tal punishment argue that these high costs are due to "the lengthy time and the high expense result from innumerable appeals, many over 'technicalities' which have little or nothing to do with the question of guilt or innocence, and do little more than jam up the nation's court system. If these 'frivolous' appeals were eliminated, the procedure would neither take so long nor cost so much" (Kronenwetter 29). The moral issues concerning the legitimacy of the death have been brought by many supporters of capital punishment. They think that respect for life prohibits the use of the death penalty, while critics believe that respect for life requires it. Supporters look to the bible for support. Genesis 9:6 says, "Whosoever sheds man's blood, by man may his blood be shed." This classic argument in favor of the death penalty has usually been interpreted as a proper and moral reason for putting a murderer to death. "Let the punishment fit the crime" is its secondary counterpart (Cox). Both quotes basically say that the murderer deserves to die and it was his own fault for putting himself on death row. Supporters of capital punishment say that society has the right to kill in defense of its members, just as an individual has the right to kill in self defense for his or her own personal safety.In the United States, the main objection to capital punishment has been that it was always used unfairly, in at least three major ways. First, females are rarely sentenced to death and executed, even though 20 percent of all murders that have occurred in recent years were committed by women. Second, a disproportionate number of nonwhites are sentenced to death and executed. A black man who kills a white person is 11 times more likely to receive the death penalty than a white man who kills a black person. In Texas in 1991, blacks made up 12 percent of the population, but 48 percent of the prison population and 55.5 percent of those on death row are black (B...
