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).
Henderson has been characterized as a victim of sexual assault during her early childhood and as the child of an abusive and alcoholic mother. She had a history of inpatient care in a mental health clinic which was terminated when she lost her medical insurance. She was working as a baby sitter at the time of the crime and is currently awaiting the results of an appeal in Texas which will be heard in July and August 2000 (Friends of Cathy Henderson Fund, 2000)...