| Description |
The death penalty in the United States has reached a crisis stage and something needs to be done soon in order to correct the problems that exist. In my thesis I compared the situation in Texas with the other states that have the death penalty. I chose to exemplify Texas because it has the highest number of executions of all the states and has the second largest death row population. Since 1976 when the death penalty was reinstated, Texas has executed a third of the country's total executions. In Texas as well as the rest of the country, the death penalty is not distributed equally and fairly. In 1976, the states devised new laws and statutes that were designed to make the capital punishment a more fair process. The Supreme Court agreed to the newly revised statutes in hopes to solve the problems that existed in the process. So far, many of the problems have not improved and many problems are getting worse. The quality of representation that an inmate receives is not consistent or adequate and therefore results in unfair court trials. A person's race and the race of the victim play huge roles in who receives the death penalty and who does not. Of the total number of inmates that are sentenced to death, over 80% are Blacks who have killed White victims. These statistics are extremely apparent in Texas. Depending on which state the trial takes place can also greatly affect the outcome. Many trials are tainted with political motives to obtain a death sentence. The prosecutors go to desperate lengths in order to convince the jury that the inmate should be sentenced to death. Juries also tend to be inadequately informed about alternatives to the death penalty, resulting in uninformed decisions in favor of the death penalty. All these problems, and more, exist across the country but they are extremely evident in Texas. My thesis compares the situation in Texas with other states to show that the problems that exist with the death penalty are urgent and need to be fixed as soon as possible. |
