New DPI Report Connects Modern Use of Federal Death Penalty to its Racially Biased History

On Thursday, the Death Penalty Information Center (“DPI”) released a new report detailing the troubling racial history of the federal death penalty. Fool’s Gold: How the Federal Death Penalty Has Perpetuated Racially Discriminatory Practices Throughout History documents how racial discrimination has been a throughline in the application of the federal death penalty since the 1800s. The report explains that, despite often being mischaracterized as the “gold standard” of the death penalty, the same systemic problems of racial bias, ineffective counsel, and arbitrariness that exist in state level death penalty systems are also found in   the federal death penalty system.  

DPI’s review of modern statistics reveals the continuing legacy of racial disparities in federal death prosecutions and sentencing. 73% of all cases selected for death penalty prosecution between 1989 and June 2024 have been authorized for non-white defendants. Furthermore, a study of these modern statistics found a correlation between cases with white female victims and the likelihood of a defendant receiving a death sentence. This is consistent with many state-level reports detailing the profound effect of the race of victim bias, which is one of the most persistent forms of racial bias found in the death penalty. 

Black and Native American people were disproportionately subject to federal executions for over a century. Between the start of the Civil War and the turn of the century, the majority of people federally executed were Native Americans, many of whom were punished for resisting colonization. Black Americans were also disproportionately subject to the federal death penalty during the Reconstruction era; there was a 488% increase in the number of Black people executed after the Civil War. Both groups were often subject to mass executions (defined as three or more executions at once) after being tried based on circumstantial evidence with poor legal representation. 

 The report also features stories from the past and present that exemplify the role of race in capital prosecutions. For example, the federal prosecutor in Rejon Taylor’s case used racially coded and dehumanizing language to refer to Mr. Taylor. Mr. Taylor was referred to as a “wolf,” “chameleon,” “hunter,” “Dr. Jekyll,” “Mr. Hyde,” and an “ugly looking monster guy.” There were also repeated mentions of Mr. Taylor “stalking” the victim, like an animal would stalk its prey. Mr. Taylor is currently on federal death row.  

“This report exposes the deeply embedded racial discrimination within the federal death penalty. Our findings reveal that the same historical biases and inequities that marred the federal death penalty’s origins persist today, with Black and Native American people bearing the brunt of its application,” said Tiana Herring, DPI’s Data Storyteller and the lead author of the report.