ut of every eight people arrested for murder is a woman (Gross 9). Only two women have been executed in the United States since the reinstatement of capital punishment. Karla Faye Tucker, a teenager at the time she committed her crime, hacked two people to death with a pickaxe in Texas. After her conviction she was sentenced to death. During the time she served in the Texas prison, she became a woman of strong Christian virtues. Since she was given no chance for parole, her only hope of life outside of death row was to be granted clemency by the governor of Texas. George Bush, then governor of Texas, did not grant Tucker clemency despite pleas from Pope John Paul II, churches, and Anti-Death Penalty groups from across the country. If anyone in Texas absolutely had to be executed, it would have been Tucker. If her life were spared because of her gender or religious beliefs, millions of prisoners across the country would have pled the same case (9). Margie Velma Barfield was a grandmother from North Carolina. She poisoned her fianc in 1985 and was later sentenced to die for her crime (9). Women are not excluded from the death penalty in America. In most states, there are no exceptions and no rules regarding who can or cannot be executed. The Constitution clearly states that "all men are created equal;" whether they are men or women does not matter. The cost of killing is a primary reason that some states do not enforce the death penalty. Instead of execution, these states choose to sentence convicted killers to a life sentence. The price of one execution is estimated to be around $2 million. This cost consists of a combination of fees. The primary reason for the expensive tab is the appeals and other actions the court may take. The executioner is paid between $60,000 and $150,000 per execution, depending on the type of execution. An electocutioner would be paid approximately $60,000. The chemist in a gas chamber would be paid more than an...
