NCJ Number
146568
Date Published
1994
Length
181 pages
Annotation
This study examined the U.S. Supreme Court's assumption that the "death qualification" of jurors by voir dire does not systematically introduce racial bias into capital cases or concentrate bias already present.
Abstract
The first two chapters analyze in detail the underlying principles which led the Court's majority to this assumption; one chapter deals with death penalty cases in general, while the other deals with juries in particular. Two subsequent chapters explore the existing social scientific research data related to racially differential outcomes at various stages of the criminal justice process, and to differential outcomes specifically in capital cases, as well as patterns of jury behavior that might contribute to those outcomes. The remainder of the study sets out the research design used here, summarizes data sources, and presents findings indicating that there is a tentative relationship between racially prejudicial attitudes and support for the death penalty. The results also address the so-called conviction proneness of death penalty advocates. The author concludes that the death qualification tends to eliminate potential jurors holding moderate attitudes and, as a result, to concentrate racial bias in death penalty juries. Chapter references, 1 appendix