‘To Stay the Murderer’s Hand and the Rapist’s Passions, and for the Safety and Security of Civil Society’: The Emergence of Racial Disparities in Capital Punishment in Jim Crow New Orleans

2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 297-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey S Adler
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Racial Disparities ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
Death Penalty ◽  
Capital Punishment ◽  
Racial Disparity ◽  
Jim Crow ◽  
Core Component ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Micro Analysis

Abstract This essay examines capital punishment in New Orleans between 1920 and 1945. Building on a quantitative analysis of case-level data culled from police, court, and prison records, it explores the emergence of racial disparities in death-penalty sentencing and charts the increasing use of capital punishment as a mechanism of racial control. The paper focuses on four surprising and counter-intuitive patterns in the application of the death penalty. First, shifts in the use of capital punishment during this era bore no connection to patterns of violent crime. Second, changes in death-penalty sentencing were only loosely related to overall trends in homicide conviction. Third, and most surprising, Orleans Parish jurors, particularly during the 1920s, sent white killers to the gallows at a higher rate than African American killers. And fourth, the analysis of case-level records reveals dramatic shifts in death-penalty sentencing during the 1930s, particularly the development of a pronounced racial disparity in the application of capital punishment. Prosecutors also exploited the threat of capital charges to secure guilty pleas from African American suspects, and thus changes in death-penalty sentencing contributed to racial disparities in incarceration. In short, this micro-analysis helps to explain when and why the death penalty became a core component of Jim Crow criminal justice.

The Influence of Latino Ethnicity on the Imposition of the Death Penalty

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 421-431
Author(s):  
Sheri Lynn Johnson
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Racial Disparities ◽  
Death Penalty ◽  
Capital Punishment ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Archival Studies ◽  
Related Literature ◽  
History Of ◽  
Modern Era

With respect to African Americans, the history of racial discrimination in the imposition of the death penalty is well-known, and the persistence of racial disparities in the modern era of capital punishment is well-documented. In contrast, the influence of Latino ethnicity on the imposition of the death penalty has been studied very little. A review of the limited literature reveals evidence of discrimination against Latinos. Archival studies generally find ethnicity-of-victim discrimination, and some of those studies find ethnicity-of-defendant discrimination disadvantaging Latino defendants; these findings parallel the findings of the much more robust literature investigating bias against African American defendants and victims. The controlled experimental studies generally show both ethnicity-of-defendant and ethnicity-of-victim discrimination disadvantaging Latinos. Related literature investigating stereotypes, animosity, and discrimination in other criminal justice decisions further suggests the likelihood of ethnicity discrimination in the imposition of capital punishment, as well as the need for further research.

“Justice Is Something That Is Unheard of for the Average Negro”: Racial Disparities in New Orleans Criminal Justice, 1920–1945

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey S Adler
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Racial Disparities ◽  
Race Relations ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Jim Crow ◽  
Small Minority ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Racial Biases ◽  
The Social

Abstract Historians of race relations and criminal justice have emphasized the ways in which the rule of law emerged as a mechanism of racial control in the early twentieth-century South, gradually supplanting rough justice. This essay examines the protracted, uneven pace of this transformation and the development of Jim Crow criminal justice in New Orleans. An analysis of the adjudication of homicide cases in New Orleans between 1920 and 1945 reveals that the majority of black-on-white homicides did not result in convictions, and only a small minority of African Americans suspected—or even convicted—of interracial murder went to the gallows. But racial disparities in convictions and executions widened dramatically during the interwar era. Thus, this essay analyzes the social, cultural, and legal shifts that expanded race-based differentials in criminal justice. It also argues that, ironically, Jim Crow prescriptions intensified white fears of African American crime and helped to generate the anxieties that legal measures were imposed to address, increasing racial disparities and making racial biases in criminal justice self-perpetuating.

The Making of the Modern Death Penalty in Jim Crow North Carolina

2019 ◽  
pp. 192-214
Author(s):  
Seth Kotch
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
North Carolina ◽  
African American ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Death Penalty ◽  
Jim Crow ◽  
The State ◽  
Religious Convictions ◽  
The Impact

focuses on the transition from local public hangings to state-controlled electrocutions in North Carolina in the early twentieth century. The chapter addresses the impact of this shift on African American communities. Although the death penalty had long served as an instrument of racial control, the ritual of a local hanging nevertheless had allowed the condemned and black witnesses a public space to express religious convictions and honor the condemned’s suffering. Once the state seized control of this ritual, African Americans were largely excluded as witnesses. The modern death penalty thus came to represent the racial subjugation of Jim Crow, indeed having more in common with lynchings than legal hangings had.

