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Posts by admin:
- The Innocence Project
- Death Penalty Information Center
- The Sentencing Project
- American Civil Liberties Union: Race and the Death Penalt
- Amnesty International Death Penalty and Race
- Police never corroborated Coles’ story.
- Without performing an investigation, Davis’ picture was broadcast on TV along with proclamations that he was a cop killer.
- Coles’ picture was not included in a photo lineup for witnesses.
- Seven out of nine witnesses have recanted their testimonies citing coercion, threats, and police pressure. Eyewitness recantations include the following: Dorothy Ferrell told police that she saw nothing, yet testified falsely. Ferrell later told the public that she felt “compelled to identify Mr. Davis because she was on parole. [A detective] showed Ms. Ferrell only one photograph and suggested she should [identify Davis]” [link opens PDF]. Darrell Collins was 16 at the time of his eyewitness testimony to the police. The police threatened him with jail time if he did not identify Davis as the shooter. Collins, afraid of being sentenced to jail time, then knowingly falsely identified Davis.
- One of the individuals who has not recanted his testimony is the primary alternative suspect.
- At the time of Davis’ habeas corpus petition, Congress cut funding to post-conviction defender organizations, such as the one representing Davis. Therefore, Davis lost the majority of his defense and evidence of recantations and other new evidence was never discovered or heard by a jury.
- Amnesty International’s Justice for Troy Campaign
- NAACP’s I am Troy Davis Campaign
- Troy Anthony Davis’ Legal Case
- If Davis were a white man, would police have produced a thorough investigation?
- If Davis were a white man, would his pleas of innocence be taken more seriously?
- If Davis were a white man, would he be provided with fair and adequate treatment by the police/justice system?
- Prior to Furman v. Georgia (1972), black defendants were 12 times more likely to receive a death sentence than white defendants. See Baldus, Pulaski and Woodworth, Comparative Review of Death Sentences: An Empirical Study of the Georgia Experience, 74 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 661 (1983).
- Black defendants are nearly four (3.9) times more likely to receive a death sentence than white defendants. See Richard C. Dieter, The Death Penalty in Black and White: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Decides, Report, Death Penalty Information Center, June, 1998.
- Defendants accused of killing a white victim are 4.3 times more likely to receive a death sentence than defendants accused of killing a black victim. See See Baldus, Pulaski and Woodworth, Comparative Review of Death Sentences: An Empirical Study of the Georgia Experience, 74 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 661 (1983).
- In an examination of death penalty rates among all death-eligible defendants in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania between the years of 1983 and 1993 demonstrated that the odds of receiving the death penalty in Philadelphia increased by 38% when the accused was a black person. D. Baldus, et al., Race Discrimination and the Death Penalty in the Post Furman Era: An Empirical and Legal Overview, with Preliminary Findings from Philadelphia, 83 Cornell L. Rev. 1638 (1998).
- Between 1976 and 1990, only 15 white defendants were executed for killing a black victim while 283 black defendants were executed for killing white victims. See this U.S. Government report [opens PDF].
- It was not until 1999 that a white person was sentenced to death for killing a black person in Texas in the case of James Byrd.
- Defendants of color who have killed white victims have significantly higher chances of being executed than other capital defendants. See Jacobs et al., “Who Survives on Death Row? An Individual and Contextual Analysis,” American Sociological Review (2007) 72: 610-632
- The email subscription is activated and operational. So, if you prefer to get notification of updates to RacismReview via email we – at long last – have this capability. It’s the big space to the right there, where it says “Subscribe Now.” Just type in your email address, then follow the steps to activate the subscription.
- After a brief attempt to use Disqus, we’re back to managing comments through WordPress. This means that everyone will have to register (or re-register) with the site here.
- There are also detailed instructions HERE for those who may be new to blog registration or commenting on blogs.
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Comments Rating Off
May 29th, 2010We’ve turned the comments rating feature off for awhile. Everyone behave. ~ blog admins
Blog Admin: Comments and Trolls
April 28th, 2010Our goal here at Racism Review is to inform, engage, educate, and whenever possible, create an atmosphere for lively discussion in the comments section. However, given the anonymity of the Internet (among many other factors, including the competing pulls on the blog admins’ time) this is often difficult to do.
