Death Row and Women :: Feminism Law Culture Essays

Death Row and WomenIn Hamurabi Law, if someone is criminate of off they mustiness take a leap into the closest river. If the accuse drowns, the accuser shall take possession of his class. If the accused emerges unhurt, then the accuser is put to death and his house is given as compensation to the accused. While the system of capital penalization in the United States is not quite as random, it has its own problems that fire oftentimes cross the fine line between arbitrary and absurd. The variation between white and colored male inmates is often the subject of study regarding this issue, and while that subject truely does deserve notice, little attention is paying to women as a group on death row. It is interesting to seek how clubhouse represents and identifies with women on death row in a but different manner than men or even other minority groups, even though they face similar discriminations in other facets of life. why is it that we are able to see effeminates not as killers, but commencement exercise as women or mothers? Our preconceived conceptions of motherhood and womanhood make a great difference in how we perceive female criminals, and in certain cases can be the difference between life and death.According to statistics from the Texas discussion section of Criminal Justice, of the 455 criminals on death row in the declare only 7 of them are women . This should tip us off to the manner in which we treat female criminals, even in the most pro-death penalty state in the country. Overall, women account for one in eight of people arrested for murder in America, but this ratio sinks to only one in 70 people currently on death row . This discrepancy must be a direct result of something, and is most probably attributed to societys perception of women that place these female criminals as women first, killers second. Its a reflection of societys view that women are less disposed to evil than men are, claims Jenni Gainsborough of the ACLU Natio nal Prison Project. We also look to feel sorrier for women than we do men, and assume that if a woman has committed a crime it is because she has faced abuse in the past (usually inflicted by a man). This is true to some extent as it is claimed that 95% of women in prison were victims of abuse , but the point is that we generally stress the importance of female abuse while oftentimes neglecting abuse endured by their male counterparts.