A new study test­ing inter­nal atti­tudes and stereo­types among poten­tial jurors in six death penal­ty states may help to explain the racial dis­par­i­ties that per­sist in the appli­ca­tion of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Researchers Justin Levinson (l.), Robert Smith (r.), and Danielle Young test­ed 445 jury-eli­gi­ble indi­vid­u­als and found they har­bored two kinds of racial bias: they main­tained racial stereo­types about Blacks and Whites and made asso­ci­a­tions between the race of an indi­vid­ual and the val­ue of his or her life. Those stud­ied tend­ed to asso­ciate Whites more with ​“worth” and Blacks with ​“worth­less.” The study fur­ther found that death-qual­i­fied jurors held stronger racial bias­es than poten­tial jurors who would be exclud­ed from serv­ing in death penalty cases. 

Justin D. Levinson is a Professor of Law and the Director of the Culture and Jury Project, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa Law School. Robert J. Smith is an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Danielle M. Young is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Rutgers University.

(J. Levinson, et al., ​“Devaluing Death: An Empirical Study of Implicit Racial Bias on Jury-Eligible Citizens in Six Death Penalty States,” New York University Law Review (forth­com­ing); DPIC post­ed August 29, 2013). See Race. Read more stud­ies on the death penal­ty. Listen to DPIC’s pod­cast on race.

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