STUDIES: Jurors in Washington State More Likely to Impose Death on Black Defendants

According to a recent study by Professor Katherine Beckett of the University of Washington, jurors in Washington are three times more like­ly to rec­om­mend a death sen­tence for a black defen­dant than for a white defen­dant in a sim­i­lar case. The dis­par­i­ty in sen­tenc­ing occurred despite the fact that pros­e­cu­tors were slight­ly more like­ly to seek the death penal­ty against white defendants. 

Nicholas Brown, gen­er­al coun­sel to Washington Governor Jay Inslee, said, ​“It’s pos­i­tive to see that pros­e­cu­tors aren’t unfair­ly con­sid­er­ing race in mak­ing deci­sions about when to seek cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. At the same time, it brings up a lot of unfor­tu­nate impli­ca­tions about juries.” 

The study exam­ined 285 cas­es in which defen­dants were con­vict­ed of aggra­vat­ed mur­der. The cas­es were ana­lyzed for fac­tors that might influ­ence sen­tenc­ing, includ­ing the num­ber of vic­tims, the pri­or crim­i­nal record of the defen­dant, and the num­ber of aggra­vat­ing fac­tors alleged by the pros­e­cu­tor. Gov. Inslee recent­ly placed a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions, cit­ing the unequal appli­ca­tion of the death penal­ty as one of his rea­sons for halting executions.

The study was com­mis­sioned by attor­neys for death-row inmate Allen Gregory. Lila Silverstein, one of Gregory’s attor­neys, said, ​“Washington is not a state that tol­er­ates dis­crim­i­na­tion, even when it does­n’t involve a mat­ter of life and death. We can’t be putting peo­ple to death based on their race.”