Death Penalty Is Less Likely For Blacks, New Study Says

Someone should quit doing these studies because true facts are muddying the water with respect to the NAACP's, ACLU's, and the democrat's lies.

The analysis of 268,135 murder convicts found that a national death sentence rate of 2.2%, with the median death sentence rate of the 31 states 2%. Oh my bleeding heart.....how many of the 2.2 have actually been put to death???? How many of the murderers of the near 300 K victims are back on the street?

So - out of 1000 murders - we get only 2.2% convictions?

Looks like the odds of an innocent person gettin put to death is worse than an innocent peron geting murdered.

No, 2.2% of murder convictions result in the death penalty.

Most of this study doesn't surprise me, except how low Texas' death sentence rate is- why is that?

This is clearly racist, as it indicates that the sentencing authorities do not hold black people to the same standards as white people.

The rate of an innocent on death row put to death is ZERO. FYI in the USA today there are currently under 4000 people being held on death row. Chilling statistics in the DP debate. Put to death since 1977 1977 1 1978 0 1979 2 1980 0 1981 1 1982 2 1983 5 1984 21 1985 18 1986 18 1987 25 1988 11 1989 16 1990 23 1991 14 1992 31 1993 38 1994 31 1995 56 1996 45 1997 74 1998 68 1999 98 2000 85 2001 66 2002 71 2003 65 Recent delayed execution of Kevin Cooper story: A San Diego judge set a Feb. 10 execution date for Kevin Cooper, who was convicted of the 1983 murders of two adults and 2 children near the Southern California prison from which he had just escaped. Cooper, 45, will be the first death row inmate to seek clemency from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who, like all his predecessors since 1992, supports capital punishment. Cooper, who claims he is innocent, has filed a long series of state and federal court appeals, all unsuccessful, and also obtained DNA testing of evidence at the crime scene, which failed to clear him. Shortly before the hearing to set Cooper's execution date, the state Supreme Court denied his request to fire his attorneys but allowed two new defense lawyers to enter the case. Attorney David Alexander of San Francisco said he had been brought in to assist in Cooper's case by the Innocence Project, which works to free the wrongfully imprisoned. The courts that have reviewed the case, however, have expressed no doubt about Cooper's guilt. Cooper escaped on June 2, 1983, from a state prison in Chino (San Bernardino County), where he was serving time for burglary. He hid in a small vacant house near the family's home in nearby Chino Hills until, on the night of June 4, he committed what the California Supreme Court called a "nocturnal massacre," hacking to death Douglas and Peggy Ryen, their 10-year-old daughter Jessica and houseguest Christopher Hughes. The Ryens' 8-year-old son, Joshua, was seriously wounded but survived. Cooper used a hatchet, a knife and an ice pick in the horrific attack. Cooper, arrested in Mexico after an aggressive manhunt, was tried and convicted in San Diego, where the case was transferred because of pretrial publicity. The state Supreme Court, in a 1991 ruling, called the case against him overwhelming and said he was tied to the crime by evidence that included shoeprints in the house and prison-issued tobacco in the Ryens' car. Cooper and his supporters have stressed that Joshua Ryen, the only surviving witness, told an officer he believed three Latino men who came to the house during the day were the attackers. Defense advocates also pointed out that blond hair, which could not have belonged to the African American defendant, had been found in Jessica Ryen's hand. But defense hopes to prove Cooper's innocence were dashed last year after a new state law allowed convicted felons to request DNA tests of critical evidence. Cooper was one of the first to be tested, and the attorney general's office reported that his DNA was found in a blood spot in the Ryens' house and other evidence near the scene. Attorney General Bill Lockyer and San Bernardino District Attorney Dennis Stout announced that testing was performed on a drop of blood found in the Ryen home, two cigarette butts found in the Ryens’ vehicle (which was believed to have been used as the getaway vehicle), and a bloodstained t-shirt found near the Ryen home. Lockyer said DNA tests indicated a single person was linked to each of the items tested, and indicated Cooper was that person. Cooper's attorneys contended the evidence had been mishandled and might have been tampered with, but a judge rejected their claim, and the state Supreme Court refused to review it. At the vacant house, a blood-stained khaki green button identical to the buttons on field jackets issued at the state prison from which Cooper escaped was found on the rug. Tests revealed the presence of blood in the shower and bathroom sink of the vacant home, and hair found in the bathroom sink was consistent with that of Jessica and Doug Ryen. A bloodstained rope in the house bedroom was similar to a bloodstained rope found on the Ryens' driveway. A hatchet covered with dried blood and human hair that was found near the Ryens' home was missing from the vacant house, and the sheath for the hatchet was found in the bedroom where Cooper stayed. Buck knives and at least one ice pick were also missing from the vacant home, though a strap from one buck knife was found on the floor. Blood found in the Ryens' home was the victims', except for one drop on a wall near where the murders occurred. It belonged to an African-American male, which Cooper is. Two partial shoe prints and one nearly complete shoe print found in the Ryens' house were consistent