Is there a racial disparity on death row in the US?

[lucas80]

Statistics seem to suggest there is when you look at the percentage of African Americans on death row. There is also a very large disparity on death row for people who got there by killing someone of the opposite race. A white kills a black and you don't stand nearly the chance of going to death row. A black kills a white and the percentages shoot up.
What does this say about equality in the US legal system? What does this say about the application of the death penalty in the US?
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/race-death-row-inmates-executed-1976

 

[Hoosierhawkeye]

If you think that is bad you should look at the gender disparity.

 

[lucas80]

If you think that is bad you should look at the gender disparity.

Gender is bad too. Nobody wants to sentence women to death. I thought this might spark discussion. I guess you guys accept how misused the death penalty is the US.

 

[The Tradition]

I only have sympathy for the wrongfully convicted. I really don't care if someone got a better deal than someone else. That happens in every facet of life. Not sure why we expect to be any different in court. Complete equality is impossible.

 

[dbq hawk 32]

A white kills a black and you don't stand nearly the chance of going to death row. A black kills a white and the percentages shoot up.

Citation needed.

 

[BondHawk]

Gender is bad too. Nobody wants to sentence women to death. I thought this might spark discussion. I guess you guys accept how misused the death penalty is the US.

You don't think it has anything to do with 90%+ of all crimes being committed by males?

 

[Hoosierhawkeye]

Gender is bad too. Nobody wants to sentence women to death. I thought this might spark discussion. I guess you guys accept how misused the death penalty is the US.

I've said before that I don't trust the courts to handle the death penalty.

It's not that I'm offended or upset that a person who wantonly killed someone is killed themselves. It's more that courts make tons of mistakes and arn't equal in their application of the death penalty.

Also I don't feel as though the person getting life without parole is some big loss. I guess killing them back doesn't make me feel good like it seems to a lot of people. Doesn't upset me when we know they are guilty but doesn't make me celebrate or be glad or happy that they are now dead.

 

[Hoosierhawkeye]

You don't think it has anything to do with 90%+ of all crimes being committed by males?

Even if you look at the total rate of murder convictions which are going to be mostly male there is a strong disparity towards executing men and sparing the lives of women.

Quite frankly it doesn't matter the system is exceedingly irresponsbile in it's application of the death penalty. It's true in it's gender disparity, it's true in it's racial disparity, it's likely also true in the disparity of the economic status of the people executed.

 

[The Tradition]

Even if you look at the total rate of murder convictions which are going to be mostly male there is a strong disparity towards executing men and sparing the lives of women.

Quite frankly it doesn't matter the system is exceedingly irresponsbile in it's application of the death penalty. It's true in it's gender disparity, it's true in it's racial disparity, it's likely also true in the disparity of the economic status of the people executed.

This analysis ignores the multitude of aggravating and mitigating factors that are considered during a sentencing hearing. The fact that someone murdered someone else doesn't tell the whole story. You can't find disparate impact without all the facts, lumping like cases together.

So compare apples to apples.

For example, does this disparity exist among mass murderers?

How about people who kill their spouses?

How about people who kill prostitutes?

 

[CarolinaHawkeye]

I'm more concerned about how many poor people in large cities who get little or lousy legal representation and as result have records which may affect their ability to get and/or keep jobs.

 

[Hoosierhawkeye]

This analysis ignores the multitude of aggravating and mitigating factors that are considered during a sentencing hearing. The fact that someone murdered someone else doesn't tell the whole story. You can't find disparate impact without all the facts, lumping like cases together.

So compare apples to apples.

For example, does this disparity exist among mass murderers?

How about people who kill their spouses?

How about people who kill prostitutes?

I can guarantee it exists at least in the gender disparity between people who kill their spouses.

The fact that each case is different leads me more to believe that the punishment should just be life and no parole. Because the judgement call made by juries and by judges as to who dies and who lives is just too open ended to believe that it's going to be applied fairly. There is very little in the way of set standard other then a standard at which it MAY be applied. So that just leads to unfairness because it's left up to how individuals feel about it all.

It's a lot of unfairness to put up with just so we can extract some measure of petty revenge 10 to 15 years after we've already convicted them and removed them from society.

 

[lucas80]

Citation needed.

See the link already provided.

 

[lucas80]

I only have sympathy for the wrongfully convicted. I really don't care if someone got a better deal than someone else. That happens in every facet of life. Not sure why we expect to be any different in court. Complete equality is impossible.

You don't think the numbers imply faulty convictions and sentencing due to race? Complete equality should be the standard for the death penalty.

 

[dbq hawk 32]

See the link already provided.

Your link doesn't say anything close to that.