Oct 22nd, 2009
Posted by Brian Stull, Capital Punishment Project at 11:12am	Capital Punishment, Defending Targets of Discrimination, Racial Justice

Race and Death Penalty Links Run Deep and Wide

(Also posted on Daily Kos.)

Last week, South Carolina pardoned two great-uncles of radio personality Tom Joyner, both executed in 1913 for a murder they did not commit. The two African-American men had been falsely accused and wrongfully convicted of killing a white Confederate Army veteran. Historical records demonstrate that the authorities probably declined to prosecute the most likely suspects to avoid revealing that the victim was having an affair with a young black woman in the community.

This was 1913. This was South Carolina. But even with a black president governing in a purportedly post-racial world, race still plays a major role across the country in who lives, who dies and even who gets charged with a capital crime.

In the United States, each death-penalty state, as well as the federal government, has its own capital-sentencing statute and procedure. But what proves consistent throughout these various systems is the insidious influence of race on the decisions about who lives and who dies. Race looms large north and south, in the past and now, and whether the accused is innocent or guilty.

Nationally, studies consistently demonstrate that, everything else being equal, a defendant is approximately four times more likely to get the death penalty for killing a white person than for a black person. The racial configuration by far the more likely to result in a death sentence is a black defendant and a white victim. Studies of jurors from across various death penalty states demonstrate that in "black on white" murder cases with six or more white male jurors, juries issue a death sentence 78.3 percent of the time. But if three or more jurors were black males, the overproduction of death sentences disappears.

Under Connecticut's capital sentencing statute, black defendants have received death sentences at three times the rate of white defendants in cases with white victims. From 1995 to 2001 in New York (which has since abolished the death penalty) the state sought the death penalty twice as often when the victim was white as when the victim was black Historically, New York's numbers mock the principle of equal justice under the law: From 1890 to 1963 (when New York last performed an execution), 90.4 percent of executions were for the killing a white person, and 80 percent of those executed were black.

Under modern federal death penalty statutes as well, a majority of those sentenced to death have been people of color, a majority of those receiving a life plea have been white, and the government has sought the death penalty at an increased rate when the victim was white. (See the ACLU's 2007 report, The Persistent Problem of Racial Disparities in the Federal Death Penalty.)

The evidence of race's role takes definitive shape in individual cases also. For example, an Ohio case shows that the life of a black person has less value than that of a white person when deciding if a crime is capital. Gregory McKnight, a black man, was convicted of the separate murders of a young white woman and a young black man. Based on an extraordinarily tenuous theory that could have applied to either murder, the State charged McKnight with the aggravated kidnapping murder of the young white woman (but not of the young black man), and thereby obtained a death sentence

During the last two years, three men, including ACLU client Levon "Bo" Jones have been exonerated from North Carolina's death row: All three were falsely convicted of killing white victims. Jones was convicted and sentenced to death by an all white jury.

In a Texas case, a federal appeals court ruled that the State must grant a new trial to a Latino defendant who was sentenced to death based upon "expert" testimony that Latinos pose a greater threat of future dangerousness than whites.

As Justice Anthony Kennedy recognized in a recent Supreme Court case regarding school integration, race still matters in American society. Regrettably, race will likely still matter a century from now. The only surefire way to avoid further fatal mistakes like these, and to eradicate the role of race in the death penalty, is to abolish the death penalty itself.

Permalink |	Capital Punishment, Defending Targets of Discrimination, Racial Justice

1. Cameron Says:
   Oct 24th, 2009 at 2:55am

   I believe that race is thrown around carlessly and find it offensive. I being an American (NOT AFRICAN AMERICAN!!). I don't believe that color effects the sentencing of the crime. Its nonsense to believe so! It is stats that explain that. More blacks are commiting more capitol crimes than whites, so it makes sense that more blacks are being sentenced.

2. Paen Says:
   Oct 24th, 2009 at 1:22pm

   That's the problem with tokenism where
   a big show is put on when one person gets ahead while ignoring the problems that the vast majority are still left to deal with.

3. roald Says:
   Oct 27th, 2009 at 11:49am

   Cameron, please do some searching for impartial statistics and let me know if I need to find them for you. My memory is reading that (1) Americans whose ancestors came from Africa are more likely to be charged with more serious crimes for the same acts, and (2) if convicted, receive more serious punishments than the general population.

4. Karissa Polston Says:
   Nov 7th, 2009 at 1:55pm

   For one, if people were not committing crimes such as murder than we wouldn't have to worry about people of different race's receiving the death penalty. Murder is murder and if you are going to commit the crime, than people need to be prepared for the consequences at hand if it be the death penalty or not. It's hard for me to read about this issue because I think the issue should lay with the people committing the crime. Why are we not focused on the people committing such crimes as murder?

5. Jonathan Says:
   Nov 12th, 2009 at 12:18pm

   I agree with Karissa.
   Why are we trying to protect the lives of people who have shown blatant disregard for the lives of others?
   If you murder someone you have forfeited your own life.
   All murders deserve to lose their life for the lives they took.
   Quit blaming white people that racial prejudices still exist. Because ALL races are guilty of racism in some form.

6. roald Says:
   Nov 16th, 2009 at 1:22pm

   Jonathan, let's look at it from Karissa and your viewpoint. The study suggests that people of European ancestry are able to "get away with murder" at a higher rate than people of African ancestry. This denies justice to the victims and their families. Doesn't that make you angry and want to change the system?

7. Richard Says:
   Nov 20th, 2009 at 3:08am

   Just by pointing out differences in the crime rate and punishment of different racial groups, you are segregating. Regardless of what race you are, if you do the crime, do the time, and if it is severe enough to be determined to be a Capitol crime, you can share in what your victims felt. Live and let live, or pay the price.

8. roald Says:
   Nov 24th, 2009 at 2:06pm

   Richard - that is, without a doubt, the worst attempt to put forth a rational argument. The analyst is not being racist by examining whether race plays a role. As I noted before, reverse the argument. People of European descent do not do the time or share the pain in proportion to those of African descent. Are you outraged that the victims are less likely to receive justice?

9. Anonymous Says:
   Dec 8th, 2009 at 1:31am

   Here is my take on racism. I am a white male, just putting that out there for everyone to know what color I am before I speak my mind. If you ran a business and had one crew of 5 men 4 being african american and 1 being white and you told the white man to clean the port-a-potty he would do his job. On the other hand if you had another crew of 5 men 4 of them white and 1 african american and told the african american to clean the port-a-potty he would say you are racist and give you fits on why not have the white guy do it. I am by far not racist at all I have some best friends that are african american but over the years the african americans are the first ones to cry out racism and that they are being treated unfairly. Now tell me how often do you hear it the other way around?

10. Anonymous Says:
    Dec 27th, 2009 at 8:24pm

    Thats right!! The only thing racism is...is a crutch for weak minorities.

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