Within the article, Who Survives Death Row? An Individual and Contextual Analysis and chapter 17 of Forensic and Legal Psychology, there is a discussion regarding death penalty and the individual factors that are associated with the entirety of the process. Both sources of literature provide extensive details about examples regarding the death penalty and there are theoretical approaches that are discussed as well. Based on the theoretical approaches, there is also an allowance to apply those details which can be relevant within the field of forensics or law.
One major theoretical factor to take into consideration includes the conceptual idea of race. As stated within the article, there is a strong focus on race when discussing the death penalty among most forums (Jacobs, 2007). As a whole, this has become a moral issue since there is a power struggle that is often seen as well. As seen in chapter 17, the author indicates that if there is an African American murderer on trial, he or she is six times more likely to receive the death penalty when compared to a Caucasian murderer (Costanzo and Kraus 2015). Although there has been some slight progression in today’s society, this is a theoretical concept that continues to take place and researchers are currently examining the dimensions which trigger this connotation.
The minority struggle stated above is relevant to many fields and although there are multiple demands for laws which can ease some of the inequalities, there are still injustices that are seen on a daily basis. Most criminal justice agencies throughout the United States are run at a state level and the political factors are almost entirely federal which can create problematic occurrences. As a whole, there are constant disputes about race which are explained in both sources of literature and the negative executions should be decreased accordingly. There is a need for further change in order to allow for positive progression.
- Costanzo, M. & Kraus, D. (2015). Forensic and legal psychology. Worth Publishers:
New York. - Jacobs, D (2007). Who survives on death row? An individual and contextual analysis.
American Sociological Review, 23(3), 610-632.
