Racial Bias in the Application of the Death Penalty in the US and the Sentencing of Convicted Felons in Alaska

• NCJ Number: 102399
• Author(s): J Livey
• Date Published: 1985
• Length: 17 pages
• Corporate Author: Alaska State Legislature
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Research Request 85-292

Annotation

This study examines the race and social class of U.S. death row inmates, evidence of racial bias in previous applications of the death penalty in the United States and Alaska, and evidence of race and class discrimination in felony sentencing in Alaska.

Abstract

It points out that of the 1,470 inmates currently on death row (1985), blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans are disproportionately represented. Studies generally indicate that the death penalty has been discriminately applied by race and class both before and after Furman v. Georgia (1972), when the U.S. Supreme Court declared the death penalty laws of most States to be unconstitutional. Although the number of executions in Alaska is too small for a statistical analysis of discrimination patterns, statistics show that nonwhites have been executed in disproportionate numbers. In the Alaska Judicial Council's reports on felony sentencing patterns in the State for 1974-80, findings show that sentencing was influenced by the defendant's race, age, education, income, and occupation. 2 tables and 20 footnotes.