Bias and Error in the Costly Death Penalty System

BIAS IN DEATH PENALTY SENTENCING

It is clear that there is much bias in the administration of the death penalty in America.1.

Poor minorities make up a large percentage of the death penalty cases. It is rare that a rich person will be sentenced to death.

Blacks are disproportionately represented on death row. This historical bias was demonstrated in 1965 by Donald Partington, a Virginia lawyer. He documented that between 1908 and 1963 2,798 men had been convicted for rape or attempted rape in Virginia. All of the 54 executed were black. The bias continues into the present.

Gender bias is also evident. Although women commit 11.6% of the murders, only 1.4% of death row inmates are women. This may be related to the severity and circumstances of the crime.

Where a person commits a murder affects their chances of being put to death. Extreme disparity is seen in execution data listed in Statistical Abstracts between 1977 and 2005. During this time period, 871 executions are listed as occuring in the United States. Six states were responsible for executing 72% of the total number. Southern states predominate in death penalty sentencing.
While:
- 23 states carried out no executions, and
- 7 states carried out no more than 1-3 executions,
- Texas carried out 313 executions,
- Virginia carried out 89,
- Oklahoma carried out 69,
- Florida carried out 57,
- Missouri carried out 61,and
- Georgia carried out 34.

ERROR IN DEATH PENALTY SENTENCING

The finality of the death penalty raises concern about errors in sentencing.
This concern became severe following exonerations based on DNA evidence of more than 200 prisoners, including prisoners on death row.

Jurisdictions across the country are enacting policy reforms to protect against wrongful convictions. Inmates in all but eight states are now given access to DNA evidence that may not have been available at the time of trial.

In a 2005 study, Professor Samuel R. Gross found that between 1989 and 2003, 340 prisoners, 95% convicted of murder and rape, had been exonerated. DNA evidence was used to exonerate 144 of these inmates.
False witness identificaton was involved in half of the murder convictions and 88% of the rape convictions.

Peter J. Neufeld, a co-director of the New York City-based Innocence Project said that the legislation resulting from DNA exonerations is "probably the single greatest criminal justice reform in the last 40 years." 2.

Troy Anthony Davis has become synonymous with error in the death penalty system. Davis was sentenced to die in 1991 after being convicted of killing a policeman, despite lack of physical evidence. Since the trial seven of the nine witnesses came forward to say that they were coerced by police into identifying Davis as the gunman.
Amnesty International, death penalty abolition groups and thousands of concerned individuals, including President Jimmy Carter, Pope Benedict XVI, and Bishop Tutu, have challenged the perceived injustice.
Davis was granted a stay on his scheduled execution while the U.S. Supreme Court considered his petition. The court declined to hear the case. Another execution date was set that was stayed by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia.
Davis continues to wait and still faces execution. 3.

THE DEATH PENALTY IS COSTLY IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE

Concerns about the death penalty go beyond moral and emotional injustices. The death penalty is an expensive cost to the taxpayer compared to a sentence of life without parole.

The Dallas Morning News, in 1992, reported that "a death penalty case costs an average of $2.3 million, about three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years." 4.

Other states report similar extreme costs for the death penalty system. In 2007, California reported that it costs an additional $90,000 a year per inmate to confine an inmate on death row as opposed to those sentenced to life without parole. With California's death row population of 670, that accounted for $63.3 million annually. 5.

Richard C. Dieter, Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center,testified that death penalty cases require more time to prepare, more pre-trial motions filed, more experts hired, twice as many attorneys for the defense, more quizzing in jury selection, two trials conducted (for guilt and sentencing), and a series of appeals that come after conviction.6.

In 2000, the U.S. prison population reached 2 million prisoners, up from 1 million in 1995. The U.S. Justice Department reported that 461 of every 100,000 Americans were serving a prison sentence of at least one year.

C. M."Marty" Lensign, warden at Louisiana's Elayn Hunt Correctional Center, noted that cost effective alternatives were not sought because the incarceration business had a financial interest in perpetuating itself. He said, "We've used prison beds to stimulate the economy...In other words, it's an industry." 7.

RETHINKING THE DEATH PENALTY

Considering the bias, error and cost involved in administering the death penalty, there are many questions to be pondered.

The death penalty is viewed by some as a deterrent to future crime, but this is not generally supported by data. Conclusions from many studies show that the opposite is true. States that carry out higher numbers of executions actually have higher murder rates.

Supporters argue that "therapeutic vengeance" brings peace of mind and closure to victims or relatives of the crime. Others contend that laws and objectivity, not emotion, should control the process of justice. 8.

Texas is responsible for over 30% of the executions in the U.S.
A former district attorney of Bexar County, Texas, Sam Millsap, recognizes the fallibility of the death penalty system, saying that an honest assessment of the problems is overdue.
Millsap concludes,"When it comes to human life, a system that gets it right most of the time should not exist at all." 9.



REFERENCES:
1. Henslin, James M.2007. Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach. Boston:Allyn and Bacon:175-177.
2. New York Times. October 1, 2007. "DNA exonerations lead to key policy changes throughout the US". DPIC.http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/federal-executions-19270-2993.2/11/2009.
3. Lajoie, Ron. Winter, 2007. "Troy Davis' Day in Court". Amnesty International:6.
AIUSA. Winter 2008. "Letter from Death Row." Amnesty International:7.
4. Texas Death Penalty Education and Resource Center. Feb. 13, 2009. "Costs".
http://texasdeathpenalty.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=39<em=62.
5. DPIC. February 13,2009. "Financial Facts About the Death Penalty".
http://wwwdeathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-death-penalty.
6. Ibid.
7. Katz, Jesse. Feb. 19,2000. "U.S. prison population reaches 2 million mark." San Antonio Express News:16A.
8. Parrillo, Vincent N. 1999. Contemporary Social Problems. Boston:Allyn Bacon:133-134.
Sullivan, Thomas J. 2000. Introduction to Social Problems. Boston:Allyn Bacon:324
9. Millsap, Sam. Dec. 13, 2008. "Death penalty system fatally flawed." San Antonio Express News:8B.