Criminal Justice
For this discussion post topic please discuss the historical overview of the death penalty. Rely on historical court case to outline an overview of the history of the death penalty. Discuss the relationship between race and the death penalty. Research and discuss programs that work towards releasing those that are innocent, from corrections. Please refer to your readings, lecture notes, the video for review, and the websites provided to answer and discuss the following questions:
In the overview, please describe the significance of Furman v. Georgia, Gregg v. Georgia and McCleskey v. Kemp.
What are the historical overview of race and the death penalty?
Please include in your discussion programs such as; the Capital Jury Project, the Innocence Project, etc.
REMEMBER – This is not an opinion based assignment, it is a research-based discussion where applying course material or outside sources to support your points is required.
ANSWER
Death Penalty
Death Penalty laws were first developed during King of Hammurabi of Babylon in the eighteenth century B.C, where 25 different crimes were codified for death. Death sentences were conducted, such as drowning, crucifixion, burning alive, beating to death, and impalement. Hanging became a normal technique of execution in the tenth century A.D in Britain. Gregg v. Georgia was legally and historically significant since it supported the death penalty’s legality (Dieter, 2019). The number of capital punishment crimes rose in Britain within the next two centuries. By the 1700s, more than 222 crimes were punishable by death, such as stealing and cutting down trees. This resulted in reforms of capital punishment. Britain’s death penalty laws influenced America’s utilization of the death penalty more than any other country (Dieter, 2019). However, the laws concerning the death penalty varied from one colony to another. There was a gradual rise in the death penalty utilization within the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. The use of the death penalty has declined sharply within the United States for the past 25 years. Furman v. Georgia played a great role in amending unusual and cruel punishment in death penalty cases.
Victim and defendant’s color has played an intolerable and vital role in determining individuals that take capital punishment within U.S and other countries. For several years, reports around the country have indicated that racial prejudices have existed in the utilization of the death penalty. Racial bias against victims and defendants of color strongly affects who is capitally punished (Dutcher, 2020). For instance, the United States has a long history of racism, which has led to different punishments for varying crimes based on the victim and the defendant’s race. A white woman raped by a white man carried a sentence between 2-20 years while the same crime committed by a black man was capital punishment. McCleskey v. Kemp is one of the historic cases within Georgia that illustrated how racial discrimination had perpetuated unfair sentences for the black defendants and declaring a solution for racial discrimination in the death penalty.
Several programs have been linked to the criminal justice system to respond and repair the harm caused by a crime. Various programs have been utilized to reform the criminal justice system preventing further injustice. These programs play a great role in overturning wrongful convictions and freeing those who have been wrongly convicted. For instance, a program such as the Innocence Project has focused on DNA evidence to exonerate those wrongly convicted. Successful programs have played a great role in offering former offenders a chance to support themselves through productive and legitimate work that improves public safety.
References
Dieter, R. C. (2019). Introduction: international perspectives on the death penalty. In Comparative Capital Punishment. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Dutcher, T. (2020). Killing With Prejudice: Institutionalized Racism In American Capital Punishment. Theory in Action, 13(3), 148-153.
