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Thomas Cylke

Mr. Drollette
AP Statistics
9 September 2016

Race and the Death Penalty Investigative Task


In 1976, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the death penalty does not violate the
US Constitution, and that it is not considered a cruel and unusual punishment. Thousands of years
before the Supreme Court decision, the death penalty was still a controversial topic. In modern times,
however, there is not only controversy about the existence of the death penalty, but also about how
fairly it is applied to convicts. Many people have suggested that race plays a part in the decision to
decide whether or not the death penalty is applied to a criminal. The Death Penalty Information Center
published a study titled The Death Penalty in Black and White in 1998, examining the sentences carried
out after 667 murder convictions between 1983 and 1993 in Philadelphia.
Death Sentences

Black Victim

White Victim

Total

Black Defendant

76 out of 422

21 out of 99

97 out of 521

White Defendant

1 out of 25

17 out of 121

18 out of 146

Total

77 out of 447

38 out of 220

115 out of 667

Its rather difficult to draw any conclusions from the results of the original survey. Converting
the number of cases to relative frequency makes it much easier to analyze the data.
Death Sentences

Black Victim

White Victim

Total

Black Defendant

18.0%

21.2%

18.6%

White Defendant

4.0%

14.0%

12.3%

Total

17.2%

17.3%

17.2%

Out of the 146 white defendants convicted of murder in the study, 12.3% were sentenced to
death (18 out of the 146 defendants). Out of the 521 black defendants convicted of murder in the study,
18.6% were sentenced to death (97 out of the 521 defendants). There is a noticeable difference in the
rates of the application of the death penalty between black and white defendants. The segmented bar
chart in Figure 1 illustrates the difference in sentencing rates. The difference between the sentencing
rates suggests that there is an association between the race of the defendant and the likelihood of
receiving a sentence to death.

Figure 1
Percent of Convicts Sentenced to Death

Black Defendant
Non-Lethal Sentences
Death Sentences

White Defendant

0.00%

20.00%

40.00%

60.00%

80.00% 100.00%

The difference in sentencing rates based on the race of the defendant is not the most pronounced
indication of an association between race and the death penalty, however. 14.1% of white defendants
(17 out of 121) were sentenced to death in cases with a white victim. 21.2% of black defendants were
sentenced to death in cases with a white victim (21 out of 99). In addition, 18.0% of black defendants
were sentenced to death in cases with a black victim (76 out of 422), whereas only 4.0% of white
defendants were sentenced to death in cases with a black victim (1 out of 25). The relative frequency
bar chart in Figure 2 clearly displays that death penalty rates for killing white people (21.2% for black

defendants and 14.1% for white defendants) are higher than they are for killing black people (18.0% for
black defendants and 4.0% for white defendants), regardless of the race of the defendant.
The 1998 study The Death Penalty in Black and White suggests that the legal system is not
colorblind when sentencing people to death, at least not in Philadelphia.

Figure 2
Percent of Convicts Sentenced to Death

Percent Senteced to Death

25.00%
20.00%
White Defendant
Black Defendant

15.00%
10.00%
5.00%
0.00%
Black Victim
Race of Victim

White Victim

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