Posted on 04/01/2014 3:11:38 AM PDT by raybbr
We hear a lot about the racial disparity in death penalty sentencing, namely, that black Americans are dramatically overrepresented on death row.
Less remarked on is the disparity in death penalty support, as revealed in a new Pew Research Center survey. Overall, 55 percent of Americans support capital punishment, and 37 percent are opposed. Among whites, however, support for the death penalty jumps to 63 percent, compared to 40 percent for Hispanics and 36 percent for blacks.
Religion — or at least, Protestantism — seems to increase the divide. At 67 percent in favor, white evangelical Protestants are more likely than any other group to support the death penalty, followed closely by white mainline Protestants (64 percent). Catholics are the least likely among religious whites to support capital punishment, though 59 percent are still in favor. On the other end, religious blacks and Latinos are even less likely than their peers to support the death penalty.
Before we get into why whites are so supportive of the death penalty, it’s important to remember this: There’s no separating capital punishment from its role, in part, as a tool of racial control. As Stuart Banner explores in his book “The Death Penalty: An American History,” one of the earliest American-made capital statutes — as opposed to ones borrowed from England — was passed in New York in the aftermath of a 1712 slave revolt.
(Excerpt) Read more at middletownpress.com ...
And the murderer was white.
Horrible. I agree with you, as I previously stated.
The out of control abortion rate in black communities is taking care of racial control far more than capital punishment.
It's very good that the "This article is a big pile of horse hockey" quote was included in the excerpt.
Perhaps it’s because whites as a whole are less inclined to tolerate murderous thuggish behavior while other groups make excuses for it?
There was a time when Capital Punishment was enforced on rapists and within days of conviction. We were a much saner society then!
Somebody who cared more about the murderer than the victims?
While blacks make up 34% of actual executions, the victims of the executed murderers were only 15% black. Of the 473 blacks executed since 1976, 270 had a white victim, while only 20 of the whites executed had a black victim.
Hey Jamelle, Lost in Space called and they want their sweater back.
I don’t support the death penalty because I find it too lenient.
“Jamelle Bouie isn’t white, so therefore he is not qualified to talk about white people.” /typical liberal belief.
They don’t like the God who commanded it in his covenant with Noah.
Blacks are in fact over represented on death row with about 42% of inmates being black when you consider the proportion of blacks (~12%) in the US population.
That is not the right comparison though. People are not randomly selected for the death penalty out of the US population. It is the population of murderers that should be looked at. When looking at the percentage of blacks in this population (~52%) it's easy to see that they are in fact UNDER represented on death row.
Personally, I have no idea what the racial makeup of death row is. I don't care. I support capital punishment for two reasons. One, I'm a fan of let the punishment fit the crime, and yes there are some crimes that merit death. Two, the low recidivism rate has a lot of appeal. ;-)
That’s the thing. White see a white murderer and say hang him.
Blacks see a black murderer and make excuses for him.
Yet more black babies are aborted than white babies ... at Planned Parenthood, an organization founded by the racist Margaret Sanger who’s stated mission was to eliminate black people.
Some crimes are so heinous that to not hand down the death penalty would be an insult to civilized society.
...fine, but the instrument of that penalty should be the family of the victim, not a dispassionate entity with little or no skin in the game...
...turn death row inmates loose into the arms of their victim’s loved ones...that is the purest justice...
Well, yeah, kind of. You can pretty much trace all of that back to the people who did or didn't cast votes one way or the other. One faction carried the vote, and others didn't. On the matter of taxes, in my community we get to vote directly on a lot of them. Sometimes my side carries the vote, sometimes not.
Life is a gift and I’m not sure the very fallible state should be empowered to take it away from anyone.
Should fallible people have that power? Should fallible people have the right to chose cellmates?
Shall we go back to blood feud?
Why let "a dispassionate entity with little or no skin in the game" determine a penalty is necessary and what penalty should be imposed?
What if the family of the victim is of a forgiving nature and does not want to be the instrument of the penalty?
Because they expect to be subject to it some day?
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