Death Penalty Fact Sheet

Death Penalty Information Center

Death Penalty is the punishment of execution, administered to someone legally convicted of a capital crime. The Fact Sheet linked above contains, graphs, charts, and facts about the death penalty. I was surprised and engaged by the information provided, and I now feel more educated about the topic.

Graphs and Pie Charts

3 Pieces of Interesting Information: 

Innocence in Death Row

• Since 1973, more than 155 people have been released from death row with evidence of innocence.
•  In Louisiana, the odds of a death sentence were 97% higher for those whose victim was white than for those whose victim was black.
• The South had the highest murder rates and accounts for over 80% of executions. 

Conclusions:

The death penalty has not proved to be very successful at lowering and preventing murder, "According to a survey of the former and present presidents of the country's top academic criminological societies, 88% of these experts reject the notion that the death penalty acts as a deterrent for murder. (Radelet & Larrock, 2009). America's top experts reject the idea that the death penalty will solve and prevent murder cases from occurring. Executions have not lowered the murder rates and therefore have not hindered any crimes.

White victims in murder cases are more likely to result in the execution of the defendant than any other race. Odd were 97% higher for those whose victim was white than for those victim was black, and those who are convicted of killing a white person are 3 times more likely to receive the death penalty. Based on this information it seems to be evident that race has a very strong tie to the decisions the court makes regarding whether or not the defendant should be executed

Questions:

• If the death penalty has been proven to not act as a deterrent for murder, why is it still used?
• Why does it take so long for someone who has been put on death row to actually be executed?