NCJ Number
129713
Editor(s)
M Burgess,
M Burgess
Date Published
1990
Length
208 pages
Annotation
A Missouri member of the United States House of Representatives analyzes the philosophical issues involved in capital punishment and uses data from a variety of research studies to support the conclusion that the imposition of capital punishment is influenced by socioeconomic and racial factors.
Abstract
The analysis notes that both Christian ethics and humanistic logic make capital punishment questionable, because only some murderers are executed. In addition, during the history of the United States race and economic status have been the dominant factors in determining who is executed. As a result, the death penalty is never given to the economically elite, and the severity of the punishment a criminal receives is often directly related to the race of both the perpetrator and the victim. Thus, minorities, poor white persons, and others who cannot afford first-class legal representation are victimized by capital punishment. Chapter notes, tables, index, and author biography