Posted by Dave on 05/03/08 at 08:47:42 am
Categories: Capital Punishment, Race Ravings

As executions resume, it is probably pretty important to remind people about the intense racial disparities in the practice of executions.

The New York Times takes a look at this exact thing: New Look at Death Sentences and Race:

A new study to be published in The Houston Law Review this fall has found two sorts of racial disparities in the administration of the death penalty there, one commonplace and one surprising.

The unexceptional finding is that defendants who kill whites are more likely to be sentenced to death than those who kill blacks. More than 20 studies around the nation have come to similar conclusions.

But the new study also detected a more straightforward disparity. It found that the race of the defendant by itself plays a major role in explaining who is sentenced to death.

But yea... racism does not exist, right?

The death penalty must end. And the racial discrimination involved is just one of many, many reasons for this.

2 comments | Permalink