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Blacks are 22 times more likely to be put to death when the victim is white

(re-posted)

Baldus Study: 81% of Executed Defendants had White Victims

A new study finds that defendants who murder whites are more likely to be sentenced to death than those who murder blacks."Our analysis builds on the usual distinction between race-of-defendant and race-of-victim discrimination.

Both forms of discrimination violate the principle of "comparative justice," which requires comparable treatment of offenders who are similarly situated in terms of criminal culpability and deathworthiness.

Racially discriminatory administration of the death penalty violates comparative justice because it: (a) differentiates among offenders on the basis of morally and legally irrelevant factors, and (b) results in the similar treatment of offenders who materially differ in terms of their criminal culpability.

The bottom line indicates that 81% of the executed defendants had white victims. The proportion of white-victim cases among all death-sentenced, as contrasted to executed, defendants is also known in eight states for the period from 1977 through 2000.

With the exception of Pennsylvania, the average white-victim rate among death-sentenced offenders is 83% and ranges from 85% in Arizona to 82% in Virginia.

Blacks are 22 times more likely to be put to death when the victim is white. 

  • Executions by Race of Victim: 1976-2002

White Victim Percentage

   1.   Texas    79% (229/289)[su'b']

   2   Virginia    80% (70/87)

   3.   Missouri    78% (46/59)

   4.   Oklahoma    78% (43/55)

   5.   Florida    80% (43/54)

   6.   Georgia    94% (29/31)

   7.   South Carolina    64% (18/28)

   8.   Louisiana    81% (22/27)

   9.   Alabama    76% (19/25)

   10.   Arkansas    92% (22/24)

   11.   North Carolina    87% (20/23)

   12.   Arizona    86% (19/22)

   13.   Delaware    69% (9/13)

   14.   Illinois    75% (9/12)

   15.   California    80% (8/10)

   16.   Indiana    89% (8/9)

   17.   Nevada    100% (9/9)

   18.   Mississippi    67% (4/6)

   19.   Utah    100% (6/6)

   20.   Ohio    80% (4/5)

   21.   Washington    100% (4/4)

   22.   Nebraska    100% (3/3)

   23.   Maryland    100% (3/3)

   24.   Pennsylvania    67% (2/3)

   25.   Kentucky    100% (2/2)

   26.   Montana    100% (2/2)

   27.   Oregon    100% (2/2)

   28.   U.S.    0% (0/2)

   29.   Colorado    100% (1/1)

   30.   Idaho    100% (1/1)

   31.   New Mexico    100% (1/1)

   32.   Tennessee    100% (1/1)

   33.   Wyoming    100% (1/1) [

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From David C. Baldus and George Woodworth. Race Discrimination and the Legitimacy of Capital Punishment: Reflections on the Interaction of Fact and Perception. 53 DePaul L. Rev. 1411. Summer 2004