Does Race Still Play a Role in Capital Punishment Sentencing?
Dr. Thomas Brewer at Kent State managed to snag some money from our Department of Justice to pin down some slippery data. In a study published in Law and Human Behavior, Brewer belabored the obvious:
In a study published in Law and Human Behavior, Brewer found that blacks and whites seem to give mitigation the same level of attention in the majority of capital cases. However, an exception occurs when the capital case involves a black defendant who is faced with killing a white victim; in these instances, black jurors become significantly more receptive to mitigating evidence than their white colleagues on the jury.
So, there are major differences along color lines in in the American justice system? Now that’s news!