14 DAY TRIAL // America is an interesting democracy, still White and Christian. At least at the level of justice. Blacks convicted of killing whites have a higher likelihood than other killers to receive a death penalty, and even higher to actually get executed. A new research also shows African Americans on death row for killing nonwhites are less prone to be executed than others. "Examining who survives on death row is important because less than 10 % of those given the death sentence ever get executed," said co-author David Jacobs, professor of sociology at Ohio State University.
"The disparity in execution rates based on the race of victims suggests our justice system places greater value on white lives, even after sentences are handed down. This apparently is the first study to examine whether the race of murder victims affects the probability that a convicted killer gets the ultimate punishment," said Jacobs.
The research examined outcomes of 1,560 people who received the death sentence in 16 states, with a complete data, from 1973 to 2002. "Other research has shown that the great majority of those sentenced to death have their sentences overturned in appeal. But little is known about the factors that lead some condemned prisons to be executed," said Jacobs.
The research found a double risk of being executed in the case of an African American who killed a white person than for a white person who murdered a non-white person. "The fact that blacks who kill non-whites actually are less likely to be executed than blacks who kill whites shows there is a strong racial bias here. Blacks are most likely to pay the ultimate price when their victims are white," said Jacobs.
Hispanics, too, in the case of murdering whites were also more prone to execution than whites killing non-whites were, but the risks were lower than in the case of blacks killing whites.
In a previous study, the same team found that the likelihood of a death sentence was higher in states with large proportions of black residents, more conservative population, and a higher support for Republican candidates. But when the Black population in the state reach approximately 16 % of the overall population, executions start to lower in number.
"Probably at that point, African Americans have enough votes and political influence within a state to reduce the number of executions. Republican presidential candidates often run on law and order platforms, so it is not surprising that the success of these candidates goes along with support for the harshest punishment. Overall, we found that our justice system is not colorblind, even after offenders are put on death row. White lives are still valued more than black ones when it comes to deciding who gets executed and who does not," said Jacobs.