Death Penalty Information Center shows little has change when it comes to race and the death penalty.

Race of Defendants Executed

 White: 767

• Black: 468

• Hispanic: 107

• Other: 24

 Race if Victims in Death Penalty Cases

Over 75% of the murder victims in cases resulting in an execution were white, even though nationally only 50% of murder victims generally are white.

 

 In Louisiana, the odds of a death sentence were 97% higher for those whose victim was white than for those whose victim was black. (Pierce & Radelet, Louisiana Law Review, 2011).

A study in California found that those who killed whites where over 3 times more likely to be sentenced to death than those who killed blacks and over 4 times more likely than those who killed Latinos. (Pierce & Radelet, Santa Clara Law Review, 2005).

A comprehensive study of the death penalty in North Carolina found that the odds of receiving a death sentence rose by 3.5 times among those defendants whose victims where white. (Prof. Jack Boger and Dr. Isaac Unah, University of North Carolina, 2001).

 In 96% of states where there have been reviews of race and the death penalty, there was a pattern of either race-of-victim or race-of-defendant discrimination, or both. (Prof. Baldus report to the ABA, 1998).  98% of the chief district attorneys in death penalty states are white; only 1% are black. (Prof. Jeffrey Pokorak, Cornell Law Review, 1998). 

 It has been proven that the death penalty is not a deterrence to crime, so why are we still killing people (primarily minorities)   if it is not working to reduce crimes?