Murder Crimes By George Stinny

Baldus study was based on more than two thousand murder cases in Georgia, and “the study found that defendants charged with killing white victims received the death penalty eleven times more often than defendants charged with killing black victims.” (Alexander p.110) Baldus Study was significant to this chapter because it shows patterns of discrimination and how the government and police enforcement use race to harass African Americans.

The injustice that comes from this prosecution isn’t taken as seriously as it should be, with it ruining lives of loved of victims and the victims themselves. A study by Katherine Beckett, details how jurors in Washington State were 3 times more likely to impose the death penalty to a person of color than a white person. Deaths that have included white victims make up 80% of Capital cases, while these victims only make up one half of all murder cases. By 2002, 12 cases of the defendant being white and the murder victim being black have been sent to the death penalty, while 178 cases of the defendant being black have been executed. Discrimination in a court of law that relates to the death penalty correlates directly with the prosecution and defense provided. 94.5% of elected prosecutors that reside in death penalty states are white, even going as far as 100% white in 9 states like Washington and Tennessee. These statistics showcase how the legal system is much more harsher and likely to punish people based on their skin

There are many socioeconomic factors missing which could explain the disproportionate representation of African-Americans on death row. Things such as their economic status, education level, and the condition of their families. As we have learned things like family, religion, and education are among the most influential social institutions. If these begin to breakdown, it

In “Racial Disparity in Capital Punishment and its Impact on Family Members of Capital Defendants,” Jennifer Schweizer pointed out the ongoing racial disparity in capital punishment and how it affects family members of African American capital defendants. Additionally, racial disparity affects the different stages of the death penalty process, from charging through sentencing and execution. Moreover, African American families have a higher likelihood of being impacted by capital punishment. Schweizer examined how the death penalty influenced family members of capital defendants. The south has the biggest death row population. Death sentences are greater in states that have a past of lynching.

Being sent to Death Row is the highest prosecution a criminal could be sentenced to and the process when determining of someone deserves a death sentence is a very bias decision. Since 1977 when capital punishment was restored there has been about 20,600 homicides and only about .7 death sentences for every 100 homicides has been given in the Cook county. The decision to impose a death sentence is not only based on the crime done but also the race of the victim. Attorneys at a state level has a less formal guide when giving death sentences. It is commonly seen how race plays a major role in the justice system. As apart of attorney protocol of determining if the death sentence is given it is seen black males will be given a higher sentence versus a white male even if the crimes where similar. In this article “Disparities on Death Row” published in Grumman points out the unjustness in the justice system. Through ethos, pathos, and logos Cornelia Grumman effectively persuades her audience to spread the issues of capital punishment assignment.

1. Disparity of application of the death penalty is a researched and heavily discussed topic. There is no disparity applied to the death penalty due to race. Many individuals believe that discrimination against minorities directly contributes to the amount of offenders on death row that are African American, Hispanic, or part of a different minority group. These trends exist for a reason, however I believe the reason is due to the fact that individuals strive to meet different goals dependent on their racial background. Currently, approximately 41 % of inmates on death row are black, and 44 % are white. There are more inmates who are white on death row, which makes it hard to determine that disparity was applied based on race or gender when individuals are faced with a death penalty sentence. There are far less women on death row. There are not many women on death row because the death penalty is not often applied to their cases. However, this is not due to their gender, it is based on the crimes that were committed and typically women commit less violent crimes than men.

Nearly 80 percent of murder victim in cases resulting in an execution have been white while 50 percent of murder victims are white 82 percent was found to influence the likelihood of being charged with capital murder or receiving the death penalty.Senator RussFeingold stated "we simply cannot say we live in a country that offers equal justice to all Americans when racial disparities plague the system by which our society imposes the ultimate punishment" (senator RussFeingold 108th congress 2003). A 2007 report concluded that one-third of African American death row inmates in Philadelphia would have received sentence of life improsement if they had not been African-American.In 1990, non-partisan US General Accounting found a pattern of evidence Indicating racial Disparities in the charging, sentencing, and imposition of death penalty (Feb 1,2001)."Justice is never advanced in the taking of a human life"(Writer Activist and Civil Rights Leader Coretta Scott King Feb7, 2006).

