Obama Concerned About Racial Bias In Death Penalty Rulings

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Christina Marie
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Obama Concerned About Racial Bias In Death Penalty Rulings

Unread post by Christina Marie » May 2nd, 2014, 1:00 pm

President Barack Obama Friday tried to raise his supporters’ long-standing opposition to jury-directed death penalties by suggesting to a German reporter that Americans jurors and judges may be biased against African-Americans.

“What happened in Oklahoma was deeply troubling,” said Obama, referring to a recent execution of an African-American man in Oklahoma.

A Pew report in March showed that only 36 percent of African-Americans and 40 percent Latinos support the death penalty. In contrast, roughly 63 percent of whites support the death penalty.

In Oklahoma, the condemned man did not die quickly because his vein collapsed, hindering passage of the first of three execution drugs. Fifteen years ago, the man had kidnapped four people. He eventually executed one of them — an 18-year-old teenager — after she watched her grave being dug for 20 minutes. The murderer was condemned after testimony from multiple witnesses.

Instead of sidestepping a foreign reporter’s question about a state-level issue in Oklahoma, Obama chose to expand the Oklahoma case into a veiled attack on the death penalty.

“We have seen significant problems — racial bias, uneven application of the death penalty, situations in which there were individuals on death row who were later on were discovered to have been innocent … and all these I think do raise significant questions about how the death penalty has been applied,” he claimed in the Rose Garden press conference.

“I’ll be discussing with [Attorney General] Eric Holder and others to get me an analysis of what steps have been taken,” he said.

“We do have to, as a society, ask ourselves some difficult and profound questions about these issues,” he claimed, even though the death penalty is supported by roughly 55 percent of the public, and is opposed by 37 percent.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2014/05/02/obama ... z30aevLqrS

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Re: Obama Concerned About Racial Bias In Death Penalty Rulin

Unread post by Christina Marie » May 2nd, 2014, 1:02 pm

Homicide by Race (1980 to 2008)

White 45.3%
Blacks 52.5%
Native Americans 2.2%
Asians 2.2%.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_c ... ted_States


TOTAL NUMBER OF DEATH ROW INMATES IN THE USA: 3,108

Race of Defendant:

White 1,334 (43.10%)
Black 1,291 (41.71%)
Latino/Latina 391 (12.63%)
Asian 45 (1.42%)
Native American 33 (1.07%)
Unknown 1 (0.03)

http://www.deathpenalty.org/article.php?id=86

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Re: Obama Concerned About Racial Bias In Death Penalty Rulin

Unread post by jeff » May 2nd, 2014, 10:53 pm

African Americans make up over 36% of California's death row, even though they constitute only 6% of the state population.

:-(

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Re: Obama Concerned About Racial Bias In Death Penalty Rulin

Unread post by Andrea1987 » May 7th, 2014, 11:20 am

He's absolutely correct. The death penalty in this country always has had and always will have a racial bias. That's why there should be a memorandum. Even if you believe in the death penalty, shouldn't it be applied fairly to everyone of every color and economic status?

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Re: Obama Concerned About Racial Bias In Death Penalty Rulin

Unread post by bumperjack » May 8th, 2014, 1:39 pm

and Alabama. More than half of the 3095 people on death row nationwide are people of color; 42% are African American. Prominent researchers have demonstrated that a defendant is more likely to get the death penalty if the victim is white than if the victim is black. The key decision makers in death penalty cases across the country are almost exclusively white. Despite decades of evidence showing that the administration of the death penalty is permeated with racial bias, courts and legislatures’ refusal to address race in any comprehensive way reveals a fundamental flaw in America’s justice system.

Each year in Alabama, nearly 65% of all murders involve black victims, yet 80% of the people currently awaiting execution in Alabama were convicted of crimes in which the victims were white. Only 6% of all murders in Alabama involve black defendants and white victims, but over 60% of black death row prisoners have been sentenced for killing someone white.

Although black people in Alabama constitute 27% of the total population, none of the 19 appellate court judges and only one of the 42 elected District Attorneys in Alabama is black. Nearly 63% of the Alabama prison population is black. The State of Alabama disenfranchises more of its citizens as a result of criminal convictions than any other state in the country.

EJI litigates on behalf of criminal defendants whose convictions have been unlawfully obtained on the basis of racial discrimination. In the last ten years, 23 capital cases in Alabama have been reversed after it was proven that prosecutors illegally excluded black people 'allegedly" from jury service.but yet there are more whites on death row in the United states,1,334 Is there a bias or prejudice its Discrimination of the "poor" more than race because these are defendents that cannot by a Dream team like O.J simpson and he is as black as all the rest of these guys but he had Money that was and is the difference,Ask yourself if Racial bias is really the reason? How come O.J Simpson isnt on Death Row for a double murder? today?,they also played the race card in the trail,Prejudice refers to prejudment or forming a opinion before becoming aware of the relevant facts of a Case. The word is often used to refer to preconcieved,usually unfavorable judgments toward people or a person because of gender,social class(POOR) gender,political opinion,age,Religion or sexuality can be Race and Nationality and ethnicity but thats the Race card Theory go figure...

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