both with Cooper's size and the Pro Ked shoes issued at CIM. The Ryens' vehicle, which had been parked outside their house, was missing when the bodies were discovered but was later found in Long Beach. A hand-rolled cigarette butt and "Role-Rite" tobacco that is provided to inmates at CIM (but not sold at retail) was in the car. Similar loose leaf tobacco was found in the bedroom of the house where Cooper had stayed. A witness testified that Cooper smoked handrolled cigarettes using Role-Rite tobacco. A hair fragment discovered in the car was consistent with Cooper's pubic hair and a spot of blood found in the car could have come from one of the victims but not from Cooper. Cooper was charged with four counts of first degree murder and one count of attempted murder in the first degree, and with escape from state prison. He pled guilty to escaping from state prison. On February 19, 1985, a jury convicted Cooper of the first degree murders of Franklyn Douglas Ryen, Jessica Ryen, Peggy Ann Ryen and Christopher Hughes, and of attempted murder in the first degree of Joshua Ryen. The jury also found true the special circumstance of multiple murders, as was the allegation that Cooper intentionally inflicted great bodily injury on Joshua Ryen. The jury then determined the penalty as death on the four murder counts. Defense lawyers could seek federal court review of the issue but have not yet done so and have no other legal challenges pending. Robert Amidon, Cooper's longtime lead attorney, said Wednesday that some court action would be taken to fight the execution, but gave no details. Cooper did not attend Wednesday's hearing before Superior Court Judge William Kennedy, who scheduled the execution on the date requested by prosecutors. Joshua Ryen, now 28, and the parents of murder victim Christopher Hughes were present, said Deputy Attorney General Holly Wilkens. Outside the courtroom Wednesday, Joshua Ryen, the son who survived, kissed Christopher's mother on the cheek as they hugged. "I'm glad you've grown up so nicely," MaryAnn Hughes said. "Your parents would be proud of you." Bill Hughes, whose 11-year-old son Christopher was one of the four people killed by Cooper, told reporters, "We're finally getting to some form of conclusion, although I'm still wary of how many more hoops we'll have to jump through." Hughes said, "It's been proven he did it. Frankly, I feel people need to pay for their acts, and he has nothing to give but his life." Hughes said he intends to travel to San Quentin to watch the man who killed his son receive society's ultimate punishment. His wife, Mary Ann, said she wanted Cooper to die, but does not want to see it. "I don't need to watch," she said. "I just need it to happen." Mary Ann Hughes said she is weary from 20 years of reliving the loss of her son. She said the frequent newspaper and television reports chronicling Cooper's legal journey have slowed the healing process for her, her husband and their two surviving children. "We need this to stop," she said. "My family needs this to stop." Holly Wilkens said, "We expect nonstop efforts to get this date set aside…. They'll throw everything but the kitchen sink at us." Cooper was arrested two months after the killings, when he was found living on a houseboat and using the name Angel Jackson. Because of the savagery of the attack - Douglas incurred 37 stab wounds; his wife Peggy, was stabbed 32 times; his 10-year-old daughter, was stabbed 46 times, the houseguest Christopher received 26 stab wounds and Cooper also inflicted chopping wounds to the head, and stabbing wounds to the throat, of eight-year-old Joshua Ryen, who survived - Cooper’s defenders claim Cooper could not have committed the murders. When Cooper was first arrested in California on the burglary offense, he was an escapee from the Pennsylvania State prison system according to San Bernardino Chief Deputy District Attorney John Kochis, who was one of the original prosecutors on the Cooper case. Cooper entered the California prison system as David Trautman, an assumed name. “I don’t know if the people who support him are aware of his history in Pennsylvania,” Kochis said. In addition to his escape from prison, Cooper was wanted for assaulting a young woman in that state. Kochis said Cooper kidnapped, raped and stabbed the young woman and left her for dead. Because Cooper received a death sentence in California, Pennsylvania authorities “elected not to return him” to that state for prosecution, Kochis said.

"Prosecutors are more likely to seek death sentences when they believe they can obtain them. In urban communities with a strong minority presences, prosecutors may face juries that are more reluctant to impose the death penalty," or may elect prosecutors less inclined to seek it.

Prof. Wells, the Cornell statistician, said the findings show that "it's fairly difficult to impose the death penalty fairly," and that should give pause to advocates of capital punishment.

It's a job to keep up with who's being victimized on any given day. Now we see that the problem with the death penalty, and the reason we should oppose it, is that it discriminates against white people.

Does this mean George Ryan isn't going to get the Nobel Peace Prize?

Texas requires a capital offense in conjunction w/another felony and therefore 2 concurrent convictions in order to enact a death penalty.

That is why GWB, as governor, could be confident of the perp's guilt when he didn't commute death sentences.

This ... coming out of Cornell of all places ... should put to rest once and for all that "institutionalized racism" scam death penalty opponents have used to forestall executions in a number of states.

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