Essay: Death Sentences for Females in the US

Introduction

In the United States, while the execution of women remains rare, a deeper examination reveals pervasive gender bias within the criminal justice system. This essay delves into the often overlooked challenges faced by women by exploring how gender-based violence can propel them into criminality and subsequent prosecution. Furthermore, the essay will scrutinise racial disparities in death penalty sentencing, highlighting how the race of the victim influences the likelihood of punishment. Lastly, the essay will consider the impact of appearance on prosecution, particularly focusing on the intersection of race and Eurocentric beauty standards. Through this exploration, we aim to reflect on the US justice system and how the death sentence impacts women in the US.

The death penalty can be defined as a criminal sentence in which the defendant’s life is taken as a punishment for their crime. Several states in the USA have abolished the death penalty, however, it still exists in 21 states. The federal government identifies about 60 crimes under which the death penalty is punishable including murder, treason or other crimes which result in death. A large justification of the death penalty is deterrence, as the threat of execution is often sufficient to dissuade people from committing crimes. However, in the USA, the execution for female offenders is quite rare, with only 3.6% of the total 16,047 confirmed executions between 1608 and 2022 being women. 

Gender bias

Historically, women have not received the death penalty at the same rate as men, constituting only about 1% of executions. However, research has also revealed that more than 90% of women who are currently facing death sentences around the world have endured at least one form of gender-based violence.  For example, child sexual abuse, rape or intimate partner violence.  

Women in the U.S. suffer unique challenges in the legal system as they are exposed to intersectional discrimination in every part of the judicial process resulting in the death penalty. Sandra Babcock discusses how women’s “pathways to death sentences are inextricably linked to their experience of gender oppression, of discrimination, and violence.”  This concept is also emphasised in a study by Professor Steven Schatz which highlights that the death penalty in California seems to be exercised by certain stereotypes about women’s abilities, their capacity for violence, their role in wider society, and the historic notion of chivalry. Inspecting 1,300 murder cases in California between 2003 and 2005 reinforces this notion of gender bias since it was uncovered that crimes like gang murders and domestic violence murders carry few death sentences compared to the many death sentences handed out in rape-murders. 8 Harmful stereotypes about how women should behave have a great impact on how they are sentenced, the cases of Brenda Andrew and Brittany Holberg are perfect examples.  In both cases, it was alleged that gender bias denied them fair trials, in Andrews’ case the prosecution attempted to depict her as an unfaithful wife, hyper-sexual and a bad mother when before her arrest she was a Sunday school teacher with no criminal record. Similarly, Holberg’s prosecution presented the story of a drug-addicted, sex-crazed prostitute, ignoring the neglect and sexual abuse that occurred in her childhood. This highlights damaging stereotypes instead of focusing on guilt or innocence. 

Racial bias

The death penalty has long been a subject of scrutiny due to its suspected racial biases.

 The 2007 Streib report documented the 157 women who had received the death sentence, the 49 women on death row, and the 11 women who had been executed since 1973.  Of the 157 women, 64.3% were Caucasian, 26.3% African American, 6.4% Latina and 2.5% Native American. Although these figures were largely consistent with levels of representation, there was a noticeable disparity between African and Native American women whose percentages were double their percentage within the U.S. female population. This may indicate a trend of disproportionate sentencing of women on racial grounds, although one must exercise caution in detecting trends due to the small sample of women of colour on death row. 

In February 1990, the United States General Accounting Office stated that “In 82% of the studies [reviewed], race of the victim was found to influence the likelihood of being charged with capital murder or receiving the death penalty,”which indicates overt bias within the U.S justice system. This can be observed in the Louise Harris case in which Harris was unaware of McCarter’s plan to kill her husband, yet was still sentenced to death. Information regarding her history of abuse and trauma, resulting in her suffering fromPost-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Battered Women’s Syndrome, and Dissociative Disorder was omitted at her trial. Although this may not correlate with her race, previously mentioned statistical evidence of bias against African American defendants aligns with the arguable unfairness of Harris’ trial. Therefore, it is certainly arguable that racial bias is a factor faced by women sentenced to the death penalty. 

