THE RACE FACTOR IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE
by Jody Cramer Today more than 2,000,000 people are in prison in the US. China is the only place that imprisons more people than the state of California. Seventy percent of people in US prisons are people of color. Black women are the fastest growing group, and American Indians are the largest group per capita. In 1996, 75,000 women were in prison, and 60 percent were Black or Latino.
Approximately 5,000,000, including those on parole and probation, are under the surveillance of the criminal justice system. Although Whites make up 74 percent of the general population, they are only 36 percent of this population. One in three Black men aged 20-29 is in prison, jail, or on probation or parole. Black men are seven times more likely than White men to be in prison. Five times as many Black men are presently in prison as are in four-year colleges and universities. In 1930, the rate of incarceration for Black people was three times that of Whites. In 1960, it was five times that of Whites. In 1996, it was eight times that of Whites.
Recently the San Jose Mercury News reported that among White juveniles arrested for felonies in California, only 9 percent were sent to prison. Among Hispanic juveniles, 51 percent were sent to prison, and among Black juveniles, 29 percent were sent to prison. These statistics tell us that race plays a significant role in arrests and sentencing of people to prison.
When it comes to the death penalty, race is a prominent issue. African Americans make up 12 percent of the US population and 9 percent of the California population, but they are 32 percent of the people on death row. Approximately 596 people are on death row today in San Quentin prison: 230 are White, 185 are Black, 78 are Hispanic, and 23 are "others." A 1998 study in Philadelphia showed that the likelihood of having the death sentence imposed is 4 times higher if the defendant is Black. Since 1978, Pennsylvania has sentenced to death more than 8 times as many Blacks as Whites.
The race of the victims is also a significant factor in sentencing people to death. Blacks kill Blacks, Hispanics kill Hispanics, but the most likely scenario for receiving the death penalty is to kill someone White. Blacks and Whites are victims of murder in almost equal numbers, yet 82% of prisoners executed since 1977 were convicted of the murder of a White person.
Another factor may be the race of the district attorney. The DA is the person who decides whether or not to seek the death penalty. The overwhelming majority of DAs are White. In 1998, of the 1,838 district attorneys in the US, 22 were Black, 22 were Latino, and all the rest were White. Justice Steward wrote in the Supreme Court decision Furman vs. Georgia, "the death penalty is not administered randomly. On the contrary, its actual administration takes into account legally and morally irrelevant factors, notably race, class, and gender."
We can't allow a system so grounded in racial bias and discrimination to determine who lives and who dies. We must abolish the death penalty.