Jen's home on the web

Death Row in North Carolina
Injustices and Racism

Section 1:

My interests in the Death Penalty began two years ago, through conversations held with a fellow parishoner at the Newman Catholic Student Center Parish. At that time, I knew very little about the subject and did not have much of an opinion as to whether or not I should support the legislation regarding this topic. In order to understand in through the mind of someone who is directly affected by it, I adopted a death row inmate as a pen pal.

Since then, I have learned a lot about the emotions and thoughts a person experiences while living on Death Row. I have also learned that there are a largely disproportional number of minoriites who committed crimes on white people, on Death Row. North Carolina uses lethan injection as a means of putting criminals to death. I also have learned that there is a strong push for a moratorium, which is a time period in which no executions are carried out and researchers are given time to analyze the benefits and consequences of the Death Penalty. Due to mistakes during hte process, some other states have opted to re-evaluate their poliices regarding executions.

Through researching the death penalty in North Carolina, I would like to find out exactly how many minority men and women are currently serving time. I would like to know what the process of executing someone involves. I would also like to konw what my death row pen pal did to be convicted to death. All I know is that his crime was committed in Charlotte, about ten years ago.

Numerous groups of people may be interested in my findings. I would like to gear my research toward an organization called Campaign to End the Death Penalty. they could use my findings to provide information in their next newsletter. I think my research would help someone who is just formulating his or her own opinions to understand, in general what the debate is over.

Section I-b Keywords:
UNC Library catalog:
death penalty AND murder

Academic Universe Lexis-Nexis:
death penalty and murder

Search engine on Web:<http://www.yahoo.com>
death penalty and murder
North CArolina and death peantly and moratorium
not Patrician Daniels (she is a famous writer)

www.hotbot.com
"death penalty: and "north carolina"

Section II: Books, videotapes and CD-ROMs from UNC libraries:
Print sources:
Devane, Mary M. "The Origins of NOrth CArolina's Post-Furman Death Penatly" (M. A. University of North Carolina at Chapel HIll, 1995. Davis, Thesis History 1995 D488.)

Kytle, Calvin and Daniel Pollitt. Unjust in the much: the death penalty in North Carolina. Cahpel Hill: Chestnut Tree Press, 1999. Davis, KFN7965.C2 U55.

Mahler, R. S. and M. L. Dayan. Captial punishment update: review of North Carolina and United States Supreme Court decisions. North Carolina Death Penalty Resource Center, Spring 1990. NCC STate Docs Coll X20 8: C24.

Unah, Isaac. Race and the Death Penalty in North Caorlina: An Emperical Analysis. NCC, C343.2 U54r.

Non-print source:
"Facing the death penalty [video recording] : the sotry of Private Burmeister". Publisher: New York : Courtroom Television Network, [1995] Law audio/visual KF224.B875 F334 1995.

Section III: Academic Universe Lexis-Nexus Sources:

Mauro, Tony: High Court, Sans Scalia, May Take Up Juvenile Execution Question [newspaper article on-line]. Fulton County: American Lawyer Media, L.P., accessed 10 September 2001; available from http://eresources.lib.unc.edu/cgi-bin/external_database_auth?A=PS

Section IV: Web Sources on Your Topic
Title of Web Page: State v. Daniels
 Web address: http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/nc-supreme-court/jul2994/daniels
Brief description: This is an article which explains step-by-step the conviction of John Daniels. It appeals to unjust actions that were taken by judges and police officers by stating a law and showing how it was caried out during John's trial.
Sources of website: North Caraolina court documents

Title of Web Page: Death Penalty Facts, Racial Prejudices
 Web address: http://www.amnestyusa.org/abolish/racialprejudices.html
Brief description: This site dicusses some of the injustices found between trials of black and white criminals and the sentences they face. It provides concrete numbers and associates other sourhter states, along with North Carolina.
Sources of website: Amnesty International

Title of Web Page: Death Penalty Information Center: History of the Death Penalty
 Web address: http://deathpenaltyinfo.msu.edu/about/history/history-1.htm
Brief description: This is a ten-page document that tells the history of hte death penalty. It talks about the early roots of executions and finishes with objections of today, such as race and gender discrimination.
Sources of website: Death Penalty Information Center

Title of Web Page: A Broken System
 Web address: http://crime.miningco.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://207.153.244.129/section1.html
Brief description: This is a very lengthy article with sound statistics and facts explaining various errors with the systems of execution, all over the country. It probies a lot of substantial information. It also includes information aobut case studies and an experiment performed based on court cases.
Sources of website: Campaign for Justice Reform

Additional resources:
http:www.doc.state.nc.us/DOP/deathpenalty/deathrow/htm This is where I was able to find statistics and information about North Carolina Death Row inmate statistics. However, this site has been down form two days and I did not want to loose credit if it did not work when you tried it.

Section V: Mini-essay
TITLE: Death Penalty is a Form of Racism
(TOPIC AREA: North Carolina Practices)

In 1972, the Supreme Court ruled to end the practice of executions, based on Constitutional law. Since 1977, when the death penalty was reinstated, compelling evidence has suggested that the system is racially biased. "Although whites and blacks are victims of murder in approximately equal numbers, since 1977 the overwhelming majority of Death Row defendants, 80 percent, were executd for killing whites." (1) Despite this large discrepancy, the practice of convicting someone to the death penalty is still active in North Caorlina and various other states.

Based on the error rates, the push for a moratorium is a quite logical idea. A moratorium would give the state time to evaluate the process and possibly save lives of innocent people or individuals who have been treated unjustly. For example, John Daniel's case, it is debatable whether or not someone with an eleven year old comprehension level can understand what he has just doen. Also with an excess of drugs in a person's systems, can they really be capable of planning a murder, with is a condition of being found guilty of First Degree Murder. (2)

North Caorlina has recently passed a law in which a person with mental retardation (an IQ of less than 70) cannot be executed. (3) This shows positive steps toward attempting to make the system just or ended all together. By deciding that it was unfair to punish a person who is mentally retarded of a crime, may lead to not executing people with other mental hanicaps, such as psychotic disorders. Furthermore, statistics show that the nubmer of prioners who are minorities that committed crimes against white individuals is unnerving. Therefore, close consideration as to whether or not the state should institute a moratorium is a developing issue that will not settled anytime soon.

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