Women on Death Row

By the end of the last decade, there were 35 or more women facing execution and living on Death Row in the United States (Baldauf, 1998). If statistics are any indicator, America's justice system is often very reluctant to execute female felons. Baldauf (1998) has reported on studies demonstrating that while women account for one out of every eight Americans arrested for murder, they also represent only one out of seventy of the people who are sentenced to Death Row. Though women are screened out of the process all the way through the criminal justice system, in recent years, the execution of Karla Faye Tucker has fostered renewed attention to the question of how the justice system treats female felons convicted of crimes sufficient to warrant the application of the death penalty. This brief report will consider the question of two women currently on Death Row - both in Texas - and discuss the outlook for their cases.

The first case is that of Cathy Henderson, who was convicted of capital murder in the death of an infant on May 17, 1995, after a six-day trial. Henderson was convicted of murdering a three-month old male child, though she claimed his death was accidental. Henderson buried the baby and ran, eventually being captured and brought to trial in Gatesville, Texas. Testifying against her, the Travis County Medical Examiner and the County Sheriff depicted Henderson as incapable of sympathizing with other human beings (Friends of Cathy Henderson Fund, 2000).

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ar's driver and had bragged to cell mates about the murder at the time of her arrest (Weathers, 1999). At trial, Sheppard argued that she was not a willing accomplice to murder but had acted under duress and because of threats from Dickerson that he would kill her and/or her 10-month-old baby if she did not follow his orders. Sheppard's lawyers did not introduce this claim in her defense or present to the jury, critical details about Sheppard's life which might have served to persuade a juror or several jurors that she did not deserve the death penalty. During the sentencing phase of the trial, the defense made little or no effort to present Sheppard to the jury as a human being whose mind-set and fear may have been responsible for her involvement in the crime. Similarly, her history of physical abuse at the hands of one of her children's father, Jerry Bryant, was never presented to the court at her trial (Weathers, 1999). Sheppard also had a history of physical abuse at the hands of her parents and a baby sitter, and was allegedly sexually abused during her adolescence. She had her first abortion at the age of 13 and by 16 had dropped out of high school to have the first of her three children, each by a different man. Sh

Category: Government - W