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DPIC Podcast: Discussions With DPIC
The Duane Buck Case: Race, Future Dangerousness, and the Death Penalty, with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund’s Christina Swarns
Overview
The death penalty has long come under scrutiny for being racially biased. Earlier in the twentieth century when it was applied for the crime of rape, 89 percent of the executions involved black defendants, most for the rape of a white woman. In the modern era, when executions have been carried out exclusively for murder, 75 percent of the cases involve the murder of white victims, even though about half of all homicide victims in America are black.
A bias towards white-victim cases has been found in almost all of the sophisticated studies exploring this area over many years. These studies typically control for other variables in the cases studied, such as the number of victims or the brutality of the crime, and still found that defendants were more likely to be sentenced to death if they killed a white person.
The issue of racial disparities in the use of the death penalty was considered by the Supreme Court in 1987. In a close vote, the Court held that studies alone could not provide the required proof of racial discrimination in a particular defendant’s case. This decision appeared to close the door to broad challenges to the death penalty. However, the Court has found racial discrimination in the selection of the jury in individual capital cases.
At Issue
Today there is growing evidence that racial bias continues in society, particularly within the criminal justice system. The existence of implicit racial bias among some law enforcement officers, witnesses, jurors, and others allows harsher punishment of minorities, even without legal sanction or intention. Although these prejudices are hard to uproot, the unfair application of the death penalty could be halted by eliminating that sentencing option altogether.
What DPIC Offers
DPIC tracks the race of those on death row, those who have been executed, the victims in the underlying crime, and many related statistics. It collects the sophisticated studies on racial bias that have been published over many years. Many of DPIC’s reports focus on aspects of this question and some are devoted entirely to the issue of race.
News & Developments
News
Jun 18, 2024
Equal Justice Initiative’s Freedom Monument Sculpture Park Will Open to the Public on Juneteenth
![](https://img.dpic-cdn.org/images/Cotton-and-Freedom-Monument-Sculpture-Park-photo-credit-Equal-Justice-Initiative-Human-Pictures_2024-06-20-195302_grng.jpg?w=150&h=150&q=60&auto=format&fit=crop&dm=1718913182&s=de749209302eec897670b0910d8b5bc6)
On June 19th, or Juneteenth, the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) will celebrate the opening of the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park, its latest museum in Montgomery, Alabama. The 17-acre site displays contemporary artworks, first-person narratives, and historical artifacts which tell the stories about the more than 10 million Black people who were enslaved in the United States. Visitors to the park will embark on a unique narrative journey that explores the nation’s history of enslavement and…
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Jun 14, 2024
Remembering the Execution of 14-year-old George Stinney, 80 Years Later
June 16, 2024, marks 80 years since South Carolina executed 14-year-old George Stinney Jr. Historical reports indicate that on March 24, 1944, Mr. Stinney and his younger sister, Aime, were playing outside when two white girls approached them, asking where they could find a particular flower. Neither Mr. Stinney nor his sister knew where the young girls could find these flowers and they quickly moved along. That evening, when both young girls failed to return home, a search party was sent to…
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Jun 12, 2024
Ohio Legislative Black Caucus Identifies Death Penalty as a Legislative Priority Due to Legacy of Racial Violence and Bias
On June 11, 2024, the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus (OLBC) held a press conference highlighting the group’s legislative priorities, which included the death penalty as a key concern. Noting “the racial cycle of injustice perpetrated by the death penalty,” State Representative Terrence Upchurch, who is also the president of the OLBC, insisted that legislative leadership move toward “dismantling this flawed system and establishing a new legacy of equality and justice in…
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May 28, 2024
Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals Categorically Bars Review of Racial Bias in Capital Jury Selection
On May 3, 2024, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals announced its decision in the case of Christopher Henderson, a death-sentenced man who had been tried by an all-white jury in Madison County, Alabama, where the population is 24.6% Black. Prosecutors in his capital trial used peremptory strikes to remove six of the 10 qualified Black potential jurors and all remaining jurors of color. Mr. Henderson’s counsel from the Equal Justice Initiative identified evidence that the prosecutor’s…
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May 22, 2024
Family of Youngest Person Executed in Pennsylvania History Sues County for His Wrongful Conviction and Execution 93 Years Ago
Susie Williams Carter was just a baby when her 16-year-old brother, Alexander McClay Williams, was convicted of murder and executed in Pennsylvania in 1931. Over 90 years later, Ms. Carter, now 94, continues her family’s determination to clear her brother’s name. In June 2022, a Delaware County, Pennsylvania judge agreed that law enforcement had disregarded evidence and coerced Mr. Williams into signing multiple false confessions. All charges against Mr. Williams were posthumously dismissed…
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