Is the death penalty racist against blacks? Essay

I. Introduction There are several queries which came up in my inquisitive mind and try to discover and comprehend what are the possible grounds that judiciaries are basing his/her verdict and judgment in sentencing death penalty to a defendant or the accused himself. Death penalty is the heaviest and most depressing sentence for the accused; thus, it ends his chances to change. Come to think of it, the accused will not be given a chance to renew himself and become a better citizen in our country. Several countries around the globe are in favor to such act and even legalized it. But do we really have the right to execute death penalty to an accused? Is this act not a violation of human rights? Where did death penalty start? Does it really help lessen the growing crimes? Or can’t we just find another alternative to lessen crimes? These are some of my queries and up to now, I am trying to understand both arguments of pro and anti. I do understand why there are group of people support this kind of penalty or sentence. These are the group of people who want justice for those who are badly treated, abused and harmed; and most of these people also undergone such mistreatments or maybe their love ones. But how about if the accused is not really the one who commit the crime, is just frame up and does not have enough evidences to prove he is not guilty of it? And in practicing such law, does death penalty will not show biases, racism, and prejudices of whom the judiciaries will give such sentence? Furthermore, according to others that death penalty is the best way to control and lessen crimes. It has been an argument not only in the United States of America but as well as around the globe. The death penalty is well-thought-out by most cultured and enlightened nation-states as an inhumane and callous sentence or chastisement. In addition, death penalty has been de facto by 106 countries and since 1990, there were about 30 nation-states which have put an end to it. Moreover, the death penalty has continuously put into practice in some nations such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, the United States of America, Iran and China which are the most profuse executioners in the globe. However, international official papers have constrained and in several circumstances even banned the death penalty, its function and relevance does not contradict customary international law. Ample debates have continued in the United States of America as to whether it comprises a suitable chastisement at least to the most dreadful crimes (see â€Å"Human Rights: Death Penalty†. Derechos Human Rights). Moreover, this issue has been continually debated in United States of America due to its fact that racism is almost present every time a judge makes a sentence for the defendant or accused. The illustration below shows the racial breakdown of district Attorneys* in United States Death Penalty States and was taken from the website http://www. deathpenaltyinfo. org/article. php? scid=45&did=539. The focal points of this study are to: (1) understand what death penalty is; (2) figure out how death penalty arises or starts; (3) be aware of the different methods used to execute people; (4) recognize the religious views on death penalty; (5) find out if there is any racism involve in performing death penalty; and (2) acquaint us the number of executions performed and the race who faced death penalty due to racism in different states of United States of America; (6) know the public opinion polls on the death penalty issue; (7) learn the death penalty statistics and; (8) recommend possible remedies or alternatives to abolish death penalty. II. Background A. What is death penalty? Death penalty is considered as a capital punishment and is an execution of a convicted offender by the State which serves as chastisement for crimes committed which is recognized and called as capital offenses or capital crimes. Death penalty is the most discussed issue in penalizing or sentencing the convicted criminal. The term â€Å"capital† was taken from a Latin word â€Å"capitalis† that refers to â€Å"concerning the head†; thus, to be susceptible to capital punishment would simply refers to metaphorically lose one’s head. Moreover, the United States of America, majority of the Caribbean, Guatemala and other democracies in Africa and China continue to have its approval on death penalty but amongst of those democratic nations globally, majority of the European and Latin American states have put an end with the capital punishment. While on countries that are not democratic by nature, the death penalty execution is not unusual yet not practiced by all. There are certain crimes that are specified by laws that need to be sentenced with death penalty depending on countries where the crime committed. Nowadays, most countries that practiced and applied death penalty used it as a punishment for crimes such as treason, part of the military justice, murder and espionage. But for Muslim countries, death penalty is used as punishment for offenses such as sexual crimes (which include sodomy and adultery) and religious crimes like apostasy (abandonment of one’s faith and belief). There are countries too that considered drug trafficking as a capital offense and in China, serious cases of graft and corruption and human trafficking are sentenced by death penalty. But in the military world, death penalty is practiced for offenses like desertion, mutiny; insubordination and cowardice (Bailey, Harris, & Jones, 2005).