Therefore, in an attempt to keep down the volume of traffic from trolls and to increase the quality of discussion in comments, we’ve recently adjusted the settings on the blog so that people cannot comment on posts that are older than seven (7) days.
As you may have noticed, we’ve also recently turned comments “off” on some posts. There are times when the blog admins are weary of deleting troll-comments and so, simply turn the comments off.
And, if you’ve suddenly found yourself blocked from posting comments to the site, it’s because you’ve been deemed a troll by the blog admins. A troll is someone who posts comments that do not add value to the discussion but rather only serve to feed the troll’s ego and they are not welcome here.
Everyone who has something intelligent, constructive, relevant, on-topic, and timely, to add to the discussion is welcome and invited to post a comment.
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Race and the Death Penalty, IV: Resources
April 18th, 2010In this last post of our four-part blog series on race and the death penalty, we* would like to provide you with some additional links. As our series this week illustrated, the death penalty today looks very much the same as in the past. If you would like to learn more about race and the death penalty, please visit:
While the death penalty has undergone what some would call a legitimacy crisis in recent years with issues of innocence and cost becoming prominent, we argue that we should still pay attention to issues of racial bias.
~ *We are a group of four sociology students studying the death penalty in Danielle Dirks’ “Capital Punishment in America” undergraduate course at University of Texas-Austin. This is the first post of our four-part blog series on race and the death penalty. Please read and feel free to comment or ask questions. Thank you for your time!
Race and the Death Penalty, III: Troy Anthony Davis and the Denial of Justice
April 18th, 2010In many ways, the story of racial injustice and the death penalty in the U.S. can be summarized in the story of Troy Anthony Davis.
On the night of August 19, 1989, an off-duty police officer, Mark MacPhail, was shot and killed. The events leading to his death are quite unclear. Eyewitness accounts and testimonies have been altered and recanted. However, the story was reported as follows: Standing outside a Burger King in Savannah, Georgia, a black man, Sylvester “Redd” Coles was seen harassing a homeless man for beer. Coles continued to harass the homeless man and followed the man to a nearby parking lot. Several bystanders, including Troy Anthony Davis, followed the scuffle. Coles was overheard threatening to shoot the homeless man and seen hitting him over the head with a gun. Hearing the homeless man’s cries for help, MacPhail responded to the scene. While responding to the fight, a .38 caliber revolver set off ultimately killing officer MacPhail.
At first, witnesses had a hard time identifying the shooter as the scene was not well lit, and two men present, Coles and Davis, appeared similar in appearance to many. Soon after the shooting, Coles confronted the police to tell his version of events and implicate Davis. Unaware that he was accused of a crime, Davis went to Atlanta in search of job opportunities. Davis’ trip appeared to police like an attempt to flee the scene of the crime and an admission of his guilt.
(Protesters hold images of Davis, from here)
During the day on August 19, 1989, another shooting occurred at a party where both Coles and Davis were present. At this scene, Coles was overheard arguing with the victim. Shell casings from both scenes revealed that the same firearm had been used in both shootings. Despite the mounting evidence against Coles, his belongings were never searched, and he was never questioned as a suspect in either crime. Davis was deemed guilty and put on trial. There was never an investigation into his part in the crime, and he was never questioned as a suspect.
Here is where things get even messier…
The case of Troy Anthony Davis offers insight into the kind of injustices that a person of color faces in the criminal justice system. To learn more about upcoming proceedings in the Davis case, and to take action on his behalf, please visit:
With the mounting evidence of Davis’ innocence, why does he still sit on death row? We ask several questions for readers here:
~ *We are a group of four sociology students studying the death penalty in Danielle Dirks’ “Capital Punishment in America” undergraduate course at University of Texas-Austin. This is the first post of our four-part blog series on race and the death penalty. Please read and feel free to comment or ask questions. Thank you for your time!
Race and the Death Penalty, II: Black Defendants, White Victims
April 17th, 2010This is the second part of a four-part series on the most common death penalty cases: those involving black defendants and white victims. In this post, *we explore some of the research about the racial dynamics in this type of death penalty case.
Most crime is intra-racial, that is it happens among the same racial group. The majority of homicides of whites are perpetrated by other whites, the majority of homicides involving black victims are perpetrated by other blacks.
