Race, Poverty, and the Death Penalty

A popular topic in politics nowadays is racism. Police brutality has sparked controversy over how unjust our system is, but not many people are aware of how it affects those on death row. As it turns out, African-American defendants receive the death penalty at three times the rate of white defendants in cases where the victim is white. In fact, defendants are less likely to receive the death penalty in cases where the victim is not white. This shows that the race of the victim is just as important as the race of the defendant.

I am not advocating for an increase in death sentences to balance out this discrepancy. While it is unfair that non-white victims are underrepresented in death penalty cases, I think it is more important to abolish the death penalty all together. This would eliminate the race issue altogether and prevent the possibility of a person's race playing a role in the end of their life.

Race of Homicide Victims in Cases Resulting in an Execution since 1976

On another front, the poor are also more likely to receive the death penalty. Over 99% of the people on death row are indigent, according to one U.S. Appeals Court judge. This has to do with the fact that the poor are mostly unable to hire a good lawyer.

I think that these issues with the justice system clearly exhibit the unfairness of the death penalty. It disproportionately affects the poor and non-white, and this problem of course expands through all aspects of our justice system and not just death row. While finding a solution for the whole issue is more difficult, I think a step can be taken forward simply by ending the death penalty.