The purpose of this post concerns the number of opinions that have been expressed on the Huffington Post regarding the Jodi Arias case and the fact that the defendant is female. Complicate
d by the apparent view that if there are females on the jury panel the courts run the risk that sympathy will play a role in these jurors ability to follow the judicial instructio
ns that guilt or innocence is to based entirely on the evidence presented by the prosecutio
n and nothing else.
I am personally offended at the implicatio
n that women are not strong enough of mind and judgment to know that individual
s who commit crimes of this heinous level simply cannot be allowed the opportunit
y to continue to live among a civilized society. I believe that violent women has always existed, the trend of women who commit violent acts whether they are Domestic Violence or otherwise are growing at an alarming rate in this country. Thankfully it is not being ignored by those who have the power to do something about it. Unfortunat
ely not everyone is aware of this fact.
Respectfully, my continued posts in matters of this nature
and regardless of the article concerned are made in opposition to ‘knee jerk
generalizations’ when making comments. As
a full time Criminal Justice student, studying the law is what I do for approximately
8 – 10 hours a day for at least 4 – 5 days a week. While I am an active participant in these
matters within my home state, my studies are on a federal thus a national
level.
It is interesting how things change.
A review of English Common Law which is the
foundation of the American Criminal Justice System, historically it was socially
acceptable for a man to literally beat his wife, thus the origin of the saying “Rule
of Thumb” which means that as long as the husband used a stick that was no
thicker than his thumb the beating was acceptable. Also, in the case of a married woman being
raped, if she was not dead or very seriously injured in the course of her
defending herself the courts ruled that she was a willing participant because
she did not put up enough fight to defend her chastity.
The face of crime is changing drastically in this country
and it is not something that is going unnoticed by everyone. While there are many in our society that
maintain that men commit more violent crimes than do women, realistic reports
can be an eye opener. Statistics
provided by the Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics show a
clear rise in female perpetrated criminal activity.
More and more teenaged girls are not just joining forces
with male gangs, they are forming their own.
These girls are no longer willing to sit on the sidelines and are
responsible for committing 2 percent of gang related homicides in this country.
Bullying both face to face and through
the internet has become a serious concern across this country and statistic
show that girls perpetrate as many incidents as their boy counterparts. However once they reach high school the
incidents of girl perpetrated bullying nearly doubles that of those perpetrated
by boys.
Crimes committed by females throughout this county are
rising at alarming rates. Beginning as
young as 11 years old, these girls are learning that violence is a way to get
or be what they want. Many of them carry
this ideology on into adulthood which accounts for the rapidly increasing
numbers of women within the nations prisons and jails.
According to the FBI statistics for arrests during the
period 2004 through 2008, female arrests increased by 5.1 percent whereas male
arrests only increased 0.6 percent. Even
incarceration statistics demonstrate skyrocketing rate of convictions for women
offenders displaying a 33 percent increase during the first half of 2008. Female juvenile offenders have also seen a dramatic
increase in crime statistics. In 1980
statistics revealed that females represented only 11 percent of violent crimes,
by 2000 that proportion had grown to 18 percent and then escalated to a 30
percent increase by 2004.
Quoting the source above: “We believe that the statistics on women
offenders and prior physical and sexual abuse is shocking and is widely ignored
by society.”
Additionally, the statistics on a national level for
incarceration period of 2000 – 2010 show that female incarceration percentages increased
by 2.2 whereas the male population only increased by 1.6 percent, showing
nearly double the incarceration of female offenders verses male offenders.
Concerning the possibility that this woman could be
sentenced with the Death Penalty is of no consequence to me in light of various
information and statistics. The crime
that was perpetrated against Travis Alexander [regardless of who] is a very
heinous crime, one that in my opinion is deserving of a death sentence even if it
was Jodi Arias who committed the crime.
Regardless, currently 16 states have abolished the Death
Penalty, leaving only 34 who still carry this punishment books. Although
I am personally in support of the death penalty where the forensic science
evidence is not only quality but of a substantial amount to convince a
reasonably sound person that the defendant was the perpetrator of the crime for
which they have been charged; the Death Penalty has lost its power of deterrence. This is not due to fear of the sentence but
the knowledge that the sentence [if carried out at all] will not become a
reality for many years.
