Capital Punishment Why The South Is So Dirty Research Proposal

Capital Punishment Why The South Is So Dirty - Research Proposal Example Ironically, it has come at a time when the president of the country is an African-American who was thought to have been elected without the intervention of color, race or ethnic origin. This is somewhat manifest in two households in Orangeburg, South Carolina. The white Bolen family has antique wooden clocks on the wall. Coca-cola memorabilia decorate the house. They did not watch when President Obama delivered his health-care speech on television because they believe he is a liar. The congressman representing them is Joe Wilson, the Obama heckler. Some blocks away is the Elmore home where a portrait of civil rights movement activist Martin Luther King, Jr. is prominent. Obama campaign keepsakes are all around one of which says "Yes, We Did." The Elmore family is black; so is their representative in congress, James E. Clyburn, a top ranking Democrat who initiated the moves to punish Wilson for the heckling. Orangeburg appears to be booming and is attractive to investors. In one fundr aiser for a local technical school, people were talking about race. One state senator opined that Joe Wilson's inappropriate misdeed had nothing to do with race. This local legislator who made the comment about Wilson is a white but is supported by both black and white voters. (Tucker, Philip. In S.C., One Road Divides Two Ways of Thinking. September 22, 2009. The Washington Post. [internet]. With the above-cited circumstances, it is not easy to answer any question pertaining to whether or not there is a racist divide in the south or whether or not there is bias against the blacks in that part of the United States. This can be a more particular concern if the subject of analysis is capital punishment which involves the fate of human life. Capital punishment is not imposable in all the states of America. Even in those jurisdictions where there is a statutory provision for the death penalty, carrying it out is rare. A look at the number of executions will give a preliminary guide. Thirty seven convicts were executed in 2008 in nine states broken down according to location as follows - Texas 18 Virginia 4 Georgia 3 South Carolina 3 Florida 2 Mississippi 2 Ohio 2 Oklahoma 2 Kentucky 1 Of the aforementioned thirty seven, twenty (20) or fifty four per cent (54%) were white and seventeen (17) or forty six per cent (46%) were black. All of them were men. All of the nine states included above except for Ohio are situated in the south or in the nearest south. As of the end of the year 2006, there were 3,233 prisoners with pending death sentences in thirty five (35) states and the federal prison system while there were only 3,220 such prisoners as of the end of 2007. That is a reduction of thirteen (13) prisoners under sentence of death. The United States Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. On record from that time until date, more than