Obama and the death penalty



Wed, Jul 01, 2009

Michael Landauer/Editor

Politico notes that we may soon get an idea of where Obama stands on
the death penalty as a chief executive. It's one thing to be opposed
as a state senator. It's another thing to be a mix of tough on crime
but troubled by the system as a candidate. What will he do when he
has the power to end a life? Or spare it? We'll find out soon.

Something the first black president may well consider is the role
race plays in the system. The Supreme Court is clear on this point:
Just because statistics prove -- pretty much without a doubt -- that
murders of white victims and black victims are treated very
differently, that is not proof of discrimination in any particular
case. True enough, but that's like saying, "We realize the system is
flawed, but that doesn't mean it might not just deliver justice for
you."

So, as he considers what to do, Obama should think about the fact
that black people are about six times more likely than whites to be
victims of murder. But, curiously, it is the killers of white people
who overwhelmingly see the ultimate justice. For example, of white
people executed in the United States since 1976, only 5 percent
killed someone of a different race. That means 95 percent were
executed for intra-racial murders.

For black people, it's not even the opposite. It's worse than that.
Of the black people killed since 1976, 68 percent killed people
outside their race. Only 32 percent were executed for intra-racial
murders.

What does that say about the value we, as a society, put on the lives
of people of different races?

One of the main arguments people use for supporting the death penalty
is that it deters crime. A quick glance at the graphs shows that the
murder rate among white people is very low and stable. It's high and
unstable for black people. Perhaps, death penalty proponents will
conclude that we need to expand the death penalty for more black-on-
black murders. You know, to deter them as much as we seem to deter
murders of white people. But look a little closer and you'll see that
the motives involved are not the kinds of crimes you can deter. If
anything, drug-related homocides should be easier to deter than
family-related, right? But far more whites die in family homicides
than blacks, and vice-versa for drug-related homocides.

In short, it is a lie that the death penalty is meant to clean up our
violent streets or stop random murders. It punishes the murderers of
white people who knew their killers far more than it punishes people
of color who see little help in cleaning up their violent
neighborhoods. Maybe Obama will have the guts to expose this myth,
this separate and unequal system of so-called justice.

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