and economics that on what is right. In 1972 in the case of Furman vs. Georgia, three black defendants appealed their deathsentence to the U.S. Supreme Court on the grounds that capital punishment, at least in the casedof rape and murder, constituted cruel and unusual punishment (Link 1987). Their argument wasthat other defendants, many of whom were white, committed equal or more serious crimes andwere not sentenced to death. They felt that they were being discriminated against because of theircolor. And they were right, there was, in fact, good statistical support for their claim that capitalpunishment is racist. Eighty-nine percent of those executed for rape between 1930 and 1967 wereblack (Radelet 1981). Different people in power can change the definition of deviance. In recent years, there hasbeen an increasing tendency for acts and behaviors that used to be labeled deviant to be labeledillness instead. In court, instead of being guilty of murder, a person can claim insanity and bereleased from guilt. There is no sentence of being guilty and insane. You can be guilty of thecrime, but be insane, rendering you the charge of not guilty. Also, many now consider alcoholismto be a disease. When someone who used to be labeled deviant now is viewed as sick or ill, thereaction of the public is different. These days, it is no longer right to put people in jail for beingalcoholic, instead they are put in the hospital or in programs to help them get well. Other forms ofdeviance, such as child abuse, gambling, murder, and rape, may viewed as forms of mental illnessthat are better treated by physicians then sheriffs (Link 1987). The public as well as courts andjudges believe that although some murderers, rapists and so on are mentally ill and should betreated by physicians, others are just bad and should be put in jail. This difference in how theywere labeled may have something to do with their race, gender, or class. Andrea Yates, a 36 year ol...
