tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185810283547148800.post3321921959890829788..comments2023-06-03T07:08:06.093-07:00Comments on Newliberals: Where's the outrage over the Kennedy v Louisiana ruling?Newliberalshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03984789930953822147noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185810283547148800.post-27418285614909083302008-12-29T23:35:00.000-08:002008-12-29T23:35:00.000-08:00Racial issues White murderers are twice as likely ...Racial issues<BR/> <BR/>White murderers are twice as likely to be executed in the US as are black murderers and are executed, on average, 12 months more quickly than are black death row inmates.<BR/> <BR/>It is often stated that it is the race of the victim which decides who is prosecuted in death penalty cases. Although blacks and whites make up about an equal number of murder victims, capital cases are 6 times more likely to involve white victim murders than black victim murders. This, so the logic goes, is proof that the US only cares about white victims.<BR/> <BR/>Hardly. Only capital murders, not all murders, are subject to a capital indictment. Generally, a capital murder is limited to murders plus secondary aggravating factors, such as murders involving burglary, carjacking, rape, and additional murders, such as police murders, serial and multiple murders. White victims are, overwhelmingly, the victims under those circumstances, in ratios nearly identical to the cases found on death row. <BR/> <BR/>Any other racial combinations of defendants and/or their victims in death penalty cases, is a reflection of the crimes committed and not any racial bias within the system, as confirmed by studies from the Rand Corporation (1991), Smith College (1994), U of Maryland (2002), New Jersey Supreme Court (2003) and by a view of criminal justice statistics, within a framework of the secondary aggravating factors necessary for capital indictments.<BR/> <BR/><BR/>Class issues<BR/> <BR/>No one disputes that wealthier defendants can hire better lawyers and, therefore, should have a legal advantage over their poorer counterparts. The US has executed about 0.15% of all murderers since new death penalty statutes were enacted in 1973. Is there evidence that wealthier capital murderers are less likely to be executed than their poorer ilk, based upon the proportion of capital murders committed by different those different economic groups? Not to my knowledge.dudleysharphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12796468204722853648noreply@blogger.com