How is the death penalty racist?

Question

Often times I'll hear the rhetoric that "the death penalty is racist" used by opponents to capital punishment. Just curious: how is it actually racist? The fact that more minorities get executed than whites does not prove that statement true in and of itself. First you must prove that the people sentencing these convicts is actually judging according to race, and then and only then will that accusation carry any water. Death penalty opponents - I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Answer 1

I've never heard anyone say that the death penalty was racist; I've heard and I agree that there APPEAR to be undertones of racism in its application when more Blacks and Latinos are disproportionately on death row for the same offenses that Whites often get 25-to-Life Imprisonment or Life Imprisonment terms for. I can't make a generalization or blanket statement but it's most curious how unforgiving White juries are toward Blacks and Latinos (some who are also mentally deficient), and the harshness with which they're judged and sentenced, many times with the flimisiest possible evidence.

And when minority members have their convictions overturned by higher courts, the circumstances too often involve exculpatory evidence that was hidden by overzealous prosecutors and/or police officers who deemed the accused guilty and chose to see to it that he/she be condemend. Or eye-witnesses that were not notified or called upon to testify for the suspect and the DA and/or the police never made this known to the defense team. Or, now with DNA evidence, some prosecutors STILL fight to have the new exculpatory evidence barred from being presented to the courts! Gee, I wonder why...?

Answer 2

A friend, a white cop, was shot and killed by a black suspect. The state sought death. Although the suspect was convicted of murder, the jury failed to return a death verdict but handed down life in prison. The jury later said that a black juror stated that he would not vote for death because he "had to stand with his race." My friend was doing his job protecting people he didn't even know and some thug murdered him, the the thug gets life. Three of his babies mamas were elated. My friend's wife and son have memories. Go figure. So yeah, the death penalty is racist.

Answer 3

The death penalty is not racist, but the folks that recite that line usually are.

The American justice system operates on a "get what you pay for basis." A system that is biased against offenders who are in the lower social-economic class, many of which happen to be minorities. This system doesn't help minorities, but then not finishing school, using drugs, and involvement in criminal activity doesn't either. White offenders who can afford better justice usually can avoid the death penalty if the right "legal experts," or "expert witnesses," are called in and can provide some reasonable doubt. This is a luxury most minorities can not afford, but again, this is a social-economic disadvantage, but in no way a racist design.

Answer 4

I'm not a death penalty opponent, but my thoughts are that the death penalty is labeled "racist" by people who are shallow enough to look only at the ratio of minorities to majorities. Although our governmental system is flawed in some places and yes, racism is still undoubtedly present, labeling the death penalty as racist is just another way that people just don't look hard enough. If a human being does something horrible enough to another human being that their peers consider it worth death, then it must be. We all have our own minds...we all have the ability to think for ourselves.. It's just now a matter of who chooses to use that ability and who chooses to be ignorant of it.

Answer 5

The main argument is that the poor are unable to afford decent representation in court, and minorities such as blacks and hispanics are disproportionately poor. So, states that allow the death penalty do so with the understanding that those less well off are more likely to be sentenced to death. It's such a high correlation that ignoring it in my mind amounts to gross negligence.

To say the death penalty is racist is like saying poverty is racist. But at the same time, it should be tremendously troubling to us that such a high percentage of minorities live in poverty.

Answer 6

Not RACIST all myth
Look at the stats for crimes committed with a race correlation...If boosting cars is 12 % white 75% black &13 % other (asian hispanic etc) then the # of people convicted WILL reflect the original % spread...
so its way too easy to claim that more blacks get XXXX when no one actually has the cahones to say ..."so break it down 4me.by race " Maybe its simply because more blacks actually commit this type of crime??? Maybe non whites have more gang activity??
One could probably claim that whites get more convictions for investment scamming..
Its all the typical whine/ myth that will get the ACLU to jump right in at the taxpayers expense.

Answer 7

Two men are convicted of third-degree murder. The cases are identical. One is white, one is a minority of some sort. The white man gets life in prison more often than the minority, who recieves the death penalty.

Answer 8

It is a matter of numbers.

How many of each race are committing crimes and being caught

How many of each race are on death row

How many of each race are doing more work on their own to acheive a lesser sentence.

I fail to see how it is racist. If the death penalty is racist, then so is crime.

Answer 9

If the death penalty was racist, that means there is a certain race exempt.

Last I heard, lethal injection kills everybody.

Answer 10

"RACIAL BIAS IN THE EXECUTION OF DEATH ROW INMATES:
-People of color comprise 43% of total executions since 1976, while comprising only around 25% of the population.
-Since 1977, blacks and whites have been the victims of murders in almost equal numbers, yet 80% of the people executed in that period were convicted of murders involving white victims.
-Of the defendants put to death in this country since 1976, 53 per cent were whites convicted of killing whites and 10 per cent were blacks convicted of killing blacks.
-Since 1977 22 per cent of all executions were for the murder of a white person. In the same period, 1.4 per cent of executions were for the murder of blacks"