NCJ Number
106995
Journal
National Prison Project Journal Issue: 6 Dated: (Winter 1985) Pages: 12-15
Date Published
1985
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Since the U.S. Supreme Court approved the resumption of executions in 1976, the death penalty is administered in the South in the same racially and economically discriminatory way it was before the Supreme Court ruled capital punishment a violation of constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment in Furman v. Georgia in 1972.
Abstract
The majority of executions since 1976 have been in the South, with 200 people on Florida's death row, 13 of whom have been killed. Georgia, Texas, and California each have 100 people on death row. Between 1924 and 1972, 337 blacks and 75 whites were executed in Georgia; since 1976, 5 blacks and 1 white have been executed. Black defendants accused of killing a prominent white person are 4 times as likely to be sentenced to death than if the victim is black. Minorities and the poor are underrepresented on juries, with all-white juries often deciding whether a black defendant accused of killing a white person will die. Virtually all those sentenced to die are poor. These defendants cannot afford to pay attorneys and are granted court-appointed attorneys, who are often inexperienced and incompetent. As the number on death row has increased, the availability of attorneys for postconviction proceedings has decreased. Attorneys are often found days before execution and have little time to properly prepare their clients' convictions often depends on attorney availability and adequate preparation time. 13 references.