Lethal State

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seth Kotch
Keyword(s):  
North Carolina ◽  
Death Penalty ◽  
Capital Punishment ◽  
Jim Crow ◽  
History Of ◽  
Mandatory Sentencing ◽  
Racial Hierarchies ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Essential Insight ◽  
Orderly State

For years, American states have tinkered with the machinery of death, seeking to align capital punishment with evolving social standards and public will. Against this backdrop, North Carolina had long stood out as a prolific executioner with harsh mandatory sentencing statutes. But as the state sought to remake its image as modern and business-progressive in the early twentieth century, the question of execution preoccupied lawmakers, reformers, and state boosters alike. In this book, Seth Kotch recounts the history of the death penalty, including lynching, in North Carolina from its colonial origins to the present. He tracks the attempts to reform and sanitize the administration of death in a state as dedicated to its image as it was to rigid racial hierarchies. Through this lens, Lethal State helps explain not only Americans' deep and growing uncertainty about the death penalty but also their commitment to it. Kotch argues that Jim Crow justice continued to reign in the guise of a modernizing, orderly state and offers essential insight into the relationship between race, violence, and power in North Carolina. The history of capital punishment in North Carolina, as in other states wrestling with similar issues, emerges as one of state-building through lethal punishment.

scholarly journals Examining the Sources of Racial Bias in Potentially Capital Cases

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Petersen
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Racial Disparities ◽  
Death Penalty ◽  
Capital Punishment ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Death Sentences ◽  
Capital Cases ◽  
Logistic Regressions ◽  
Research Questions

While prior research has uncovered racial disparities in the administration of death sentences, little attention has been devoted to earlier stages in the capital punishment processes. To understand the locus of racial bias within death penalty institutions, this study examines the entry of homicide cases into Los Angeles County’s criminal justice system during a 5-year period. This two-part analysis seeks to answer the following research questions: (1) Does victim/defendant race influence homicide clearance and death penalty charging decisions? and (2) if so, does the likelihood of clearance mediate the effect of victim race on death penalty charges? Logistic regressions indicate that cases involving Latino victims are less likely to be cleared. Moreover, cases with Black and Latino victims are less likely to be prosecuted with a death penalty–eligible charge. Racial disparities accumulate across these stages, with clearance patterns influencing subsequent death penalty charging decisions. Results underscore the cumulative nature of racial within criminal justice institutions. By linking police and prosecution outcomes, these findings also highlight the interrelationship between criminal justice agencies.

Abstract 198: Racial Disparity In Resuming Anticoagulation For Atrial Fibrillation After An Episode Of Major Gastrointestinal Bleeding

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Waqas Qureshi ◽  
Kiran Garikapati ◽  
Iani Patsias ◽  
Gagandeep Cheema ◽  
Chetan Mittal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Atrial Fibrillation ◽  
African American ◽  
Gastrointestinal Bleeding ◽  
Racial Disparities ◽  
Racial Disparity ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
Hospital Staff ◽  
Multivariable Logistic Regression Analysis ◽  
Insurance Company ◽  
Negative Experience

Background: Racial disparities are well known in patients treated for atrial fibrillation (AF). Racial minorities are less likely to be treated and diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. However, it is not known if gastrointestinal bleeding which is common complication in anticoagulated atrial fibrillation patients leads to any racial disparities. Methods: Retrospective data was obtained from claims of warfarin prescriptions made to a large insurance company of South Eastern Michigan. Patients with gastrointestinal bleeding were confirmed by detailed chart review. GIB was defined as a drop of 2 gram of hemoglobin or need for blood transfusion in the setting of one of the symptoms of GIB confirmed by hospital staff. A propensity matched multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the likelihood of being resumed on warfarin. Recurrent GIB, stroke/TIA and mortality rates were also compared between Caucasians and African Americans.The analysis was adjusted for propensity score, blood transfusions, length of stay, CHADS2 and HAS - BLED scores. Results: Out of 118,342 initially obtained patients on warfarin, there were 1143 (mean age 75.8 ± 14.7, women 46%) patients that developed gastrointestinal bleeding while on anticoagulation for AF. There were 776 (58.38%) Caucasians and 367 (27.6%) African American (AA) patients. Out of these, 339 (43.7%) Caucasians and 189 (55.7%) AA patients were resumed on warfarin (p = 0.001). Warfarin was resumed later in Caucasians than AA (68 vs. 64 days, p = 0.03). AA were more likely to not resume warfarin due to personal preference or negative experience with warfarin and Caucasians were more likely to not resume warfarin due to doctor’s suspicion of higher risk of bleeding (p <0.01). Caucasians had less endoscopic evaluations 106 (13.6%) than AA 58 (15.8%) patients (p = 0.002). AA had non-significant higher rates of recurrent GIB 48 vs. 68 (13.1% vs. 12.8%) than Caucasians (p=0.09) but stroke risk was significantly less than Caucasians 39 vs. 112 (10.6% vs 14.4%) (p = 0.001).There were 113 (30.7%) deaths in AA and 301 (38.7%) Caucasians died (p = 0.001). The risk of stroke was lower in AA patients than Caucasians (OR 0.74; 95% CI 0.58 - 0.94, p = 0.015). AA also had decreased mortality (HR 1.45; 95% CI 1.2 - 2.1, p = 0.004). There were higher readmissions for recurrent GIB in AA patients (p= 0.04). For having one more stroke/TIA than AA, warfarin needed to be discontinued in 41 additional Caucasians than AA. Conclusion: In conclusion, the racial disparity in resuming warfarin after an episode of major GIB in anticoagulated patients for atrial fibrillation was more for Caucasians than African American. This may be explained by uncertainty of outcomes that frequently leads to overtreatment of minority patients. Cultural beliefs for not resuming warfarin might have also played a role.

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