In 2005, a careful review of the study by Professor of Statistics and Sociology Richard Berk of the University of California, Los Angeles, and his coauthors found that the results of Professor Paternoster's study do not stand up to statistical scrutiny. The results of Professor Paternoster's study found that black defendants who murder white victims are substantially more likely to be charged with a capital crime and sentenced to death. In 2000, Governor Glendening commissioned University of Maryland Professor of Criminology Ray Paternoster to study the possibility of racial discrimination in the application of the death penalty in Maryland. In May 2001, then-Governor Parris Glendening instituted a moratorium on the use of capital punishment in Maryland in light of concerns that it may be unevenly applied to minorities, especially African-Americans.
While there is little evidence that the federal capital punishment system treats minorities unfairly, some may argue that the death penalty systems in certain states may be discriminatory. RAND's findings are very compelling because three independent research teams, using the same data but different methodologies, reached the same conclusions. The RAND study concludes that the findings support the view that decisions to seek the death penalty are driven by characteristics of crimes rather than by race. However, these disparities disappeared in each of the three studies when the heinousness of the crimes was taken into account. When first looking at the raw data without controlling for case characteristics, RAND found that large race effects with the decision to seek the death penalty are more likely to occur when the defendants are white and when the victims are white. Only after each team independently drew their own conclusions did they share their findings with each other. Three independent teams of researchers were tasked with developing their own methodologies to analyze the data. The resulting 2006 RAND study set out to determine what factors, including the defendant's race, victim's race, and crime characteristics, affect the decision to seek a death penalty case. Under a competitive grant process, the National Institute of Justice awarded the RAND Corporation a grant to determine whether racial disparities exist in the federal death penalty system. However, there is little rigorous evidence that such disparities exist in the federal system.
The fact that African-Americans are a majority of federal prisoners on death row and a minority in the overall United States population may lead some to conclude that the federal system discriminates against African-Americans. Of these prisoners, 43.2 percent were white, while 54.1 percent were African-American. However, the criminal process should not be abused to prevent the lawful imposition of the death penalty in appropriate capital cases.Īlleged Racial Discrimination in Capital Punishment SentencesĪs of December 2005, there were 37 prisoners under a sentence of death in the federal system. From 2000 to the most recent poll in 2006, support for capital punishment consistently runs a 2:1 ratio in favor.ĭespite strong public support for capital punishment, federal, state, and local officials must continually ensure that its implementation rigorously upholds constitutional protections, such as due process and equal protection of the law. (See Chart 1.) In Gallup's most recent poll, 67 percent of Americans favor the death penalty for those convicted of murder, while only 28 percent are opposed. While opponents of capital punishment have been very vocal in their opposition, Gallup opinion polls consistently demonstrate that the American public overwhelmingly supports capital punishment. The views I express in this testimony are my own and should not be construed as representing any official position of The Heritage Foundation. I thank Chairman Russell Feingold, Ranking Member Sam Brownback, and the rest of the subcommittee for the opportunity to testify today. I am Senior Policy Analyst in the Center for Data Analysis at The Heritage Foundation.
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