Ernest Van Den Haag's The Ultimate Punishment: A Defense
In "The Ultimate Punishment: A Defense”, Ernest Van Den Haag, former professor at Fordham University, writes, “Punishments are imposed on persons, not on...economic groups”. Haag is completely brushes aside the truth that the death penalty is unjust to citizens with an unfavorable socioeconomic status. 95% of criminals on death row in the United States are originally impoverished citizens. These poverty-stricken defendants cannot afford lawyers, but the defense system available for them is commonly underfunded. As a result of this hindrance, court-appointed lawyers for these defendants are not compensated adequately, which results in a lack of competent lawyers due to low enticement. Additionally, poverty-stricken citizens are at a major disadvantage due to the presence of payoffs and bribes throughout their trial. These citizens on trial have spent most of their lives in unfortunate situations, going days on end without food, water, or shelter; all basic needs for survival. Because of this arduous upbringing, it’s likely that justice will not take a high priority because of the money involved. The gap between the wealthy and the impoverished will continue to grow, increasing the amount of people who will be at a disadvantage in our justice system due to their lack of wealth. With the death penalty still in place, these citizens will certainly be subjected to an unfair trial, like how Edward Elmore’s initial trial took only eight days. If his court-appointed defense team
Summary Of Life Sentences By Christopher Shea
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Summary Of 13th
794 Words | 4 PagesThe documentary 13th was released on October 7, 2016 and it triggered a worldwide shock. As a documentary, it was adept enough to address several ongoing issues, especially regarding the maltreatment of African Americans, but the documentary was shaped around the theme that African Americans were never free, and continue to fight for that freedom. The content within the documentary varied from earlier times where slavery, segregation and, Jim Crow laws existed to the more implicit manner of racism that is presented through the massive imprisonment of African Americans, and unjustified use of the criminal justice system against them. The documentary revolves around three main themes: the overrepresentation of African Americans in the media,
Comparing Bruce Western's Punishment And Inequality In America
98 Words | 1 PagesOver the last thirty years, the prison population in the United States has increased more than seven-fold to over two million people, including vastly disproportionate numbers of minorities and people with little education. For some racial and educational groups, incarceration has become a depressingly regular experience, and prison culture and influence pervade their communities. Almost 60 percent of black male high school drop-outs in their early thirties have spent time in prison. In Punishment and Inequality in America, sociologist Bruce Western explores the recent era of mass incarceration and the serious social and economic consequences it has wrought.
Death Penalty Fails To Equal Retribution By Anna Quindlen
304 Words | 2 PagesEditor Anna Quindlen wrote many articles and essays conveying her opinion toward the death penalty. Such as, “Death Penalty Fails to Equal Retribution” and “Public & Private; The High Cost of Death”. Although Anna Quindlen makes many valuable accusations regarding her reasoning to being opposed to the death penalty, she undermines the real purpose of the penalty itself. The Death penalty, is indeed necessary. Many of the accusations Anna proclaims permit to the emotions of the victims families that have been robbed of their loved one by the said killer.
The Rescue Defence Of Capital Punishment By Steve Aspenson
744 Words | 3 PagesCapital punishment has long been a heavily debated issue. In his article, “The Rescue Defence of Capital Punishment,” author Steve Aspenson make a moral argument in favor of capital punishment on the grounds that that is the only way to bring about justice and “rescue” murder victims. Aspenson argues as follows: 1. We have a general, prima facie duty to rescue victims from increasing harm. 2.
Casey Anthony Death Penalty
980 Words | 4 PagesSupposedly capital punishment was created to deter criminals from committing horrible acts of rape and murder, however, today judges and the jury are eager to make anyone the scapegoat for the crimes committed; even the innocent. Nowadays, the judicial system becomes more discriminatory, toward gender, income, and race, in capital crime cases because of the desire to find, what is hoped to be, justice. When someone is convicted of any crime and is in the process of being arrested it is a law that his or her Miranda Rights must be stated before the arrest takes place. One of the major rights stated is “ If you cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed to you.” Now, if the person being arrested has a higher income normally the attorney hired is very experienced and can make the most guilty person sound innocent.
