Post by malik on Jun 16, 2006 7:11:02 GMT -5
Capital Punishment is Systemically Biased against Minorities
In 1990, the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) reviewed and agreed with the many studies that, throughout the past quarter century, have found that race is a key factor in whether a death penalty is sought and whether it is imposed. I
ndeed, Amnesty International USA found that murderers of whites are about six times more likely to be executed than those murderers of blacks, although about equal numbers of blacks and whites are homicide victims (emphasis added). Nationally, the majority of the 4,220 prisoners executed in the U.S. between 1930 and 1996 were black.
RACE OF THE VICTIM IN OHIO
In an expansion of GAO's research for the American Bar Association in 1997, Professors Baldus and Woodworth found that studies of Ohio's statistics suggest the same: the chances of a defendant being charged with a capital crime and of being sentenced to death row were significantly increased if the murder victim was white. David Bodiker, OPD, concurs: "The race of the victim [i.e., if the victim is white] has a great deal to do with who gets the death penalty."
Seventy-two percent of the victims whose murderers are on Ohio's death row were white and 27% were black victims (as of Nov. 19, 2003). This is consistent with the proportions examined in 1999 by the Ohio Commission on Racial Fairness, which said of race-of-victim disparities, "The numbers speak for themselves. A perpetrator is geometrically more likely to end up on death row if the homicide victim is white rather than black."
RACE OF THE DEFENDANT IN OHIO
In a state with a population that is 85% white and 11.5% black (U.S. Census, 2000), about half of the inmates on death row are black. More specifically, while black males over the age of 18 comprise less than 5% of Ohio's population aged 18 or over (U.S. Census, 2000), they make up 49% of the inmates on death row.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit said in 2001 that the racial imbalance in Ohio's death penalty is 'glaringly extreme' and 'extremely troubling.' It was, however, not able to order the state to address the imbalance because of the U.S. Supreme Court's 1987 ruling in the McCleskey case. where In that case the court found "that 'apparent disparities in sentencing are an inevitable part of our criminal justice system,' and that for a defendant to be successful in an appeal, he or she would have to provide 'exceptionally clear proof' that the decision-makers in his or her particular case had acted with discriminatory intent."
The Report of the Ohio Commission on Racial Fairness, published by the Ohio Supreme Court and the Ohio State Bar Association in 1999, argued, "The issue is the integrity of the criminal justice system, whether black males are looked upon as expendable and treated differently than white males resulting in disparate sentencing…."
RACE OF PROSECUTORS IN OHIO
Prosecutors have discretion in determining which cases are capital cases, and as shown above, cases in Ohio that involve white victims are more likely to result in the death penalty than other cases. One reason proffered for this is that the vast majority of prosecutors-those in whose hands the decision resides-are white. Of the 88 county prosecutors in Ohio in 1998, 99% (87 of 88) were white and one was black.
RACE OF JURORS IN OHIO
The Ohio Commission on Racial Fairness noted that "the American legal system is based upon peer decision making….Exclusion and other kinds of bias deprive citizens of the benefits of a diversity of perspectives, especially if the perspective absent in a jury pool is that of a party's community, class, age, race, ethnicity, gender or religion….Many people expressed concern that in the various public hearing testimonies that minority defendants, particularly black defendants, are being tried before all-white juries."
In fact, the Commission reported that there was evidence that Ohio juries, like those in states across the U.S., were likely to have a pattern of minority under-representation, "especially…poor people of color."
For example, the prosecutor in a Hamilton County death penalty case excluded nine of eleven qualified black members from the jury pool with no reason given in the trial of an African American executed in 2002 for the murder of a white woman. During the appeals process, the issue of discrimination was defaulted as the basis for an appeal because the inmate's original appeal lawyers had failed to raise the issue.
In 1990, the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) reviewed and agreed with the many studies that, throughout the past quarter century, have found that race is a key factor in whether a death penalty is sought and whether it is imposed. I
ndeed, Amnesty International USA found that murderers of whites are about six times more likely to be executed than those murderers of blacks, although about equal numbers of blacks and whites are homicide victims (emphasis added). Nationally, the majority of the 4,220 prisoners executed in the U.S. between 1930 and 1996 were black.
RACE OF THE VICTIM IN OHIO
In an expansion of GAO's research for the American Bar Association in 1997, Professors Baldus and Woodworth found that studies of Ohio's statistics suggest the same: the chances of a defendant being charged with a capital crime and of being sentenced to death row were significantly increased if the murder victim was white. David Bodiker, OPD, concurs: "The race of the victim [i.e., if the victim is white] has a great deal to do with who gets the death penalty."
Seventy-two percent of the victims whose murderers are on Ohio's death row were white and 27% were black victims (as of Nov. 19, 2003). This is consistent with the proportions examined in 1999 by the Ohio Commission on Racial Fairness, which said of race-of-victim disparities, "The numbers speak for themselves. A perpetrator is geometrically more likely to end up on death row if the homicide victim is white rather than black."
RACE OF THE DEFENDANT IN OHIO
In a state with a population that is 85% white and 11.5% black (U.S. Census, 2000), about half of the inmates on death row are black. More specifically, while black males over the age of 18 comprise less than 5% of Ohio's population aged 18 or over (U.S. Census, 2000), they make up 49% of the inmates on death row.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit said in 2001 that the racial imbalance in Ohio's death penalty is 'glaringly extreme' and 'extremely troubling.' It was, however, not able to order the state to address the imbalance because of the U.S. Supreme Court's 1987 ruling in the McCleskey case. where In that case the court found "that 'apparent disparities in sentencing are an inevitable part of our criminal justice system,' and that for a defendant to be successful in an appeal, he or she would have to provide 'exceptionally clear proof' that the decision-makers in his or her particular case had acted with discriminatory intent."
The Report of the Ohio Commission on Racial Fairness, published by the Ohio Supreme Court and the Ohio State Bar Association in 1999, argued, "The issue is the integrity of the criminal justice system, whether black males are looked upon as expendable and treated differently than white males resulting in disparate sentencing…."
RACE OF PROSECUTORS IN OHIO
Prosecutors have discretion in determining which cases are capital cases, and as shown above, cases in Ohio that involve white victims are more likely to result in the death penalty than other cases. One reason proffered for this is that the vast majority of prosecutors-those in whose hands the decision resides-are white. Of the 88 county prosecutors in Ohio in 1998, 99% (87 of 88) were white and one was black.
RACE OF JURORS IN OHIO
The Ohio Commission on Racial Fairness noted that "the American legal system is based upon peer decision making….Exclusion and other kinds of bias deprive citizens of the benefits of a diversity of perspectives, especially if the perspective absent in a jury pool is that of a party's community, class, age, race, ethnicity, gender or religion….Many people expressed concern that in the various public hearing testimonies that minority defendants, particularly black defendants, are being tried before all-white juries."
In fact, the Commission reported that there was evidence that Ohio juries, like those in states across the U.S., were likely to have a pattern of minority under-representation, "especially…poor people of color."
For example, the prosecutor in a Hamilton County death penalty case excluded nine of eleven qualified black members from the jury pool with no reason given in the trial of an African American executed in 2002 for the murder of a white woman. During the appeals process, the issue of discrimination was defaulted as the basis for an appeal because the inmate's original appeal lawyers had failed to raise the issue.