NCJ Number
113640
Date Published
1988
Length
36 pages
Annotation
This study examined the effect of the U.S. Supreme Court's doctrinal revision of the death penalty on the administration of capital punishment in South Carolina, particularly the prosecutor's decision to seek a death sentence and the sentencer's decision to impose one.
Abstract
The study focused on nonnegligent homicide events of June 8, 1977, when South Carolina's new death penalty statute was enacted, to December 31, 1981. This study was restricted to the 302 cases that involved the commission of a felony as the requisite aggravating circumstance. The data revealed a significant amount of racial disparity at both prosecutorial decisionmaking and at sentencing. Even after controlling for nine legally relevant and permission variables, prosecutors were more likely to seek a death sentence in a white-victim homicide, particularly if it crossed racial lines and involved a black offender, than they were if a black killed another black. Although the decision to sentence a defendant to death was not entirely free of racial influences, the low conviction rate for black-victim homicides and small number of death sentences during the study period precluded any definitive conclusions, although it is suggested that the administration of capital punishment in South Carolina continues to be influenced by racial variables. 22 notes, 29 references.