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Madison Johnstone

Research Paper

December 20, 2018

Everything Before the Chair

The light goes out. Killing murderers, rapists, and psychopaths are the clearest

form of “an eye for an eye” in American culture. While the ethics of the death penalty

are still debated over, the causes for executing a criminal as opposed to life in prison is

an untapped subject. Race, severity of the crime, location and cost are all proven

reasons for opting for capital punishment instead of life in prison. Although the judge of

a case ultimately assigns the sentence for the criminal, the jury are really the ones who

decide the individual’s fate. Juries are supposed to be unbiased and objective however,

many individuals bring in discrimination and outside values to cases, such as religion,

that affect the outcome of many criminal’s lives. While the death penalty is becoming

less common and more taboo, many people still believe in the process of a “tooth for a

tooth,” as the bible says. In 2018, 28 executions were carried out by eight states in the

United States (Execution List). Why each state and group of jurors convicted these

individuals still causes many discussions and statistics to be investigated.

Discrimination can be found in any environment, and the death penalty is no

exception. As stated before, juries are vetted to the best of the lawyer’s abilities but they

will always bring in bias opinions to a case. Race is a majorly researched reason for an

individual to be tried under capital punishment. An example of this would be in the case

of McCleskey v. Kemp (1987), prosecutors sought the death penalty 70% of the time

when the offender was black and the victim was white, 32% of the time when both were

white, 19% of the time when the offender was white and the victim was black, and 15%
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of the time when both were black (Šimonovi´c). As seen in McCleskey v. Kemp, the

context of the crime is not always the first aspect taken into account. Many of the juries

judge a book by its cover before the defendant even opens his or her mouth. The race

of a criminal could be the difference between life with possibility of parole and the death

penalty. The color of one’s skin could affect the outcome of a case by up to almost 55%.

Looking past race and other physical features, the severity of the crime is the

biggest reason for capital punishment. “Every state allowing the death penalty,

according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2010, can seek it in the case of first-

degree murder, though some stipulate there must be aggravating circumstances or

factors involved. Many states also allow it to be sought in cases concerning felony

murder, murder of an inmate while already serving a life sentence, and murder during or

involving rape.” (McFarland). Although these circumstances seem obvious for the use of

the death penalty, when looking at individual cases the line seems to blur for juries.

Choosing to execute a human being has been proven to be more difficult when the

individual in a young adult or adolescent. This was seen in the case of Nikolas Cruz,

who killed 17 people in a shooting rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School,

in Parkland, Florida, in February. The authorities in Florida say that Cruz, 19, deserves

to die for his action and the prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty (Smith). The

age of the individual is a major reason for many spectators to be against the death

penalty. Even when the crime is as serious as the one described, the age of the

defendant may cause him to get life in prison, instead of the death penalty.

However, some criminals may commit a heinous crime but still get life in prison

due to the state abolishing capital punishment. Many states have done away with the

death penalty while other states are still big supporters of it. The state a crime is

committed in has the greatest effect on the outcome of the criminal’s life. Texas is one
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of the most likely places for a criminal to be condemned to capital punishment.

Statistically; 11 of the 28 prisoners executed in 2018 were carried out in Texas

(Execution List). Texas is notoriously a more religious state and therefore would be

more inclined to follow the “eye for an eye” statement in the Bible. “In Texas, the jury is

asked to consider three questions: (1) Was the murder committed deliberately and with

the expectation that death would result? (2) Is there a probability that the defendant will

continue to be a danger to society? and (3) Did the defendant react in an unreasonable

manner to the actions of the victim (e.g., was the attack unprovoked?)? If the jury

answers yes to all three questions, then the death penalty shall be imposed”

(Costanzo). Other than Texas, other states still have capital punishment but are

generally concentrated in the southern region of the United States. Many states in the

North have decided to end capital punishment as an option for criminals. The death

penalty being abolished in many states was caused by society seeing it as a violation of

the 8th Amendment. The 8th Amendment states that there should be no cruel and

unusual punishments. While the Supreme Court has ruled many times that the death

penalty is an exception, the public sees it as overkill and too unusual in today’s society

to keep around. Therefore, the state where a crime is committed is one of the largest, if

not the deciding factor, on whether a criminal is sentenced to death in the United States.

