The Death Penalty and Women

Abstract

The death penalty is served to mainly male offenders. There are a considerably fewer amount of women who have received the death penalty and been executed. During my research of the general topic of capital punishment and the death penalty, I began to wonder if women are let off the hook easier than men. The statistics of women versus men executed are overwhelmingly small. The death penalty was suspended in 1972 due to the United States Supreme Court case Furman v. Georgia. Only 16 women have been executed since 1976, when the death penalty was reinstated, out of 1490 executions total (DeathPenaltyInfo.org, 2018). This presentation will delve into the history of the death penalty, previous cases, and demographics behind women and the death penalty.