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New research suggests race of victim impacts NC death penalty administration

By Douglas A. Berman

This new AP article, headlined "Researchers find race disparity in NC death cases," reports on a new study that suggests how race impacts the administration of capital punishment in the Tar Heel State.  Here are the details: A convicted killer is three times more likely to get a death sentence in North Carolina if the victim is white rather than black, according to researchers who have found similar results in other states. The report comes weeks before a deadline for death row inmates to challenge their status under the Racial Justice Act, a state law that allows statistical evidence to be used to support a claim that race was a key factor in a death penalty decision.  North Carolina is the second state after Kentucky to adopt such a law...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on July 24, 2010 (boomark / email).