Part one of term paper
In an average year about 20,000 homicides occur in the United States. Fewer than 300 convicted murderers are sentenced to death. But because no more than thirty murderers have been executed in any recent year, most convicts sentenced to death are likely to die of old age. Nonetheless, the death penalty looms large in discussions. The dea ...

Part two of term paper
... society. Consideration of the justice, morality, or usefulness, of capital punishment is often confused with objections to its alleged discriminatory distribution among the guilty. Wrongly so. Maldistribution inheres no more in capital cases than in any other punishment. Because of the finality of the death penalty, the most grievous maldistribution occurs when it is imposed upon the innocent. However, the frequent allegations of discrimination refer to maldistribution among the guilty and not t ...