According to a 2005 report by the U.S. Department of Justice, 56 percent of inmates sentenced to death are white and 42 percent are black. Such numbers may lead observers to believe race no longer plays a role in capital punishment, but that is far from the case.
“Researchers continue to find variation in capital sentencing patterns along racial lines,” says Dr. Thomas Brewer, assistant professor of justice studies and research fellow for the Institute for the Study and Prevention of Violence at Kent State University.
In an ongoing study using survey data from the Capital Jury Project, Brewer explores the interaction between race and the ability or willingness of capital jurors to consider mitigation evidence, such as relevant factors about the character of the defendant or crime that minimize risk of imposing the death penalty, during penalty-phase deliberations in a death penalty trial.
In a study published in Law and Human Behavior, Brewer found that blacks and whites seem to give mitigation the same level of attention in the majority of capital cases. However, an exception occurs when the capital case involves a black defendant who is faced with killing a white victim; in these instances, black jurors become significantly more receptive to mitigating evidence than their white colleagues on the jury.
Brewer can be reached at 330-672-0315 or twbrewer@kent.edu.
Journal
Law and Human Behavior