New Study Shows Discrimination in Colorado Prosecutors’ Use of Death Penalty

A new study to be pub­lished in the University of Denver Law Review shows that whether pros­e­cu­tors seek the death penal­ty in Colorado ​“depends to an alarm­ing extent on the race and geo­graph­ic loca­tion of the defen­dant.” The study — based upon 10 years of data col­lect­ed by attor­ney Meg Beardsley and University of Denver law pro­fes­sors Sam Kamin and Justin Marceau and soci­ol­o­gy pro­fes­sor Scott Phillips — shows that race and place are sta­tis­ti­cal­ly sig­nif­i­cant pre­dic­tors of whether pros­e­cu­tors will seek the death penal­ty in Colorado and that pros­e­cu­tors are more like­ly to seek the death penal­ty against minor­i­ty defen­dants than against white defendants. 

In a press release accom­pa­ny­ing the release of the study, the researchers say the data ​“direct­ly refutes the claims made by elect­ed offi­cials, that racial dis­par­i­ties mere­ly reflect the propen­si­ty of cer­tain races to com­mit more mur­ders.” The study also shows that, even after con­trol­ling for the rates at which dif­fer­ent racial groups com­mit statu­to­ri­ly death-eli­gi­ble mur­ders and for the ​“heinous­ness” of the mur­ders, non-white defen­dants and defen­dants in Colorado’s 18^th Judicial District — where the cap­i­tal tri­al of James Holmes for the Aurora movie the­ater killings is tak­ing place — were more like­ly than oth­ers to be capitally prosecuted. 

There have been more than 8,100 homi­cides in Colorado since 1967, with one exe­cu­tion. The 3 men cur­rent­ly on death row are all African-Americans from Aurora who were under 21 at the time of the crimes. Holmes, who is seri­ous­ly men­tal­ly ill, is white. The authors ulti­mate­ly con­clude that the arbi­trari­ness and dis­parate impact of Colorado’s death penal­ty vio­late the 8^th Amendment pro­hi­bi­tion against cru­el and unusual punishment.