Issues that have perceived sustained attention
Since the U.S Supreme Court validated the capital sentence, it has been perceived differently by the individuals. Carol Steiker and Jordan Steiker came up with an article that identifies the various issues associated with the capital sentence. The problems which they discuss include capital punishment and American exceptionalism, race and the American death penalty, the recent decline of the American death penalty, and the American criminal justice in the wake of abolition. The capital sentence is a horrible thing, and it has been associated with corruption since its approval. The main issue that I discuss in this forum is the race and the American death penalty.
After the establishment of the death penalty, it was associated with several political and discrimination issues. Carol and Jordan address capital punishment to have been faced with racism. The history of racism in America has been poor for a long time. The differences between the African-Americans and the whites living in the United States have been speculated over the years. Carol Steiker and Jordan Steiker claims that when a white man killed an African-American, there is a probability of not facing the same charges of death sentence just like when the African-American kills the white. Traditionally, capital punishment was put in place to keep the economy of slavery active. The eighth and fourteenth amendments were later drafted to do away with discrimination when it comes to capital punishment. When the capital sentence cases were then associated with the discrimination, the motion came to a stop this kind of punishment. Jordan and Carol, therefore, say that for capital punishment to be observed, there should be no racism. Every person should be treated equally before the court of law irrespective of race. America should address the race issues in the court of law if they want the capital sentence to be taking place.