The death penalty is outdated. Photo courtesy of NPR. 

SADIA KHATRI | OPINION COLUMNIST | sskhatri@butler.edu 

Capital punishment has long been a pillar of the American criminal justice system and is alleged to be a form of punishment for only the most heinous of crimes.

But — as with most things in the U.S. — the death penalty is heavily racialized. Though Black Americans only make up about 16% of the population, Black individuals make up over 40% of the death row population. Black defendants are also three times more likely to receive the death penalty, compared to their white counterparts, if the victim of the case was white. 

Jishnu Guha-Majumdar, an assistant professor of political science, stressed that racist stereotypes and prejudices fuel how we perceive crime and criminals. 

“There’s all sorts of evidence that when people commit the same crimes, people of color tend to get punished more,” Guha-Majumdar said. “It’s only natural that the death penalty will be seen in that way, right? Black and Latino people, but men especially, are seen as more scary. So [through] the crimes they commit they’re more likely to be painted as incorrigible monsters.”

The troubling racial makeup of those on death row becomes even more concerning when considering wrongful convictions. Misconduct carried out by prosecutors or police departments is also increasingly common with death penalty cases; it is estimated that 87% of Black Americans who were on death row but exonerated were victims of some form of official misconduct. 

Keaton Smith, a sophomore history-political science major, stressed the importance of such statistics. 

“At the end of the day, we see Black people and people of color over-representing their demographics in the criminal system,” Smith said. “We need to think about why that is. Why are these people being charged with way higher sentences? And why are they being incarcerated more? And at the end of the day, that’s because this system was designed to incarcerate them.”

These statistics are not coincidental; the U.S. has a long history of strategically targeting marginalized communities. A 1972 Supreme Court decision attempted to define the death penalty as cruel and unusual punishment, specifically within the context of the state of Georgia. This was highly unfavorable in the South, which led to the passing of new death penalty legislation in many states to circumvent the Supreme Court’s ruling. 

Junior criminology-psychology major Skylar Ashcraft emphasized that such racism is embedded in the justice system.

“The death penalty does affect marginalized communities,” Ashcraft said. “But I think that goes for saying that the entire prison system affects those marginalized populations … a lot of times where we see the death penalty is toward minorities, and oftentimes they don’t get the opportunity for a different sentence.” 

These facts, coupled with persistent racism in other aspects of the criminal justice system create a bleak reality. Racist and white supremacist sentiment is so deeply embedded in our criminal justice systems, which has real impacts on real people. 

The execution of Marcellus Williams this past year is one that caught the attention of many. On Sept. 24, William was executed for a crime that he very likely had nothing to do with after spending over 23 years on death row.

Williams was sentenced for the murder of Felicia Gayle, who was murdered in her home. The available forensic evidence — which included fingerprints, hair and a trace of DNA on the murder weapon —  had no link to Williams. The case was also focused on unreliable testimonies from individuals bribed with the prospects of money and lessened criminal sentences. The victim’s family was also against Williams’ execution. 

Despite this, Williams was executed. 

“I think about legal lynching,” Smith said. “The legal system is inherently white supremacist as a byproduct of our many racial biases that we have in our legal system. And this disproportionately affects people of color, especially Black men, who are statistically always given harsh punishments.”

The death penalty is simply not a viable option for justice or rehabilitation. Many argue that capital punishment effectively discourages crime. It was found, however, that there is not always a decrease in homicides in states that practice capital punishment compared to states that do not. Over a four-year period, the homicide rate in two states that did not use capital punishment was approximately half the rate of a state that did use the death penalty. 

The gap between the homicide rates of states that do and do not use capital punishment has also been increasing since 1990. Non-death-penalty states have generally lower homicide rates. 

Capital punishment is also absurdly expensive. In California, over $125 million would be saved if a system without the death penalty was used, according to a 2008 measure. On average, it costs 48% more for a trial that calls for the death penalty than a trial that calls for a life sentence in Tennessee. 

In Indiana, the average cost to the county for a death penalty case is a little under $450,000, compared to an average that is slightly over $42,000 for a life sentence without parole. Capital punishment is not cheap and is funded through taxpayer dollars. 

“How much are you willing to sacrifice an innocent person for?” Guha-Majumdar said. “And I would think that the answer would be extremely high or infinite even and that we shouldn’t impose irreversible punishments on people when we do not have ….  complete certainty.”

The death penalty has proven itself to be an outdated, expensive and ineffective mechanism for reducing and preventing crime. Funds that could be used to genuinely improve the lives of Americans are instead being diverted toward a system of purported justice that is doing far more harm than good. 

A new system of justice that focuses on rehabilitation is important, and Guha-Majumdar emphasized this as well. 

“I do think we have to start with reducing the extreme unnecessary carcerality of our system,” Guha-Majumdar said. “Restorative justice is more about fixing or trying to restore what the victim has lost through processes that are sort of forms of community accountability.”

It should be noted that the 2024 Democratic campaign platform does not mention abolishing the death penalty. In past years, the party’s platform has historically included references to getting rid of capital punishment, with the 2016 platform referring to it as a form of punishment that is “cruel and unusual” and “has no place” in the U.S. 

Smith feels that legitimate justice cannot exist without an overhauling of the current system. 

“Currently, we’re using a retribution system,” Smith said. “It’s not that people ought to be punished so they can learn to be better; it’s so they can be punished for the sake of being punished. It’s a completely unsustainable process that encourages reoffending rates, that encourages the system to keep these people locked up for life. Because it’s never about giving the people these tools … it’s always about punishment for the sake of punishment, and to actually solve the problem, you’d have to first restructure the incarceration system to favor rehabilitation, to favor the intrinsic valuing of humanity.”

The death penalty is only one example that demonstrates the racism that is deeply rooted in the American criminal justice system. Our current criminal justice system is focused far less on progress and improvement and is instead concerned with forms of punishment that are wholly unproductive. 

Holding individuals who commit crimes accountable, while also working toward rehabilitation, is possible without upholding systems that seek to take advantage of marginalized populations. True rehabilitation and justice cannot exist when marginalized individuals are being targeted and disproportionately impacted. 

Systems built on supremacist ideology will never be successful or sustainable.