While the cost of capital punishment is increasing, some say that life in prison

could still be more expensive. As explained by a biology professional; “It is not cheaper

to keep a criminal confined, because most of the time he will appeal just as much

causing as many costs as a convict under death sentence. Being alive and having

nothing better to do, he will spend his time in prison conceiving of ever-new habeas

corpus petitions, which being unlimited, in effect cannot be rejected as res judicata. The

cost is higher" (Cressey). Another idea contrary to Cressey’s statement is that the
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materials for lethal injection are raising due to outside companies refusing to sell their

chemicals. In Texas, the cost for injections are about $1286.86 per execution due to

primarily European companies objecting to the use of their chemicals when they are

involved in executions. Actually, the European Union now has a ban on exports of those

drugs used for lethal injections (McFarland). In addition to the growing costs of the

execution itself, the cost to keep an individual incarcerated on death row is increasing.

The average inmate costs much less than the death row inmate, who must be kept in

maximum security or solitary. For example; California spends nearly $135,000 per year

on inmates on death row while they only spend $51,500 on the other criminals in the

general population (McFarland). Cost could be the reason why more and more criminals

are being sent to life in prison as opposed to a state execution.

Living in the United States, the option of capital punishment is becoming less and

less common. However, as an increasing number of states are abolishing the act, the

causes for the death penalty prevent some states from getting rid of this age-old

punishment. In more cases than one, juries have condemned a criminal to death based

on the color of one’s skin, and the race of the victim they killed. Other than race, factors

such as the region where the crime was committed is often the deciding factor for

criminals. As costs continue to rise on chemicals used for lethal injection, it is likely to

see a lesser number of executions in the future. Because of financial reasons, the

causes for the death penalty may become more specific and strict in order to keep the

prisons running. The severity of the crime may have to be more significant and brutal for

juries to convict and try a criminal for the death penalty. Instead of first degree murder,

in the future possibly only acts of terrorism and mass murders will be cause for capital

punishment. Whether the death penalty is ethical or not, the reasons why someone is

put to death instead of being locked in a cell is an important difference. As society

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becomes more and more anti-death penalty the reasons and causes for capital

punishment will change but society will always find ways to punish those who commit

the ultimate crime of murder.

Works Cited

Costanzo, Mark, and Sally Costanzo. “Jury Decision Making in the Capital Penalty

Phase: Legal Assumptions, Empirical Findings, and a Research Agenda.” APA PsycNET,

2018, psycnet.apa.org.eztcc.vccs.edu:2048/fulltext/1992-29569-001.html.
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Cressey, Donald. “Donald R. Cressey, PhD Biography.” Should the Death Penalty Be

Allowed?, 2008, deathpenalty.procon.org/view.source.php?sourceID=006886.

“Execution List 2018.” Millions Misspent: What Politicians Don't Say About the High

Costs of the Death Penalty | Death Penalty Information Center, 2018,

deathpenaltyinfo.org/execution-li st-2018.

McFarland, Torin. “The Death Penalty vs. Life Incarceration: A Financial Analysis.”

Scholarly Commons, 2016,

scholarlycommons.susqu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1026&context =supr.

Šimonovi´c, Ivan. “Death Penalty and the Victims .” Www.eda.admin.ch, United Nations

Human Rights, 2016,

www.eda.admin.ch/dam/eda/en/documents/aussenpolitik/menschenrechte-me nschliche-

sicherheit/death-penalty-and-the-victims-2016_EN.pdf.

Smith, Patricia. “Does Nikolas Cruz Deserve To Die? With Prosecutors Planning to Seek

the Death Penalty for the Parkland Shooter, the Debate Continues over Capital

Punishment in the U.S.” New York Times Upfront, 8 Oct. 2018, p. 14. Opposing

Viewpoints in Context,

link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A558229691/GPS?u=va_s_128_0030&sid=GPS&xid=2aed

9659. Accessed 6 Dec. 2018.