Is the application of the DP Racist?

quick poll:

but that racism also plays a role (in both the DP and in economic bias).

n/t

I will vote option one, but I believe it is unfair toward the poor and minorities especially.

I think we all know the answer to that.

Yes. It's racist. :shrug:

Just read this on deathpenaltyinfo.org

Amnesty Report Finds Racial Injustice in Death Penalty - According to a new report issued by Amnesty International, race continues to play a strong role in U.S. death penalty cases. In "U.S.: Death by Discrimination - The Continuing Role of Race in Capital Cases," Amnesty states that:

Even though blacks and whites are murder victims in nearly equal numbers of crimes, 80% of people executed since the death penalty was reinstated have been executed for murders involving white victims.
More than 20% of black defendants who have been executed were convicted by all-white juries.

Definitely racist.

see my post below

http://www.aclu.org/capital/unequal/10389pub20030226.html

Race and the Death Penalty (2/26/2003)

The color of a defendant and victim's skin plays a crucial and unacceptable role in deciding who receives the death penalty in America. People of color have accounted for a disproportionate 43 % of total executions since 1976 and 55 % of those currently awaiting execution. A moratorium of the death penalty is necessary to address the blatant prejudice in our application of the death penalty.

The jurisdictions with the highest percentages of minorities on its death row:

U.S. Military (86%)
Colorado (80%)
U.S. Government (77%)
Louisiana (72%)
Pennsylvania (70%)

While white victims account for approximately one-half of all murder victims, 80% of all Capital cases involve white victims. Furthermore, as of October 2002, 12 people have been executed where the defendant was white and the murder victim black, compared with 178 black defendants executed for murders with white victims.

For many years reports from around the country have found that a pervasive racial prejudice in the application of the death penalty exists.

Maryland Residents Take Urgent Action!

In January 2003, researchers at the University of Maryland concluded in a study commissioned by the Maryland Governor that defendants are much more likely to be sentenced to death if they have killed a white person. Urgent: Maryland residents can take action to send a free fax to their state legislators about a pending death penalty bill!

In August 2001, the New Jersey Supreme Court released a report which also found that the state's death penalty law is more likely to proceed against defendants who kill white victims.

In April 2001, researchers from the University of North Carolina released a study of all homicide cases in North Carolina between 1993 and 1997. The study found that the odds of getting a death sentence increased three and a half times if the victim was white rather than black

..much more..

I haven't been this disgusted since 11/2/04.

Or, maybe, of all the times I've been very disgusted, this rates about the same at that night.

to educate oneself
:shrug:

:evilgrin:

Man, I'm so disappointed in something right now.

Whatever. It doesn't matter. It's just another day.

... like Junior mocking Carla Fay Tucker. If I didn't know better ... :shrug:

is there an actual video of that?
anyone know?

... was the interviewer, as I recall. Or was it the Larry King Show? Dunno.

I haven't been reading most of these threads because I didn't want to blow one of my few remaining gaskets, especially not on reading some DUer's post, some DUer that I enjoy reading.

On the whole, the small sample I have read are appalling. And I better just shut up now.

those stats have nothing to do with the question of who receives the death penalty for the same crime.

nice try, no cigar

When talking about race and the death penalty, it's irrelevant to talk about race and murder.

If that's what you want to believe, that's your prerogative.

This is one area in which political correctness blurs the facts.

still doesn't work
if you want to assert that Blacks are convicted of more murders that is your prerogative. But that still has nothing to do with the question.
Or perhaps you are saying that since more Blacks are "criminals" they deserve the DP for the same crime a White may get prison time for?

"Or perhaps you are saying that since more Blacks are "criminals" they deserve the DP for the same crime a White may get prison time for?"

Nope. Never said that. Please try to avoid straw-man arguments and putting words in my mouth. I'll write my words, you write yours. Deal?

My point is that the articles and studies on race and the DP never seem to include any stats about who is committing the crimes. It's relevant information. If people want to have an honest discussion about this issue, why not have all the facts? That's always seemed like a good idea to me. Maybe some don't like it.

Also, it's not my prerogative to assert these figures. They are facts. If anyone has information that shows that these figures from the Justice Department's Bureau of Crime Statistics are inaccurate, I'm willing to see the evidence.

Now, it's 2:30 am and I'm off to sleep. I'm sure this thread will be lively in the morning so I'll check back here to see your response, and I'll be happy to take this up again with you. Have a nice night.

your insertion of those DOJ stats here was the straw-man.
Forgive me for being short, but the question was not "do blacks commit more crimes?".

That discussion would of course involve many issues, such as to what degree people from different segments of our society are actually arrested for crimes, and after that who actually gets convicted and who gets off. Still, that was not the subject of the poll.
Sorry if I put words in your mouth but I felt that you were implying this by applying those stats to the poll question.

The DP is not, in of itself, racist. It's application may be at times. However, it is also sexist and classist. Those are factors often overlooked.

I wasn't trying to bust your chops though. :)

On edit: I would still vote other because I don't think the application is always racist, but it would be illogical and historically inaccurate to say that racism hasn't played into the application of the DP in many cases.

it is the application of the DP that I was asking about.

and yes, I believe class and gender are factors also.

Our whole justice system is "out of whack." If you are "hot" enough, you can get out of bad situations. If you are not a minority, things will play better for you. Justice is not anywhere near blind in our country (and many others). Themis weeps.

A black person who kills a white person is more likely to wind up on death row than a white person who killed a black person.

based on racism. I don't think Americans' support of it is necessarily based that strongly on class prejudices, as I have known plenty of not-well-off people strongly supportive of it, and the strongest opponents of it I have known tended to be more affluent. I think that's why it's often played by the right as a "wedge" issue to divide Democrats along these lines.

I have seen various statistics on whether its application is itself based on race that contradict each other, though I have seen more that tend to make me think its application is based on race. However, I also agree that class is probably the stronger factor than race in terms of bias in its application.

there certainly is no denying that the ability to afford a good lawyer can make a world of difference!

n/t.

they make up 35% of death row (approximately). Whites make up over 50% of the population and 36% of death row.

Black criminal: Rap sheet

White criminal: Resume'