Digital Commons Network^™

Gender And Capital Punishment: The Case Of Gaile Owens, Jenna Brashear

Kaleidoscope

The United States’ use of capital punishment is a practice oft-debated in many disciplines, but the gender imbalance of the death penalty in favor of women makes feminists one group hesitant to discuss the practice. Although females account for one in ten murder arrests, they are only one percent of the criminals actually executed. This paper examines the implications of capital punishment for women, and attempts to explain why women are executed at a disproportionately low rate. Trends that emerge include institutional structures, such as aggravating or mitigating factors, which are constructed in a manner that dictates the severest punishments …