| dc.description.abstract | The death penalty remains one of the most controversial and highly debated topics both in and out of the realm of politics. Though existing since colonial times, the 1960s raised questions of the legitimacy of capital punishment, resulting in the United States Supreme Court striking down all death sentences in 1972. Despite being reinstated in 1976, suggestions that capital punishment stands at the forefront of a discriminatory criminal justice system are as constant as ever before. Researchers point to the disproportionate makeup of death row inmates on levels such as race, sex, socioeconomic status, and geographic location. However, what lacks amongst prior findings is a consensus on what singular factor explains the disparity in who receives the death penalty and who does not. Thus, this work examines some of the most commonly researched variables associated with discrimination in the application of the death penalty. Specifically, it conducts a large-n study of the sentences of defendants who were convicted of capital murder in Texas from 2012 to 2018, amounting to 233 cases. As a result, it forces the explanations offered by previous academics to "compete" against one another. The findings show that the most statistically significant variable affecting whether or not a defendant receives the death penalty, or a lesser sentence is geographic location. More precisely, defendants who commit capital crimes in rural counties are more likely to receive the death penalty than those in urban counties. Thus, this suggests scrutiny of the justness and legality of the practice of capital punishment. However, as many variables, most significantly, race, fail to produce statistically significant results, it is recommended that future research is done with a larger sample size to both re-evaluate the importance of certain factors, as well as offer a more conclusive answer to the root of the discrimination present in capital punishment. | |
