that those who argue injustice because of race are crazy because the numbers are highly in favor of white people.

The numbers are indeed higher but I don” t think that when people see these charts, they are considering the fact that the number of people and the percentages are close between the African Americans and the Caucasians, but African Americans only make up twelve percent of the population today. I did notice through out my studies that the white males that are on death row or have been executed have committed, in my opinion, ay more Cruel and unusually crimes than the black men. This is said to be true by some, and is also one of the greatest arguments against proving that there are racial disparities involved in the sentencing of the death penalty. The social status of current and late death row inmates has a sort of trend to it. They say at www. coadp. org that there is a double standard for the rich and the poor.

They say the trend is of people who are poor, low in social status, and have very little resources. The people who argue this say that basically the whole court system is unfair to those without money. They are not able to afford good lawyers and there for receive court appointed ones. They are not able to afford the appeals process or fund further investigation. They are also seen as a threat to some in our society and are said to be more likely to be placed on death row for this very stereotype. Some say that poor people are also seen, if not a threat, than nothing.

They are seen as nothing because people believe if you don” t have money, you don” t really have a role in society so they are seen to have more reason to commit these crimes for things like money, possessions, revenge. The level of education that most of the people received before their sentencing may also have a lot to with why the crime happened, and may also aid in the decision to execute. 13.

9 percent have an achievement level of eighth grade or less, 37. percent achieved ninth grade through eleventh. 38. 2 percent got their high school diploma or GED, and only 10. 1percent have had any college at all. People who are today called profilers are people who compose a profile that most likely fits the suspect that police are going to be looking for by the scene of the crime and the manner in which the crime was carried out.

These profilers say that the first three things they determine are the race, age, and social status of the possible perpetrator. Now that you have read this I hope that you are little bit more aware of the importance of the profile within the death penalty and you understood a little bit more about the death penalty itself. It is a difficult thing to argue because although there is a large amount to discuss, both sides have equally good arguments. The facts about the death penalty are startling.

I thought before this project that I supported the death penalty, but after all the information that my group and I dug up, I don” t know which way I” m leaning. The race, age, sex, and social status of the people sentenced has been said to be more helpful to prosecutors in court than hard evidence. Unfortunately, these characteristics are still, even though declared unconstitutional, the major determining factors in many decisions through out society. So to argue this in one aspect of society you would have to get it turned around in almost every aspect and I feel that no matter how hard people try to fight it, these characteristics and the judgments passed on them, are always going to be there.