The Effects Of Race On Sentencing In Capital Punishment Cases

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eliminate racial bias.
Since Gregg v. Georgia the total population of all 36 death rows has
grown as has the number of judicial controls used by each state. Of the 3,122
people on death row 41% are black while 48% are white (Gest, 1996, 41). This
figure may be acceptable at first glance but one must take into account the fact
that only 12% of the U.S. population is black (Smolowe, 1991, 68). Carolyn
Snurkowski of the Florida attorney generals office believes that the
disproportionate number of blacks on death row can be explained by the fact that,
“Many black murders result from barroom brawls that wouldn't call for the death
penalty, but many white murders occur on top of another offense, such as robbery”
(As cited in Gest, 1986, 25). This may be true but the Washington Legal
Foundation offers their own explanation by arguing that “blacks are arrested for
murder at a higher rate than are whites. When arrest totals are factored in , ‘
the probability of a white murderer ...

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