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NEW RESOURCES: Study Finds Evidence of Race-of-Defendant Bias in Texas Death Penalty

By Death Penalty Information Center

A new study by Professor Scott Phillips of the Univeristy of Denver found that black defendants in Houston, Texas, are more likely to be sentenced to death than white defendants, even when other variables are accounted for. The research, to be published in a forthcoming edition of the Houston Law Review, looked at cases eligible for the death penalty in the county that is the source of the highest number of executions in Texas, which itself is responsible for more executions than any other state. The study, which looked at 504 defendants indicted for murder, also found that a person is more likely to be sentenced to death if they killed a white victim than if they killed a black victim, a finding consistent with over 20 race studies around the country...continue to full post

Full post as published by Death Penalty Information Center on April 29, 2008 (boomark / email).