The Deadline

More than 80% of the people who have been executed, have been executed for the murder of white victims. How do you account for this? What effect might this have on perceptions of the justice system among people of color?

I really don’t think that you can bring numbers and stats into the justice system like this.  Every single person goes through the same process when it comes to the death penalty. Every single murder case is different because there is a different prosecutor, defendant, and victim. They don’t just give the death penalty out because somebody committed a first degree murder. There is a reason behind every penalty the justice system gives I think it just turned out that way that 80% of the people who have been executed murdered white people. I think this statistic makes the justice system think twice before giving the death sentence for somebody who killed a white person. They probably want to stay away from being prejudice, but still need to enforce the law.

There are currently over 3,000 men and women sentenced to death in the United States. Approximately 65 percent of American voters approve of the death penalty in states where capital punishment is legal. Why do you think the death penalty is so widely supported in this country? What forces do you think shape public opinion on the death penalty?

People support the death penalty because they think of an “eye for an eye” as being the best solution. Most people probably don’t understand everything the death penalty and  the process behind it. These 65 percent of the population think’s that revenge is the best option for a murderer and some of these people probably feel safer if a murderer is killed. I think the media influences the public’s opinion because all they talk about the crime the murderer committed, and how they did it. It makes the public feel bad for the victim and want revenge on the murderer.

What is your reaction to Stephen Bright’s quote about the exonerated prisoners?

“This was the third person released by the journalism students at Northwestern, and of course it doesn’t say much for our legal system when people spend sixteen years on death row for a crime they… didn’t commit. And that ultimately comes to light not because of the police or the prosecution, or the defense lawyers or the judicial system, but because a journalism class at Northwestern took it on as a class project to see whether or not these people were guilty or not. You know, if those students had taken chemistry that semester, these folks would have been executed.”

This quote really caught my ear when I first heard it. It is amazing that students in a journalism class who didn’t know much about the topic were assigned to reenact the case. It is unbelievable that they were the ones to actually prove a prisoner who was on death row for sixteen years. This really shows a loophole in the process of the death penalty. How can somebody who is innocent for that long not be taken off death row sooner? This quote really shows that there might be a problem with our legal system when it comes to capital punishment.

Death Penalty

Overall, I think that the stages in a capital punishment case are pretty fair and protect the rights of the suspect. Between the preliminary hearing and the grand jury stages, there is lots of time and people working to find evidence and decide if the suspect is guilty of his or her crime or not. The defendant will go through the preliminary hearing and it will be decided if there is enough evidence to prosecute a person. If there seems to be evidence, then the trial will move into the  grand jury where 23 people decide if indictments should be issued. Throughout this process, I find it hard to have a loophole in evidence. I think it would be real hard to prosecute an innocent person through those two sets. If the person is being charged with a crime, it moves into the guilt phase trial. Here the defendant goes through a fair trial with all the steps. Once a person is found guilty, they have so many chances and possibilities to appeal. A person then may appeal to all different levels of court, file for proportionality review, and petition to the Supreme Court. Throughout all these steps and phases, I think the criminals are treated with every right they deserve and the process is extremely long which helps the court make sure they have the right person.

The only method of execution that I found somewhat humane was lethal injection. That is why most states have that option today because it provides the least chance for pain and is quick and easy. The only way for the victim to feel anything is if the doctor misses a vain, which could cause pain. The victim is put to sleep and in his sleep he dies. I think that is the most peaceful way to execute somebody. I think the gas chamber, electric chair, and firing squad all should be ruled cruel and unusual by the 8^th Amendment. The electric chair fries a person’s body and it is said to have results where, “the prisoner's eyeballs sometimes pop out and rest on [his] cheeks. The prisoner often defecates, urinates, and vomits blood and drool. The body turns bright red as its temperature rises, and the prisoner's flesh swells and his skin stretches to the point of breaking. Sometimes the prisoner catches fire....Witnesses hear a loud and sustained sound like bacon frying, and the sickly sweet smell of burning flesh permeates the chamber.” I think that is absolutely disgusting and very inhuman. It is tearing apart their body and flesh which is not right. The gas chamber is inhumane because I learned that the gas makes the victim feel like they are having a heart attack and their eyes pop. This process seems to be very long as well and not an easy way to die for a person. The firing squad, even though it can be done quick and easy, is not right because putting a black bag over somebodies head and shooting them seems like they are murdering somebody straight of a movie.

After looking at the map and looking for trends, I found that all of the western states as well as the southern states all have death penalty laws. Sorting through the amount of black people vs white people on death row, the numbers seem to be pretty proportional. This proves that there is not much arbitrariness and racial discrimination involved. There are very few women on death row and I don’t think that has anything to do with arbitrariness.

Personally, I think the death penalty shouldn’t allowed in any state but if when the death penalty was legal in Illinois, the rules and regulations regarding capital punishment were fair. Everything on the statement clearly shows that a person who intends to murder another person, with exceptions like a juvenile, will be sent to death.  I think that all the crimes listed are good for capital punishment. For example, “The defendant has been convicted of killing two or more individuals” or “the murder was intentional and inflicted torture.” These statements without a doubt should lead to execution if the state was in favor of the death penalty. The stats from the Illinois death penalty history show that 20 people have been released from death row. I am not sure why Illinois got rid of the death penalty, but I am guessing they thought that too many people are put onto death row that are innocent.

