Death Penalty Article

With the death penalty unit wrapping up, I thought it would be a good idea to direct your attention to this recent article. This is a follow up on the article that we previously read in class. I know that Mr. Kramer posted it on his blog, but I thought that I would do it too. Check it out below...

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Death Penalty #3

Stages-

In an effort to protect the rights of the accused, police try to be sure that they are arresting the right person for the crime. Unfortunately, many crimes that become cases of possible capital punishment are not caught in action by the police, and therefore all arrests must be made using evidence that is collected and by speaking to witnesses. While this is definitely a way to verify that the correct people are being arrested, it is also the first flaw in the system. A person’s life is directly being put into someone else’s hands. If a police officer shows the picture of a suspect to a witness, if that witness says “Yes, that’s the guy,” then he has sent that person to their deathbed, but if the witness says “No, that isn’t him,” then that is giving the police a huge reason to let that suspect go, even if it really was the murderer. The defendant’s case in the guilt phase trial is another way for the government to ensure that the accused are being given their rights. The defendant is allowed to present their argument and produce evidence that would show why they are innocent. In addition, it is now a rule that the penalty must be decided by a jury, rather than a judge. In the next stage, the Direct Appeal, the defendant is allowed to demonstrate that a mistake was made and that they are in fact innocent. Lastly, there is a stage called Clemency, in which a person is allowed to motion for their sentence to be reduced. I do not think that this is a sufficient system because many innocent people are being executed. While there definitely are a ton of stages that allow for an innocent person to prove themselves, I still think that something obviously has to be wrong with our system because there are many people being executed who are later found to be innocent.

Methods-

The most humane form of execution is definitely death by lethal injection. I think that all of the other forms of execution are “cruel and unusual” punishments and that they violate the 8^th Amendment. Hanging is “cruel and unusual” because the prisoner dies by fracturing or dislocating their neck. While this is a very quick process, there are many complications that can occur, causing the death to be very slow and painful. The next type of execution that was introduced, firing squad, is clearly “cruel and unusual.” Being executed by a firing squad means that a person is shot at by multiple people, eventually resulting in them bleeding out and dying. This is extremely cruel because being shot is extremely painful, let alone being shot five times. Sometimes, the heart can be missed, and the death then becomes extremely long and painful. Death by electrocution is also cruel and unusual because oftentimes a person does not die from the first shock. It is hard to say how many shocks it will take, but the body is literally frying like an egg afterwards. Lastly, death in a gas chamber is extremely cruel and unusual because it is extremely painful. Dr. Richard Traystman from John Hopkins University School of Medicine said that, "The person is unquestionably experiencing pain and extreme anxiety...The sensation is similar to the pain felt by a person during a heart attack, where essentially the heart is being deprived of oxygen." This is a horrible way to die, and making someone go through this type of pain is extremely cruel and unusual.

(Some pictures of the different methods of execution...)



Hanging





Firing Squad





Electrocution



Lethal Injection



Gas Chamber





State By State Data-

Looking at the maps with the different data, I found it to be very interesting how there were many trends regarding the death penalty and different races and genders. Looking at the data, California and Texas seem to be the states with the largest amounts of executions. Each time I filtered the results to see a different statistic, it always seemed that these states had an overwhelming majority of executions, especially California. I definitely think that there is racial profiling occurring in the executions. For the most part, most of the people being executed are white males. I think that the reason for this is the fear that sentencing someone of a different race to death would start an argument that that was racial discrimination. This, of course, is not always true, but I truly think that the government fears that these issues will arise, and therefore try to limit the amount of minorities that are sentenced to death. Another huge trend is in the gender. Basically, all of the people on death row are men. There are definitely some women scattered throughout the country, but for the most part, it is men who are on death row. Because of Roper v. Simmons in 2005, there are no juveniles on death row because it was considered “cruel and unusual” to sentence someone to the death penalty to a crime that they committed as a juvenile. I definitely think that there appears to be a trend in this data. It seems that mainly white males are the ones sentenced to the death penalty. I don’t think that this is the way it should be because each case should be treated equally. There should be guidelines as to when the death penalty is and is not appropriate, because I think that there is definitely a possibility that if a white male committed a crime and an Asian female committed the same crime, they would not receive the same consequences.

