Is the death penalty racist?

Question

in response to my last question, quite a few of the posters here have assured me that there is no significant racism present in how death penalties are awarded and implemented in the state of texas.

in the light of this reassurance, does anybody here know (approximately) how many black felons texas has executed for homicide of a white since 1854, and how many white felons have been executed for homicide of a black?

Answer 1

The application of the death penalty is racist but not exactly in the way you may think. It turns out that a defendent is much more likely to face the death penalty if the victim was white than if the victim was non white.

Since the late 1970's when the death penalty was reinstated in many states, approximately equal numbers of whites and non whites have been murder victims. Yet in 79% of the cases ending with an execution, the victim was white.

Take a look at some of the stats at
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=5&did=184#Vic

Here is what you will find: In cases since the reinstatment of the death penalty in 1976, where the defendent was executed the victim was
Black 228 cases, 14%
Hispanic 83 cases, 5%
White 1301 cases, 79%
Other 36 cases, 2%

The number of victims is more than the number of executions because some murders involved more than one victim.

For Texas, I only have data going back to 1976: Texas has carried out 405 executions. There is just one case where a white person was executed for murdering a black person. In that case there were two murder victims. The second victim was......white.

Answer 2

Strictly, no. The law should be blind to race as a whole when considering guilt or innocence of an individual. If that means 1000 black men and 0 white men, or 0 black men and 1000 white men, so be it.

In application, oh my yes. But then I don't think the state (Texas, the US, any government) should be in the business of killing people.

Answer 3

Another question to consider is how many on death row have been shown to be innocent with the advent of DNA evidence. I remember a story a few years ago of one young man on trial whose lawyer fell asleep during the trial.

I love this quote from the article:
That defense of the record ignores many notorious examples of unfairness in Texas death penalty cases. Lawyers have been under the influence of cocaine during the trial, or been drunk or asleep. One court dismissed a complaint about a lawyer who slept through a trial with the comment that courts are not "obligated to either constantly monitor trial counsel's wakefulness or endeavor to wake counsel should he fall asleep."

This one is from the fourth link:
According to DOJ figures, nearly 80 percent of inmates on federal death row are Black, Hispanic or from another minority group. Minorities account for 74 percent of the cases in which federal prosecutors seek the death penalty.

This is while blacks commit crimes in proportion to their population in the whole, and they do not make 80 percent of the population. So based on the Department of Justice findings I would say there is a serious problem.
I do not think that revealing injustice is the same as starting a war.

Answer 4

The death penalty is not racist. Every method of execution is equally lethal on all people.

Now, if you want to question how race may or may not be a factor in a defendant receiving the death penalty, that is another question altogether.

Answer 5

Umm... I can't answer your details question without doing a web search. To answer your original question - no, the death penalty is not racist. It's simply wrong. It's application in the United States is often racist, but that just compounds the problem.

Answer 6

It aids evolution to erase violent criminals from the gene pool.
And what if I told you there was no race.
That "race" is just a lack of genetic diversity.
Why would a mixed race person choose to identify as black?
I believe people don't like people who are different to them:
beliefs: atheist, muslim
diet: vegetarian, vegan
lifestyle: alcoholic, criminal
wealth
education level.
So think about that.
The only way to get rid of "racial" stereotyping is by
trying to be the best person you can be.

Answer 7

Blacks, statistically, are also more likely to be stopped for speeding than whites. This does not make the 65 mph speed limit racist.

Answer 8

What you missing is the that these people are convicted felons and a danger to society. I say let them be executed.

Answer 9

The problem with death penalty is that if you find there had been an error (wrong culprit, racism...) it's a bit difficult to repair the error.

Answer 10

If there is an imbalance then kill more whites, not fewer blacks. You shouldn't stop a good thing, you should just start applying it fairly. If you simply execute for ALL murders then you don't have to worry about racism.