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Structured Discretion, Racial Bias, and the Death Penalty: The First Decade After Furman in Texas

NCJ Number
115887
Journal
Social Science Quarterly Volume: 69 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1988) Pages: 853-873
Author(s)
S Ekland-Olson
Date Published
1988
Length
21 pages
Annotation
Data from Texas, a State with a highly structured set of jury instructions in capital punishment cases, are analyzed over the first decade following Furman-induced reforms.
Abstract
As in other States with wider jury discretion statutes, the analysis reveals race-linked disparities. Cases involving white victims are more likely to precipitate the death penalty than cases involving either Hispanic or black victims. This pattern holds across various combinations of victims, offenders, and characteristics of the homicide incident. Analysis of the trial and appeals processes reveals less disparity. There is some variation across case type in the time from arrest to conviction, the probability that a sentence will be commuted, and the likelihood that an offender will still be under the sentence of death as of mid-1987. (Author abstract)

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