Looking at the information presented in the fact sheets, my previous response is shown to be correct and my opinions are only reiterated. Cases involving capital punishment are extremely expensive, and in many states each case costs over $2 million. Making the taxpayers pay for these executions seems completely unfair to me. Sentencing the accused to life without parole accomplishes the same thing as the death penalty because it is keeping these criminals off of the streets. In addition, these graphs prove that there is an extreme racial discrimination against white males when it comes to the death penalty. It is very obvious that the Death Penalty Information Center feels that there is a bias towards white males because they constantly include data that shows how there are many more white males on death row than any other race. My favorite piece of data from the information is that 88% of criminologists believe that executions do not lower homicide rates. I think that this is so interesting because one of the main purposes of having the death penalty is to lower the number or homicides, but it appears that this is not working.

Taking the I and P out of RIP

In my opinion, Clifford Boggess deserved to be executed and received the justice that he deserved. The case against Clifford Boggess was extremely complex, as there were many factors that strengthened and weakened the case against him. Ultimately, there are more aggravating factors that strengthen the necessity for execution than mitigating factors that lesson the necessity for execution. Yes, I do believe that people can change and that they can recognize their actions, but I also believe that people need to pay the price for what they did and need to suffer from the consequences. In the case of Clifford Boggess, his consequences are something irreversible…death.  Personally, I think that Boggess changed. I think that while in jail and on death row, Clifford Boggess was able to come to terms with himself and realize that what he had done was wrong. While this is very nice to know that he is remorseful, it does not change the fact that he brutally killed two men in a premeditated fashion. Boggess is a monster. He did not get into an argument with someone and shoot them, but he carefully planned out each murder and then gruesomely followed through on his plans. The first man that Boggess killed was an older man that he had known his entire life. Boggess was in need of money and decided to target someone weaker than him, an older man who worked at the store in town. Boggess carefully planned out what he was going to do, putting super glue on his fingers in an effort to eliminate the possibility of fingerprints being lifted from the crime scene. He then slit the man’s throat and repeatedly stabbed him in the Adam’s apple. This murder was carefully thought out and committed by a man with absolutely no soul. While this is definitely an aggravating factor that would strengthen the case against Boggess, there definitely are some facts that mitigate the case and make it seem less necessary to execute Boggess. Growing up, Boggess had a very difficult childhood. His mother was extremely abusive, whether she was abusing him physically or she was out abusing drugs. Boggess grew up with his grandparents because of his extremely tough childhood and became an all-star at his school. He was extremely academically successful, as well as being a star of the basketball and football teams. He was a multifaceted kid, being an athlete as well as a successful pianist. While these facts could strengthen the argument that Boggess didn’t deserve to be executed, they are not enough to overpower the immense amount of aggravating factors in this case.

3-4 weeks after his first murder, Boggess struck again. He walked into a gas station and shot the owner, another old man, in the back repeatedly. After being caught by the police, Boggess said that he didn’t even care that he was being arrested. He had absolutely no feelings for the people that he murdered and for the lives of the families that he terrorized, demonstrating the horrible qualities that he possessed and the awful person that he was. When on trial, Boggess threatened to kill the judge as well as his girlfriend, showing the danger that he would pose to society. This is no man that should be on our streets and he did not deserve to get a second chance at life.

Clifford Boggess brutally murdered two men and tore apart their families. Whether or not he is remorseful for his actions and knows what he did was wrong, he needs to face the consequences and face the death penalty. It is unfair for Boggess to be able to take the lives of two people but to be able to continue to live his life. He needs to pay for what he did and face execution. Boggess’ life has no societal value anymore. Society does not deserve to have such a horrible man living, and Boggess, no matter how good of an artist or how devout a Christian, does not deserve to be alive anymore. Boggess had his chance to be a good member of society, but he ruined that by murdering two people. Executing Boggess is the only option that would finally give justice to the families of the victims. Society is a better place without Clifford Boggess and this horrible, monstrous man does not even deserve to have “I.” and “P.” on his headstone. He deserves absolutely no peace in his death because of the horrible actions that he committed and the precious lives that he viciously stole.