Beauty and Prosecution

Racial bias is deeply ingrained in the institutional framework of the US justice system. Therefore, when examining the severity of the sentences that women face in the US, it is important to consider how the intersection of race and attractiveness shapes the severity of punishment. In the context of capital punishment, the influence of femininity on sentencing should be considered. Femininity may be directly related to the physical appearance of the female offender.  Research has shown that those who are more physically attractive and associated with femininity are less likely to be perceived as dangerous and less likely to be sentenced to prison. Criminal offences are often associated with masculinity, and considering the prevailing stereotype of over-masculinity and dangerousness that is closely attributed to African Americans, this intertwines race and skin tone with perceived criminality.  This prejudice underscores the disparity in treatment within the justice system. Research has shown that darker-skinned Black people and white people with more Afrocentric features are sentenced more harshly. Eurocentric beauty standards for physical attractiveness unfairly benefit white women in the US justice system. For instance, in 2011 Casey Anthony was shockingly found not guilty despite strong evidence that she murdered her daughter. One inescapable possibility for such a controversial verdict was her appearance, as her attractiveness played a pivotal role in the way she was viewed by the jury. Ultimately, this reveals the likely presence of unconscious biases within the jury, compounded by implicit racial prejudices. This distorts how females in the US are prosecuted and who face the death penalty, due to the ‘halo effect’ given to white women in court.

Conclusion 

In conclusion, following our research of death sentences for females in the United States we have uncovered a worrying trend of gender bias, racial bias, and the influence of beauty and appearance on the outcomes of prosecution. Despite constituting only a small percentage of death sentences, these women who are facing the death penalty often share a history of gender-based violence, harmful stereotypes, and discrimination. Racial biases further reinforce this unfairness as women of colour also disproportionately constitute death row. Furthermore, the convergence of beauty and race perpetuates the disparities in sentencing. These discoveries accentuate flaws in the judicial process of death sentencing, stressing the urgency for reform to guarantee fairness and justice for every person facing a death sentence. 

Bibliography 

Books 

Sandra , B. and Greenfield , N. (2023). Gender, Violence, and the Death Penalty. 2nd ed. [online] CWSL Scholarly Commons . Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.cwsl.edu/cwilj/vol53/iss2/4 [Accessed 28 Mar. 2024].

Articles 

Beaver KM, Boccio C, Smith S and Ferguson CJ, Physical attractiveness and criminal justice processing: results from a longitudinal sample of youth and young adults, Psychiatry, Psychology and Law (Taylor & Francis Group, Vol 26, No. 4, 2019) 

Bell C, Lee G, Pazzani L and Vuk M, If Looks Could Kill: Do Characteristics of Female Offenders Influence Death Penalty Sentencing Decisions?, Women & Criminal Justice (Taylor & Francis Group 2021)

Websites 

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Death Penalty Information Center, ‘Deterrence’ (Death Penalty Information Center2019) <https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/deterrence> accessed 4 April 2024

‘Discussions with DPIC: Gender and the Death Penalty with Sandra Babcock’ (Death Penalty Information Center 28 November 2023) <https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/news/discussions-with-dpic-gender-and-the-death-penalty-with-sandra-babcock>

‘Executions by Race and Race of Victim’ (Death Penalty Information Center2019) <https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/executions-overview/executions-by-race-and-race-of-victim> accessed 20 March 2024

‘Executions of Women’ (Death Penalty Information Center2016) <https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/death-row/women/executions-of-women> accessed 4 April 2024

Gale, ‘Scholarly Articles on the Death Penalty: History & Journal Articles’ (www.gale.com2021) <https://www.gale.com/open-access/death-penalty> accessed 4 April 2024

Greenlee H and Greenlee SP, ‘Women and the Death Penalty: Racial Disparities and Differences Women and the Death Penalty: Racial Disparities and Differences Part of the Law and Gender Commons, and the Law Enforcement and Corrections Commons Repository Citation Repository Citation’ (2008) 14 William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice 323 <https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1035&context=wmjowl> accessed 22 March 2024

Johnson BD and King RD, Facial Profiling: Race, Physical Appearance, and Punishment, Criminology ( American Society of Criminology, Vol 55, issue 3, 2017)

‘Race’ (Death Penalty Information Center2019) <https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/race> accessed 4 April 2024

Salvayre L and Lapidus R, ‘Refutation’ (2004) 33 SubStance 10 <https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/womenondeathrow.pdf> accessed 21 March 2024

Streib V, ‘DEATH PENALTY for FEMALE OFFENDERS, Issue #65’ (1973) <https://dpic-cdn.org/production/legacy/femaledeathrow.pdf> accessed 24 March 2024

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‘Two Amicus Briefs Argue That Gender Bias Denied Two Death-Sentenced Women Fair Trials’ (Death Penalty Information Centre 25 August 2023) <https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/news/two-amicus-briefs-argue-that-gender-bias-denied-two-death-sentenced-women-fair-trials>