This particular fact is made clear when reviewing the fact
surrounding the Murder Felony Rule. I totally agree
with the essence of the Felony Murder Rule and the purpose behind it. The ideology should be that the idea or
threat of being sentenced to death would create an unwillingness to participate
in or to commit these types of crimes.
Individuals who go out and commit or participate in heinous crimes of
this nature should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. My observations in doing some outside
research regarding this topic for my Criminal Justice Thesis is that
unfortunately laws vary from state to state because as we know each state has
the right to either adopt or abandon a law completely or merely certain specifics
of those laws.
Unfortunately because of the current ‘social atmosphere’ regarding
the death penalty I believe that it has lost enough of its power that the purpose
and affect behind even the Felony Murder Rule has been similarly affected. Additionally there is the equation of the
number of convicted death row inmates that have been found innocent due to new
technology I feel strongly that although it is considered by many to be waste
of tax dollars to allow convicted criminals their constitutional rights to
appeal their convictions, this is an essential part of our justice system. We do this ensure that only the guilty are
punished and especially when the Death Penalty in on the table.
The following example is provided entirely for the purpose of
supporting not only my point that the death penalty [thus the Felony Murder
Rule] has lost the power [of deterrence] it once had but that there is nothing
to fear at all in too many cases. While
these inmates are in no way being sent to ‘Club Med’ Death Row inmates are held
in private cells and therefore not subjected to the hardships suffered by other
prisoners who are housed in the general prison population.
Additionally, Encyclopedia.com reports that:
“It can be a long wait on death row. Table 6.7
shows the average length of time prisoners spent under the sentence of death
before they were executed between 1977 and 2005. The average time between the
imposition of the death sentence and the execution was 125 months (10 years and
5 months). White prisoners waited an average of 123 months (10 years and 3 months)
and African-American prisoners waited an average of 131 months (10 years and 11
months) before their execution. Snell indicates that of the 60 inmates executed
in 2005, the average length of time they had been on death row was 128 months
(10 years and 8 months).
Table
6.8 lists the average number of years inmates spent on death row in various
states as of December 31,2005. The longest time reported was in Idaho (13.7
years), followed by Nevada (13.2 years), Florida (12.7 years), Tennessee (12.5
years), and California (12 years). Snell reports that Idaho had eighteen
prisoners under the sentence of death at the end of 2005. Of the three states
with the highest death row populations at year-end 2005—California, Texas, and
Florida—Texas reported the shortest average number of years under the sentence
of death (8.8 years).”
The statistics above reflect the entire number of inmates
housed on Death Row across the nation and do not distinguish between male or
female. Regardless the period of time between
sentencing and execution is the same. The
above statistics do not show the time period between the arrest and conviction
which can take approximately 4 to 6 years just to reach the court room.
Therefore the idea of the possibility that this woman could
be given the death penalty if convicted would have no bearing on my personal
decision of guilt or innocence if I were to be a part of the jury. It is the evidence and the prosecutors’
ability to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that this woman committed this
crime. The requirement is not ‘beyond a
shadow of a doubt’ but rather to present enough facts that a ‘reasonable
prudent person can see no other means by which this crime could have been
committed’ and that is what a great many people do not understand.
There is a quiet war going on at the Supreme Court level
regarding the Death Penalty. More and
more states are reviewing their stand on this issue due to the
constitutionality of it. Based on the
ideology of the Eight Amendment concerning concept that the ‘punishment should fit the
crime’ many legislators are proposing that the death penalty be completely
abolished in this country as it has already been in so many other countries
throughout Europe. The European
Convention of Human Rights has successfully convinced all 47 countries that
comprise the European Council to abolish the Death Penalty. This plays a vital factor in extradition
negotiations for American criminals who flee to European countries, the do not extradite
as long as there is a possibility that the offender will face the Death Penalty.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
