The proposed Federal Racial Justice Act assumes that the death penalty is applied in a manner discriminatory to black people and thus essentially creates quotas for the administration of capital punishment. Both activists and social scientists have argued that capital punishment is arbitrary because it has been applied in a manner unfair to black persons. However, opponents of capital punishment have tended to discount or ignore a number of factors. Most analysts agree that 92-97 percent of homicides involve victims and offenders of the same race. Black persons who are convicted of killing white persons are more likely to be executed because of qualitative differences in the nature of their crimes. The claim that discriminatory capital sentencing and execution occurred in the past is valid, but the charge that they persist today lacks support. Reasons other than statistical analysis underlie the continued belief that the legal system discriminates against black defendants. Thus, answers to the questions regarding whether the death penalty is arbitrary, barbaric, or ineffective as a deterrent should lead to reform or abolition of capital punishment. However, such decisions should not rest on unsubstantiated charges of racial discrimination. 17 references