However this is far from accurate, when researching about the African American population and their sentencing regarding certain crimes I learned that the sentencing is substantially different. In

Capital punishment also reflects racial disparity. Between 1977 and 1984, the state of Texas executed 13 African Americans who were

According to Two of the country's foremost researchers on race and capital punishment, law professor David Baldus and statistician George Woodworth, along with colleagues in Philadelphia, have conducted a careful analysis of race and the death penalty in Philadelphia which reveals that the odds of receiving a death sentence are nearly four times (3.9) higher if the defendant is black (http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/death-penalty-black-and-white-who-lives-who-dies-who-decides).

In North Carolina, from a study in Durham County by Isaac Unah, a professor in the Department of Political Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has written an extensive study on the effects of race, gender, and laws on the prosecution of the death penalty. Many people may think those who are given the death penalty are repeat, or well known criminals but in actuality through the past 30 years, about 2 percent of murders committed were by known criminals/repeat offenders, which resulted in a death sentence (Unah). This shows how almost anyone can be and will be convicted and given the death penalty.

At the prosecution stage, African Americans are subject to racially biased charges and plea agreements (TLC, 2011). African Americans are less likely to have their charges dismissed or reduced or to receive any kind of alternate sentencing than their white counterparts (TLC, 2011). In the last stage, the finding of guilt and sentencing, the decisions of jurors may be affected by race (Toth et al, 2008) African Americans receive racially discriminatory sentences from judges (TLC, 2011). A New York study from 1990 to 1992 revealed one-third of minorities would have receive a lesser sentence if they were treated the same as white and there would have been a 5 percent decrease in African Americans sent to prison during that time period if they had received the same probation privileges (TLC, 2011). African Americans receive death sentences more than whites who have committed similar crimes (Toth et al, 2008). Because of the unfair treatment from the beginning to the end of the justice system there is an over represented amount of African Americans in prison (Toth et al, 2008). Some of the problems faced by African Americans in prison are gangs, racial preferences given to whites, and unfair treatment by prison guards (Toth et al, 2008).

African Americans only make up 13% of the population. Half of all those convicted of murder are African American, outweighing the dominance of Caucasians who make up 64% of the population. Based on over turned convictions, African Americans are seven times more likely to be convicted of murder than Caucasians (Martelle, S. (2017, March 7). In a turmoil cycle, race crimes is an influence on sending innocent blacks to prison. It is believed that 84% of white murder victims and 93% of black murder victims are killed by members of their own race (Gross, Possley & Stephens, 2017,March 7). African Americans convicted of murder are more likely to be innocent than any other race convicted. Also, African Americans who are convicted of killing a

96% of states have found patterns of discrimination. Since 1977, 48.6% of the death penalty has been used on caucasian criminals, 40.9% on African American criminals, 8.9% on latino criminals, and 1.6 on

18th century William Blackstone cited murder as defined by: when a person, of sound memory and discretion, unlawfully kills any reasonable creature in being and under the king 's peace, with malice aforethought, either express or implied” Take 4 different cases: a white women, black women, a white man, and a white man. Now just looking at the race and gender, which of these would you expect to get either the death penalty or life in prison? You might think, women could get life in prison, possibly with a chance for parole, and the white man could get the death penalty, and the black man, life in prison. That’s what’s seen on the outside but if you dig further, you would be wrong. For instance take, Kimberly McCarthy a black women out of Texas, was sentenced to death after killing her 71 year old, white neighbor. As being the 500th person to die by capital punishment since its reinstatement in the US since 1976, it caused quite a bit of stirring, involving her race. Jason Michael Hann, a white man who is from California who is already serving a 30-year sentence for the murder of his 2-month-old son, Jason, received the death penalty for the slaying of his 10-month-old daughter. Juwan Wickmare, a 19 year old African American was convicted on 1st degree murder in August 2012 in the 2010 shooting death of 33-year-old pizza delivery driver Michael Nettles. Janepsy Carballo was found guilty of first degree murder in the 2008 death of Ilan Nissim, ex-business partner she blamed for