The death
penalty debate is seen as a justified sentence ideally because it does it kills
the criminal and deters violent crime. However, a disproportionate number of
African-American males are placed on death row for crimes which normally would
not receive a death sentence if the perpetrator were Caucasian, leading to the
statement that race plays a major role in who lives and who dies in capital
cases. That bias today focuses primarily on the race of the victim, not the
defendant (Berger 513). Several reasons exist for the dramatic increase of
death row inmates, including prior convictions, “you look like him, we’ll lock
you up”, and racism within police departments and a perceived idea that a black
life does not equal to a white one. In any event, capital punishment only
magnifies the inequalities of race that persist in the criminal justice system
and in American society generally (Berger 513).
Why
are so many African-American males on death row? According to the U.S. Department
of Justice, 42.2% of all death row inmates are black yet the majority of those
waiting to die are white, who make up 56.3% of the population. Also, blacks
only make up one-eighth of the American population; however, they are nearly
half the prison population. The reasons why so many are on death row waiting
for execution day are the following: Americans, particularly the juries and
courts, do not value a black life as much as a white one. Blacks are three
times less likely to have their sentences commuted to life, the assumption that
blacks are habitual liars still exists, and people would look at the victim and
defendant by race only. If the defendant were black, he or she would have to
die whereas if the defendant were white, he or she would receive life in
prison.
The proof a
black life holds less value than a white one is proven on a daily basis in
courts, particularly when the victim is white. A prime example of this is the
O.J. Simpson trial; if he was poor instead of the celebrity most people knew
him as from football and the movies, the state of California would have
sentenced him to death. This is also where wealth and a reputation play a role;
if a defendant can afford a private lawyer, he or she is more likely not to be
sentenced to death in comparison to the one who has to use a court-appointed
attorney in his defense.
Another
case involved the 1992 execution in Arkansas of Ricky Ray Rector by
then-governor Bill Clinton. Rector had shot and killed a Conway police officer
and as he was to be arrested, he lobotomized himself when he tried to blow his
brains out; at the time of his execution, he did not understand that he was
about to die. Some commentators suggested Clinton approved the electrocution of
the profoundly retarded man to show he was not “soft on crime” (Chideya 235).
Not only was the victim a police officer, but also he was white and the jury
who convicted Rector was predominately white. The current governor Mike
Huckabee has commuted the death sentences of several white men but has also
pushed forward the executions of an equal number of black men.
American
courts are still under the assumption that black defendants as a whole are
habitual liars who double as hardened criminals. The ordeal of Lenell Jeter-the
young black engineer who was sentenced to life for a Texas armed robbery he did
not commit-is proof that our courts are flawed (Bruck 482). Fortunately, he was
eventually cleared; if he had no alibi or someone was to die, Jeter would
probably have been sentenced to death. In Georgia, Roosevelt Green and an
accomplice kidnapped a young woman whom the accomplice shot and killed later. A
statement that his accomplice had made to a witness after the crime transpired
supported his claim. The jury never resolved whether he was telling the truth,
and when he tried to take a polygraph a few days before his execution, his
request was denied. On January 9, 1984, Green was electrocuted while members of
the Ku Klux Klan rallied outside the prison.
Do
judges and juries try to play God? In cases race is involved, yes. As Justice
Douglas trenchantly remarked: “The Leopolds and Loebs are given prison terms,
not sentenced to death.” Blacks, however, are disproportionately sentenced to
die, especially for the rape and/or murder of white females (Berger 511). Some
juries unknowingly tend to throw out key pieces of evidence just to convict a
black male, and other times, it is with the intention of let him fry. The
exception is a hate crime, which the convicted spends time in prison from three
years to death. Ideally, most jurors would support the death penalty but they
would hesitate to push the button or give the injection. Throughout the South,
racial disparities are found based on sentencing practices. For instance,
defendants in white victims cases are five times more likely to receive a death
sentence than those in black victims cases in Mississippi. Of the 197
executions nationwide that have been carried out since 1977, only one white
person has been put to death for the murder of a black person (NAACP).
History
has proven that race is a major factor in life imprisonment or death
sentencing, which has been steeped in racism and should be applied fairly or
not at all. Human life is sacred and should never be taken deliberately, even
by the state. Further, society ought not to exercise vengeance or cater or
morbid interest in ritual executions (Isenberg 141). It has not been proven to
deter murder; instead it is another method of genocide.
Works
Cited
Bruck, David. “The
Death Penalty.” Barnet 481-484. Barnet,
Sylvan and Hugo Bedau. Current
Issues and Enduring Questions. 5th
ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1999.
Berger,
Vivian. “Rolling the Dice to See Who Dies.” Barnet and Bedau 507-513.
Isenberg,
Irwin. The Death Penalty. New York: H.W. Wilson Company, 1977.
Chideya,
Farai. Don’t Believe the Hype. New York:
Plume, 1995.
The
history of the death penalty in the United States has been marked by racism and
inequality.
NAACP Legal Defense and
Educational Fund, Inc. 30 September 1999.
Status
of the death penalty. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of
Justice Statistics. 31 December
1997.
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