Examples Of The Death Penalty In To Kill A Mockingbird

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The novel To Kill A Mockingbird has similar issues that we deal with in today's world, but shows at a less intense level through young Scouts eyes. One of the issues present is capital punishment or better known as the death penalty. In the novel, we don't really get the whole idea of it and its impacts since Scout doesn't completely understand it. Initially the death penalty was used for even minor offenses like stealing grapes, killing chickens,and trading with Indians. Although it was never outlawed, the cases to cause it greatly decreased over the years to only some first degree murders and other major offenses. People believe that death is much worse than being sentenced to a life in prison. In colonial times one of the biggest debates was whether to abolish capital punishment or not. Some settlers believed that it actually increased the crime rate instead of decrease it. Thirty-one states currently enforce the death penalty, including Alabama, where To Kill A Mockingbird takes place. We know that Tom was going to get the death penalty because Atticus says ¨ Link, that boy might go to the chair, but he's not going till the truth's told.¨ (Lee, 195) Crimes that can result in the death penalty are espionage, treason, death resulting from aircraft hijacking, and some first degree murders. Currently in 19 states …show more content…
If we analyze when Tom gets shot and killed, we can infer that he figured he had nothing to lose because he was going to be sentenced. He also thought this because he was black so he had no chance in his case because blacks and whites were not treated equally in the courts even if they were supposed to be. In conclusion, there was valuable evidence for Tom and none against but the people who could truly see his innocence in the jury were outnumbered by the racist individuals who saw his dark skin as a
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