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News and Developments 2008: Race

NEW RESOURCES: Death Qualification and Prejudice

Posted: December 16, 2008
in

Research on death qualification--the selection of jurors who are qualified to serve on a capital case because they are willing to sentence someone to death--has revealed additional characteristics among such jurors.  Professor Brooke Butler of the University of South Florida in Sarasota has studied such jurors and published her results in the journal of Behavioral Sciences and the Law. Her study, “Death qualification and prejudice: the effect of implicit racism, sexism, and homophobia on capital defendants' right to due process,” surveyed 200 juror candidates from the 12th Circuit in Bradenton, Florida.  In addition to the questions that measured their support for the death penalty and their death-qualification status, she studied their attitudes towards women, gays, and people of other races.  The results indicated that as death penalty support increased, participants exhibited more negative attitudes towards women, homosexuals, and people of other races.

STUDIES: Racial Disparities in the Capital of Capital Punishment

Posted: December 03, 2008
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A new study published in the Houston Law Review, “Racial Disparities in the Capital of Capital Punishment,” explores the relationship of race to death sentencing in Harris County (Houston), Texas. In the study, Prof. Scott Phillips of the University of Denver explores patterns involving the race of both victims and defendants, while controlling for other variables.

SUPREME COURT: Justice Stevens Questions Thoroughness of Review by Georgia Supreme Court

Posted: October 20, 2008
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Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens took the occasion of the Court's denial of review to a death row defendant in Georgia to question the adequacy of the appeals process in that state. On October 20, the Supreme Court denied certiorari in Walker v. Georgia, an appeal from the Georgia Supreme Court, and Justice Stevens concurred in that denial.

EXECUTIONS IN 2008

Posted: October 06, 2008
in

There have been 24 executions so far in 2008. Executions resumed on May 5 after the U.S. Supreme Court approved Kentucky's lethal injection process in Baze v. Rees. One hundred percent of the executions have been in the South, including 9 in Texas, 4 in Virginia, and 3 in Georgia. At least 12 cases have been granted stays of executions in the past two months, including Troy Davis, whose execution in Georgia was halted by the U.S. Supreme Court.

STUDIES: Race a Factor in Arkansas Death Sentences

Posted: September 11, 2008
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A new study of the death penalty in Arkansas showed racial patterns in sentencing. University of Iowa law professor David Baldus’ study examined 124 murder cases filed in one district from 1990 to 2005. Even after adjusting for factors such as the defendant’s criminal history and circumstances of the crime, black people who killed white people were more likely than others to be charged with capital murder and be sentenced to death. “It suggests

Victims' Families Petition Against Texas Man's Execution

Posted: July 07, 2008
in

On July 10, Carlton Akee Turner is scheduled to be put to death in Texas for the murder of his adoptive parents when he was 19 years old. But a majority of the victims’ relatives are speaking out against the execution. Victim Tonya Carlton's brother, Kelly Johnson, wrote in a petition to the Board of Pardons and Paroles, “I do not wish to see my sister’s only child executed.

Upcoming Georgia Execution Involves Racially Biased and Unprepared Defense Lawyer

Posted: May 28, 2008
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Georgia Execution Involves Racially Biased and Unprepared Defense Lawyer
(View Video)
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NEW RESOURCES: Study Finds Evidence of Race-of-Defendant Bias in Texas Death Penalty

Posted: April 29, 2008
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A new study by Professor Scott Phillips of the Univeristy of Denver found that black defendants in Houston, Texas, are more likely to be sentenced to death than white defendants, even when other variables are accounted for. The research, to be published in a forthcoming edition of the Houston Law Review, looked at cases eligible for the death penalty in the county that is the source of the highest number of executions in Texas, which itself is responsible for more executions than any other state.

STUDIES: “Prosecutorial Discretion and Capital Punishment in Missouri”

Posted: March 26, 2008
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A recent Arizona Legal Studies paper on murder cases in Missouri found both geographical and racial disparities in the application of the death penalty. “Life and Death Decisions: Prosecutorial Discretion and Capital Punishment in Missouri,” by Katherine Barnes of Arizona University Law School, and David Sloss and Stephen Thaman of St. Louis Univeristy Law School, studied 1046 cases of intentional homicide in Missouri to determine geographical and racial effects in the rates at which prosecutors seek the death penalty.

After Two Supreme Court Reversals, Texas Man Sentenced to Life

Posted: March 24, 2008
in
Thomas Miller-El received a life sentence from a Texas judge after pleading guilty to a Dallas murder in exchange for the prosecution's agreement not to seek the death penalty. Miller-El had originally been sentenced to death in 1986. He raised an appeal asserting that potential black jurors had been improperly stopped from serving at his trial. The appeal was denied by the lower courts, but the U.S.