Death penalty statistics illustrate many troubling problems and complications with capital punishment. These complications have resulted in decreased public support for capital punishment. These problems have also led to decreased rates of execution in death penalty cases in which capital punishment may be the result. These problems include a disparity in the race of defendants who are imposed execution in death penalty cases, as well as complications with the methods of execution that are used.
Death penalty statistics raise questions regarding the fairness of the distribution of capital punishment. Death penalty statistics indicate that despite the fact that African-Americans make up about half of the victims of homicide in the United States, the large majority of death row inmates are executed for murdering white victims.
Very few defendants are executed for murdering an African-American or a Hispanic victim. There is a very large disparity between the defendants that are sentenced to capital punishment based on the race of the victim in death penalty cases.
Death penalty statistics also illustrate that individuals who are convicted of killing an African American victim or a Hispanic victim are much more likely to receive a penalty of life in prison as opposed to the death penalty. This suggests that the lives of white individuals are more valuable than those of minority races and it contradicts society’s fundamental belief and principle that all individuals are equal under the law.
Death penalty statistics indicate that the large majority of individuals who are sentenced to execution in death penalty cases did not have the financial ability to hire their own lawyer. Therefore, they had to have an attorney appointed by the court. Often, these attorneys are not prepared to handle death penalty cases.
They are forced to work very long hours and they generally receive little pay for the work that they do. As a result of this, they are not capable of providing someone who is accused of murder with a proper and effective defense.
The majority of executions have been carried out by lethal injection. This may be an extremely excruciating process if the chemicals are not administered properly. Over one hundred prisoners on death row have refused to appeal their sentences. This is known as a voluntary execution. This is often misconstrued as a confession that the prisoner is guilty of the crime with which he or she is being charged.
However, there are many different reasons that an offender may refuse to appeal the court’s decision. Additionally, death penalty statistics indicate that capital punishment does not act as an effective deterrent. Data shows that states that continue to maintain the death penalty have a much higher rate of murder.
