I have an interesting quandary about the application of the death penalty as carried out on men and women?

Question

I am against the death penalty but it seems that more men go to the death chamber than women even though women have committed similarly serious crimes.

I think society finds it much harder to execute a female and it is almost a taboo

Is this fair?

Incidentally I am 100% against the death penalty and I have statistics to prove that the death penalty IS used against men more than women whereby similarly serious muders have been committed by women

I just can't find the link right now ....

Answer 1

I am not against the death penalty, and on this I think we will have to agree to disagree.  However I think that you are right.  Women are given lighter sentences than men for equal crimes.  This applies to other things than the death penalty though.  In family court the woman is more often given the children in a divorce.   They are also more readily given child support.  This is especially true in Texas, where I live.

Answer 2

Female executions are definitely more controversial. They are often written about. It is often said that executioners get paid more money for executing a woman, certainly some have asked for more money because they say that it is always worse when it is a woman. Also, most first degree murder verdicts require some kind of aggravating circumstance to be death penalty eligible, like premeditation, or murder committed during the commission of another crime, like a rape or robbery, and since women rarely rape or rob and most murders by women are crimes of passion and therefore committed in the heat of the moment where there is no premeditation then they are rarely eligible for the death penalty.

Answer 3

I would like to see the statistics for this, they are often open to interpretation errors.

As for the gender issue... It might be interesting to do some research into the psychology of the jury. Things such as social loafing, first impressions, the gender split on the jury, perception of the evidence, the jury's understanding of the law (bear in mind they are only average people), the confidence and persuasiveness of the defendant, AND discounted evidence. Dispite the judge saying not to include it, jurors usually still consider it. So maybe women are just better at taking advantage of the above issues and are more likely to get away with the death penalty.

Answer 4

Name 2 male serial killers, Manson and Dahmer (easy right)

Name 1 female serial killer.

Most of the truly heinous crimes are committed by men not women.

Answer 5

Info for fathertime: Aileen Wuornos comes to mind.

For ninjabadger: For the numbers you asked about, take a look at

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article....

Answer 6

No, it is not fair.  

Personally, I believe putting a person to death keeps the rest of society from having to support them for the rest of their lives.

If they deserve it, then so be it.

Answer 7

"is that fair?"  - no logic in asking this question.  Judges do the best they can to keep the courts equitable.  Fair has nothing to do with it.  Is it fair that OJ is free?  Irrelevant.

Answer 8

If you are against the penalty why even ask for another opinion