Gideon V Wainwright Essay
432 Words | 2 PagesThe history of the modern right to counsel for defendants who cannot afford to pay for counsel or lawyer goes back over a century ago; the Indiana Supreme Court in Webb v. Baird, 6 Ind. 13 (1853), officially recognized the right to counsel for a person accused of a crime. However, this decision was not based on constitutional or statutory law but warranted under “the principles of a civilized society.” Since the case of Webb v. Baird, the courts have immensely extended the right to counsel beyond just appointing an indigent person an attorney. For more than a hundred years, the Right to Counsel Clause was interpreted as simply granting the right to retain a private attorney to a defendant but didn’t mean that a poor criminal defendant had
The Pros And Cons Of The American Jury System
1552 Words | 7 PagesThe judge presided over the trial and served as a legal expert… The jury heard the events and accused guilty or not-guilty (Is The American Jury System Still A Good Idea?). ” Jury trials should remain an option because because we as Americans have the right of the seventh , jurors are only told 100 percent of proven information, and the jurors are not influenced by media, people, or unproven information to make a decision and the
Summary Of Ethan Couch's Affluenza Defense
1013 Words | 5 PagesThis is an interesting question to pose because Zurcher can see the inequality in the justice system, especially when it came to the case of Ethan Couch. Rather than allowing this teenage boy to take responsibility for his actions, money ultimately made the decision for him. Couch did wrong by drinking and driving and did even worse when he killed four people. Time and time again, it is shown that those who have money oftentimes come out of the courtroom with better news than those who are not as financially secure. If someone has money, they will be able to pay for the best lawyers out there.
Summary Of The Rich Get Richer And The Poor Get Prison
1586 Words | 7 PagesThe criminal justice system may be more corrupt than the people who fill our prisons. It is amazing to see the many ways that certain parts of society actually benefit from the current system we support. This book,The Rich Get Richer and The Poor Get Prison, by authors Jeffrey Reiman and Paul Leighton, has open my eyes to a very corrupt idealism. They are very precise in their supporting examples as well by walking the reader through each step and analogy.
Igor Primoratz's Argument For The Death Penalty
756 Words | 4 PagesIgor Primoratz sets forth an argument that to ensure justice in the legal system the utilization of capital punishment is necessary. According to Primoratz there is no punishment of any equivalence to that of murder, whereas for less severe crimes fines and prison time is reasonable. Primoratz argument consists of three defences to common feedback to the action of capital punishment. The one that was most appealing to me being whether it violates the right to life. To this he responds that when the took the life of another human they lost this right; as these right are only given to those who respect the rights of others.
Pyrrhic Defeat Theory
774 Words | 4 PagesThe United States prides itself on being a country of opportunities where the underprivileged can rise up and everyone is treated equally, but is that really the case? In reality the income of an individual gives them advantages of going above the system. The sociological explanation of the influence of the wealthy over the criminal justice system is described in the of the Pyrrhic defeat theory written in Jeffrey Reiman and Paul Leighton book The Rich Get Richer and the Poor get Prison Ideology, class and Criminal Justice. The Pyrrhic defeat theory emphasizes the failure of the criminal justice is the consequence of success for those in power, who are taking advantage of the system.
Jeffrey Reiman's Arguments Against Capital Punishment
1646 Words | 7 PagesThe topic of capital punishment presents a test of values. The arguments in support of and opposition to the death penalty are complex. In the end, this is a question of an individual’s values and morals. The topic requires careful thought to reach a reasoned position. Both sides of the argument are defensible.
Wrongful Convictions In Criminal Justice
539 Words | 3 PagesThe biggest issue within the Criminal Justice system is the large number of wrongful convictions, innocent people sentenced to die for crimes they did not commit. People are put in prison for years, even executed for false convictions. This affects not only those put in prison but friends and family of the accused. Wrongful convictions aren’t solely a tragedy for those directly involved either. It weakens the faith the public has for the justice system as well as poses safety issues; when innocent people are put away, the real criminals are still out there.
Annotated Bibliography On Death Penalty
1145 Words | 5 PagesAnother issue that was discussed is the inequality of death penalty in practice. There have been serious issues with racial discrimination. For reference in cases with white victims and black defendants convictions occurred twenty two percent of the time while with black victims and white defendants with percentage dropped to a measly three
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