Yet, despite this statistical fact, the black defendant/white victim has the highest chance of being selected for a death sentence. One study in the midwest found that prosecutors are 2.5 times more likely to seek the death penalty when a black defendant kills a white victim.
One factor that may be influencing the death penalty decision is the race of the prosecutor. According to a study conducted by Professor Jeffrey Pokorak of St. Mary’s University School of Law, the racial breakdown of District Attorneys in death penalty states is as follows: 97.5% whites, 1.2% black, and 1.2% Hispanic. There is no absolute way to show that because the majority of District Attorneys in America are white, they are racist against blacks. However, prosecutorial discretion studies illustrate racial patterns in cases where death sentences are sought.
Another factor that researchers have examined is the race of the jury pool. In cases involving a black defendant and white victim, having five white males on the jury doubles the chance that the death penalty will be imposed [opens PDF]. Having just one black man on a capital jury cuts the chance of a death sentence in half [opens PDF]. In addition to the composition of the jury pool, the prejudice of jurors’ may also play a role in who gets the death penalty.
One study found that defendants who were perceived as looking more “stereotypically black” (i.e., having darker features) more than doubles the chances of being sentenced to death in capital cases involving white victims.
Our question for readers here: Do we – as a society – value the lives of black and white victims differently?
~ *We are a group of four sociology students studying the death penalty in Danielle Dirks’ “Capital Punishment in America” undergraduate course at University of Texas-Austin. This is the first post of our four-part blog series on race and the death penalty. Please read and feel free to comment or ask questions. Thank you for your time!
Race and the Death Penalty, Part I: Who Gets the Death Penalty in America?
April 17th, 2010The history of the death penalty in America is a history about race. While African Americans comprise approximately 11 percent of the U.S. population, they have constituted half (50%) of all the people executed in the U.S. since 1800. In this post, we* begin this series by exploring racial disparities in death sentencing and executions historically and today in the U.S.
Controlling for a variety of legal and extralegal factors, studies continue to show that race of the victim is the single-most statistical factor in deciding who gets sentenced to death and who gets executed. The most active death penalty states today are those where the most lynchings occurred historically (e.g., Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas). See Jacobs, et al., “Vigilantism, Current Racial Threat, and Death Sentences,” American Sociological Review (2005) 70: 656-677.
There is evidence that a defendant accused of killing a white person is more likely to receive a death sentence than a defendant accused of killing a black person, especially if the defendant is black, for example:
There is also evidence that racial disparities exist not only in who gets sentenced to death, but who is executed, for example:
The questions we invite readers to ponder are these: Is capital punishment in the United States a racially fair system? Are you persuaded by the evidence we’ve presented here?
~ *We are a group of four sociology students studying the death penalty in Danielle Dirks’ “Capital Punishment in America” undergraduate course at University of Texas-Austin. This is the first post of our four-part blog series on race and the death penalty. Please read and feel free to comment or ask questions. Thank you for your time!
Blog Admin: Email subscription activated, Comments in WordPress
November 18th, 2009Thanks for your patience as we work out the kinks on the site re-design this week. Just a few brief blog admin updates:
And now, we return you to the regularly scheduled, insightful, engaging analysis of race, racism, politics, society and culture.
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Under Reported
November 14th, 2009We’re adding a regular feature here called “Under Reported” where readers can note an area of research that is under reported and needs attention. This page will be permanently linked to the main page of the blog, and you can add a comment whenever you like. Thanks to Dr. Terence Fitzgerald for this suggestion!
Blog Admin: Offline Tonight for Site Maintenance, User Registration Coming
November 13th, 2009We’ll be taking the blog offline tonight from 11pm-1amET (and possibly longer) for site maintenance and re-design. Once the re-design goes live (in the wee hours tonight if all goes well), then all those who wish to comment here will have to register. (Comments OFF.)
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Glenn Beck Refuses to Define “White Culture”
September 28th, 2009Glenn Beck infamously said that President Barack Obama holds a “deep-seated hatred for white culture.” Yet, when Katie Couric recently asked him to define what he meant by “white culture,” Beck was uncharacteristically at a loss for word (3:11):
