Discrimination and the Death Penalty

Throughout American history, the death penalty has fallen disproportionately on racial minorities. From 1930, the first year for which statistics are readily available from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, to 1967, 3,859 persons were executed under civil jurisdiction in the United States. During this period of nearly half a century, over half (54%) of those executed were black, 45 percent were white, and the remaining one percent were members of other racial groups. Between 1930 and 1976 nearly 90% of those executed for …

…as the death penalty remains a part of our system, it will be used disproportionately against the poor, racial minorities, and those who had received inadequate legal representation. Society must begin to re-examine its approach to punishment. In conclusion, the death penalty should be abolished because it has become a horrifying lottery in which politics, and race play a more decisive role in sending a defendant to the death chamber than the circumstances of t