Does race play a mitigating role in the application of the death penalty?

Extract

[...] Thus, there is a clear need to examine concrete data on death row incarcerations to discern if race is indeed a mitigating factor in the application of the death penalty. Assessing quantitative data on ethnicity as it applies to the death penalty, it seems reasonable to argue that the proposed hypothesis is indeed supported. The Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics (2003) reports the following statistics with regard to federal prisoners under the death sentence. As of April there were a total of 3,487 federal prisoners under the sentence of death. [...]

[...] Does race play a mitigating role in the application of the death penalty? Introduction Over the course of the twentieth century there have been a number of issues that have promulgated debate. Prayer in public schools, gun control and abortion are among the most notable issues to garner attention. While each of these issues has significant ramifications for the development of society, there is one particular issue that continues to polarize debate and unsettle even may of the most liberal politicians. [...]

[...] The wealth disparity between those murderers who live and those who die constitutes a serious constitutional challenge to the permissibility of the death penalty (p. 517). These authors go on to note that because a large percentage of minorities often fall into economically disadvantaged categories, they are often the unwitting victims of a justice system that inevitably favors the most affluent in society. Clearly, the qualitative evidence that has been developed to demonstrate the disparities that exist in the application of the death sentence show that minorities, primarily because of their economic status, are unequally sentenced to death when compared to their White counterparts. [...]