Race and the Death Penalty

Paper Summary:

The subject of this paper is how race impacts capital punishment verdicts issued by US courts. The author believes that capital punishment is powered by a system of justice that is heavily stacked against people of color. The writer cites several cases that show race as an issue in a death penalty verdicts. Additional statistics are presented that show African-Americans are executed more frequently than whites. The paper includes an extensive literature review. The author concludes that the public should be aware of the facts involved in this issue.

Outline:
Abstract
Introduction
Literature Review
Conceptualization
Methodology
Research Design
Study Group / Sample Population
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"And, Adams continues, of the 221 people "executed for interracial murders, 189 - ninety-four percent - have been black." Is there a pattern of blatant racial bias reflected in these data? Adams insists that "racism...pervades America's criminal justice system," and she wonders, "How is it that racism, as one of the most deplorable features of contemporary society, is able to establish a position in the purported beacon of objectivity and neutrality that is the law?" In her research article, Adams argues that since the death penalty was "reinvented" (Furman v. Georgia in 1972), the "arbitrariness and caprice" of the "pre-Furman" era is back. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Adams, Lucy. (2005). Death by Discretion: Who Decides Who Lives and Dies in the United States of America? American Journal of Criminal Law, 32(3), 381-401.
• American Civil Liberties Union. (2006). National Death Penalty Fact Sheet / Race and the Death Penalty. Retrieved July 2, 2006, from http://www.aclu.org/capital/facts/10593res20050216.html.
• Barkan, Steven E., & Cohn, Steven F. (2005). On Reducing White Support for the Death Penalty: A Pessimistic Appraisal. Criminology & Public Policy, 4(1), 39-44.
• Jacobs, David, & Carmichael, Jason T. (2004). Ideology, Social Threat, and the Death Sentence: Capital Sentences across Time and Space. Social Forces, 83(1), 249-278.
• Jones, Adam. (2002). Of rights and men: towards a minoritarian framing of male experience. Journal of Human Rights, 1(3), 387-403.

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