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... Compelling economic and racial issues continue to mount; yet the criminal courts have been unwilling to admit the death penalty is a system marred by economic and racial bias. The disparities of wealth and racial discrimination in the criminal justice system of the U. ... Some of the potential causes for the continuing crisis of discrimination in capital cases include the unfettered discretion prosecutors and juries are allowed in deciding whether to seek the death penalty, inadequate legal counsel for the poor, and the under-representation of racial minorities in positions such as judges, prosecutors and attorneys within the legal system. Once ensconced into the center of the unfamiliar and frightening world of the criminal system, a person’s future is in the hands of those who have the power to charge, to prosecute, to judge, and if convicted, to sentence. Despite current legal measures intended to thwart arbitrary and discriminatory imposition of capital sentencing, race and poverty continue to play a significant role in the application of the death penalty in the United States.
History and the Continuance of Racial Disparities in the Application of the Death Penalty:
It has been scarcely a generation since this Court’s first decision striking down racial segregation, and barely two decades since the legislative prohibition of racial discrimination…but we cannot pretend that in three decades we have completely escaped the grip of historical legacy spanning centuries…we remain imprisoned by the past as long as we deny its influence on the present. ... However Blacks “never received the full measure of protection that the common law afforded to whites” and racial inequality continued (Kennedy 32). ... The “beliefs in the social tendency of Negroes to commit horrendous crimes was so strong that respected individuals defended lynchings” without any formal legal process (Kennedy 13). In the early Twentieth Century, racial disparities continued and “the death penalty became a form of legalized lynching, with authorities promising mobs ‘swift justice’ if they allowed the law to handle matters” (Hawkins 18). ... Lynching stands out as one of the most atrocious and destructive tools of racial control in the history of the United States. ... Public outrage and legal challenges in 1967 brought capital punishment to a halt “…when the courts and state lawmakers struggled to devise constitutionally acceptable death penalty statutes” (Draper 12). ... Georgia “the death penalty unconstitutional due to arbitrariness and discrimination against racial minorities and the poor” (Santa Clara L. ... In the years following the Furman decision, “although the levels of arbitrariness and racial discrimination have declined…none of these promises have been fulfilled” (Baldus 2). Unfortunately, the post-Furman administration of justice in capital cases continues to be pervaded by racial discrimination.
Case Histories of Racial Discrimination:
Perhaps the bleakest fact of all is that the death penalty is imposed not only in a freakish and discriminatory manner, but also in some cases upon defendants who are actually innocent. ...
A few examples serve to illustrate the degree of racism in the criminal justice system of the United States:
* Clarence Brandley, a black supervisor of four white janitors at a Texas High School spent nearly 10 years on death row for a crime he did not commit. ... The presiding judge wrote, “no case has presented a more shocking scenario of the effects of racial prejudice” (Radalet 134). ... Extensive research demonstrates persistent “bias in outcomes at every level of the criminal justice system” (Russell 69). ...
In 1990, the General Accounting Office (GAO), an investigative arm of Congress, analyzed twenty-eight studies and found a “remarkably consistent pattern of racial disparities in capital sentencing throughout the country” (Santa Clara L. ... Since the death penalty was re-enacted in 1976, almost “40% of those executed have been black, even though blacks constitute only 12% of the population” (Racial Disparities). ... 2) The possible racial bias of prosecutors indicated by the chart below is evidenced by the actual decisions they make. ...
Prosecutors wouldn’t be so eager to stack the jury with whites in death penalty cases if a lack of racial diversity was not expected to affect the outcome. Racial minorities are consistently underrepresented in the courts even though the jury is required to be composed of a fair distribution of the community (Fukurai 3).
Approximate Word count = 3484
Approximate Pages = 13.9
(250 words per page double spaced)
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