NCJ Number
85943
Journal
Harvard Law Review Volume: 95 Issue: 2 Dated: (1981) Pages: 456-468
Date Published
1981
Length
13 pages
Annotation
Florida's experience in the administration of the death penalty evidences statistical changes related to racially biased practices or efforts to counter those practices where black offenders and black victims are involved.
Abstract
Twice in the past 15 years, Federal courts of appeals have been urged to reverse death sentences on the ground that the death penalty was administered with racial discrimination. The first time, in Maxwell v. Bishop, a petitioner submitted data to show discrimination against black offenders. The second time, in Spinkellink v. Wainwright, a petitioner submitted data to show bias against murderers of white victims. The Spinkellink data indicated that such offenders were substantially more likely to end up on death row than were murderers of black victims. In both cases, the courts refused to find proof of racial discrimination. Criminal justice data that have become available since these cases, however, show a change in the racial patterns of both offenders and victims following the court cases, suggesting policy efforts to change previous conscious or unconscious bias in the administration of the death penalty. Changes in the patterns of who ends up on death row apparently rest with the policy of the prosecutor, because the prosecutor formulates the charge that determines whether or not the death penalty is permitted upon conviction, exercises discretion to offer a life sentence in exchange for a guilty plea in cases for which capital punishment is possible, and decides whether to ask for the death penalty after conviction. Because of the discretion exercised at various points in criminal proceedings, particularly by the prosecutor, no law can ensure that the administration of the death penalty will be without bias; therefore, it should be abolished.