NCJ Number
206068
Journal
Criminal Justice Review Volume: 29 Issue: 1 Dated: Spring 2004 Pages: 76-96
Editor(s)
Michael S. Vaughn
Date Published
2004
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This article examines the impact of the race of the defendant and the race of the victim in contributing to erroneous capital convictions.
Abstract
Concerns about racial bias and innocence have long played an integral part in the debate over capital punishment focusing primarily on the race of the defendant. The race of the victim or the racial combination of both the offender and the victim has not been systematically considered. This article consists of a two-pronged analysis focusing on the link between race and erroneous capital convictions. It begins with two case studies that provide examples of the role of racial bias in wrongful convictions. The second section of the analysis is quantitative and provides the racial breakdown of the defendant, the victim, and the combination of both for the cases where the defendant was ultimately released from death row and the cases where the defendant was ultimately executed. Three logistic regression models were included to determine the significance of these race variables in prediction case outcomes. The qualitative and the quantitative analyses presented indicate that racial bias persists in capital cases. The case studies demonstrate pervasive racial discrimination among communities, law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and jurors where the defendants were tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. The combination of race of defendant and race of victim was identified as a significant predictor of a release from death row on appeal as opposed to an execution. In addition, race seems to have both a direct and an indirect effect on case outcome through multiple types of evidence, suggesting that prosecutors were more likely to go forward with weaker cases against African-American and minority defendants who were suspected of killing White victims. The results support prior research on wrongful convictions, as well as on racial discrimination and the death penalty. It is recommended that future research focus on obtaining the racial composition of the convicting juries in these cases. References