The death penalty information center information is very convicting and the statistics really show that racial discriminations really don’t exist in the death penalty issue. The stats show that more white people are executed than blacks by 21% and there is just about as many black inmates on death row as white inmates. The amount of money to execute an inmate is in the millions and costs 3 million in Maryland. “In Texas, a death penalty case costs an average of $2.3 million, about three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell atthe highest security level for 40 years”. The amount of money that it takes to kill somebody is ridiculous. The stats about the public’s opinion on the death penalty are pretty close. 39% of people said they would like to see no death penalty while 33% of people said they wanted the death penalty. The issue over the death penalty will be debated and debated for a very long time.

Homecoming Friday

            This blog post goes back a couple weeks to the Friday of homecoming, which is the day of pep rally.  This issue regards my freedom of speech at school and its relation with the school dress code. On homecoming Friday, my friend and I wore rootsuits, which are full body spandex suits that have a mask part on the top so it can cover your face as well. You can easily take the mask part on and off. That Friday was class color day and as seniors, my friend and I wanted to go all out and show support for our class. We went out and bought these suits and walked into school that day together. Here is a link to see what these suits look like: http://www.rootsuit.com

            As my buddy and I went into school, we were immediately stopped by one of the deans and principle. We were told to take off the suits or get a detention. We talked about it and then the decision was made we needed to put shorts on over the suit and if the deans got any reports of us putting the mask part on during the day, we would have to take them off.  Even though this was pretty disappointing, I thought this was fair. I agree that you shouldn’t be allowed to wear something with a mask to school because it is distracting to school and potentially cause danger to others and myself.  On a day like this, many pictures are being taken throughout the school day, during and after class.  Would I really be that big of a deal to take some pictures with our suits fully zipped up? It really wasn’t that big of a deal because during class, I wouldn’t have the mask on because it would be hard to concentrate. After class, some teachers loved what I wore and actually asked and let me put up the mask to see what it looked like when I had it on. I was just upset that I had to worry about putting it up after class when people wanted to take pictures.            

            My friend and I followed the dean’s rules for the whole day, and the deans never got any reports about us breaking the rules or being disruptive. I actually talked to a different dean about wearing it to the pep rally and the football game later that night. He said, “ We just need to know who it is under the suit.”  It was time to go the pep rally and all of the seniors gathered together in one of the gyms so we could run in together.  Everybody was getting pumped up and making noise and the senior class was really getting excited. My friend and I decided we should put up our masks and because the day was over, it wouldn’t be a big deal if we ran into the gym and had our masks on for 5 seconds. As we ran as a class into the main gym, one of the deans was waiting for my friend and I and grabbed both of us. He made us take of the mask part and walk into the gym last. That really made me mad and I thought it was ridiculous because the school day was over and the dean who said he just needs to know who is under the suit saw my friend and I when the whole senior class was waiting to walk in together. After the pep rally, we talked to the deans and they wouldn’t let us wear them to the football game even though they knew who was under the suit and it was not during the school day so it was not distracting school. We learned that is a big factor from the Tinker v Des Moines case. There was nothing in the school handbook that talks about what I can’t wear after school hours to a school-sponsored event. There is no reason I shouldn’t have been able to wear my suit to the football game. All the administration talks about is getting people to the games and to cheer, but we try to have a little fun with that and they interfere with it.

Drug Testing In Schools

In both the Acton and Earls case, the court shows that the school does have the right to drug test anybody who participates in an extra-curricular activity.  The Acton case really focused on the idea of how drug testing doesn’t violate any privacy issues which the opposing side would argue. The case states that, “athletes require suiting up before each practice and event in the locker room, and changing afterwards.” Also, in Veronia’s public schools, students must submit to a “preseason physical exam that consists of a urine sample”. A lot of other detail in the case shows how male students produce a urine sample along a wall and are fully clothed. Female students produce samples in an enclosed stall, with a female monitor standing outside. The case argues that these conditions are just normal, standard conditions that take place in everyday life and there is no invasion of privacy at all. Another argument that came up in both cases was the idea that the “district must demonstrate a compelling need for the program.” Both cases showed that need because both towns had a high drug problem. The Acton case states, “Deterring drug use by our nation’s schoolchildren is at least as important as enhancing efficient enforcement of the nation’s laws against the importation of drugs.”  Moving to the Fourth Amendment, which comes up in both cases, the cases state that the, “Fourteenth Amendment extends the constitutional guarantee to search and seizures by state officers, including public school officials. We have held that state compelled collection of testing of urine such as that required by the student athlete drug policy, constitutes a search subject to the demands of the Fourth Amendment.” The court is saying that the law states that search and seizures by public school officials is okay and the testing of urine falls into this category. I totally agree with the court’s rulings her. They do have the right under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to test for drugs. Personally, I think the drug problem in kids today is out of control and there needs to be something done. The best way for a school to punish a kid is to take away what they love, which would be the activity or sport they are in. That would cause a real wakeup call and could definitely prevent some kids from doing drugs. If there is no invasion of privacy, there is no reason why drug testing shouldn’t be allowed.

In the article about the strip search, I agree with the court that it went over the line. A good quote from the article states "Neither the Constitution nor common sense permits school officials to treat a strip search the same as a locker or backpack search.” I totally believe in this quote and the fact that the school striped searched a girl with no bad record over Ibuprofen is ridiculous. If dogs come into school for no reason, I believe that is violating our rights as students. First, because there is no reasonable cause, there should be nothing to do with searching for drugs.  If the administration has a reason to search, then dogs could be an option but without any reasonable cause, there should be no dogs. Second, dogs could cause a distraction to school and disrupt the education process. I know for me that seeing dogs walking around the hallways would distract me. Also, it could put fear into other kids and scare them, which will cause distraction.