DPI’s “What to Know” series examines capital punishment from multiple angles, one topic at a time. Each installment provides essential facts and data on specific aspects of the death penalty. In observance of Hispanic Heritage Month, this installment examines Latinos and the death penalty. 

Why it matters: Since 1977, Latinos have made up 9% of individuals who have been sentenced to death and 8% of individuals who have been executed. According to the National Bureau of Justice Statistics, 15% of homicide victims since 2023 have been Latinos. 

Core Statistics  

  • Latinos currently make up 15% of death-sentenced prisoners, but only 7% of victims in death-penalty cases are Latino. 

  • In California, Latinos are murdered at twice the rate of white people, yet 11 of the 13 people executed in the state were convicted of killing a white person. 

  • Since 1973, at least 203 individuals who have been wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in the United States have been exonerated. Out of those 203, 19 were classified as Latino. According to the Innocence Project, 30% of the U.S. Hispanic population is not proficient in English. Language barriers can contribute to false confessions and make it more difficult for defendants to prove their innocence. 

  • According to a 2014 research poll hosted by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRPI), support for the death penalty was the lowest in Hispanic and Latino respondents (24%) compared to other racial groups, with 68% of Hispanic and Latino respondents preferring life without the possibility of parole as a suitable punishment for murder. 

Key Facts

  • A 2001 study conducted by Ted Chiricos found that jury-eligible participants strongly associated Latino men with “Danger” and white men with “Safety.” In addition to this study, a 2012 survey by the Associated Press in conjunction with Stanford University, the University of Michigan, and the National Opinion Research at the University of Chicago found that 58% of respondents strongly associated Latino men with “Danger,” as well. 

  • The United States signed the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, which guarantees citizens of other countries the right to speak to their consulate if they are arrested on U.S. soil. However, almost two dozen Latin American nationals have been executed in the U.S. without having been notified of that right upon arrest. 

Relevant Cases 

  • Escobar v. Texas: 
  • Areli Escobar was sentenced to death in 2011 for the rape and mur­der of a woman in his apart­ment com­plex. No eye­wit­ness­es linked him to the crime, and the prosecution’s case relied heav­i­ly on the Austin Crime Lab’s foren­sic test­ing of Mr. Escobar’s clothes and items found at the crime scene. In 2016, the Austin Police Crime Lab, which handled the evidence in Mr. Escobar’s case, was shut down due to widespread evidence mishandling. Mr. Escobar sought relief in Texas courts, and the Travis County District Attorney’s office supported the request. Despite the office’s sup­port for Mr. Escobar’s request, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied all relief and the prosecution’s motion for recon­sid­er­a­tion. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the denial of relief January 2023, and the Court granted certiorari to Mr. Escobar and sent the case back to the TCCA for recon­sid­er­a­tion. 

  • Cruz v. Arizona: 
  • John Montenegro Cruz was sentenced to death in 2005 for killing a police officer in Tucson, Arizona. The trial court denied Mr. Cruz’s requests to instruct the jury that he was parole inel­i­gi­ble and his request to have the chair­man of the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency tes­ti­fy that he was parole inel­i­gi­ble. In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court found that Arizona had been mis­ap­ply­ing fed­er­al con­sti­tu­tion­al law by refus­ing to instruct juries on cap­i­tal defen­dants’ parole inel­i­gi­bil­i­ty. On March 28, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court granted cer­tio­rari review, nar­row­ing its review of the case to focus on whether Arizona’s reliance on a state rule of crim­i­nal pro­ce­dure “is an ade­quate and inde­pen­dent state-law ground for [its] judg­ment.” An oral argument was held in November 2022, resulting in the Supreme Court vacating his sentence and remanding it back to the trial courts. 

Global Perspective  

There are 35 United Nations member states located within the Americas: 16 retain capital punishment for extraordinary circumstances, 13 retain capital punishment but have not used it in the past decade, and 1 actively retains capital punishment — the United States. Since 2008, the United States has been the only country throughout North, Central, and South America to use the death penalty. As a result of the United States’ violation of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, many international organizations such as the Inter-American Court, the Organization of American States, and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights have called for action. 

Citation Guide

Sources

Daniele Selby, Why Latinx People Are Uniquely Vulnerable to Wrongful Conviction, The Innocence Project, October 7, 2022; Latinos and the Death Penalty factsheet, Equal Justice USA; Ted Chiricos et al., Perceived Racial and Ethnic Composition of Neighborhood and Perceived Risk of Crime, 48 Soc. Problems, 322, 335 (2001); Racial Attitudes Survey, Associated Press, Conducted by GfK, Oct. 29, 2012.