9/18/00 9:15 a.m.
Death Penalty Déjà Vu
Opponents of the chair continue to cry “unfair.”

By Brad Zuber, who is writing a book about government policies
during the 20th Century

ere we go again. Death penalty opponents are up in arms, claiming a new U. S. Department of Justice study highlights racism in federal death penalty prosecutions. As usual, the media and the politicians have joined in, decrying the unfairness of "perverse disparities" and saying the results should be read as "confirming the arguments" of death penalty critics.

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) calls it a "travesty" and Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL) raises the specter of "death penalty Darwinism" (whatever that means). Amnesty International has chimed in, and the Hollywood liberals cannot be far behind. It's all so familiar. Ansd, just like previous claims of unfairness, it's all so wrong.

Death penalty critics stake their claim of DOJ bias on the fact that, while minorities make up about a third of the general population, they make up almost three-fourths of federal death penalty defendants.

But, like every other debate about the death penalty (and about race), actually getting to the truth often requires a bit more analysis. The proper comparison is not the race of the defendants versus the general population but rather the race of those for whom the death penalty is sought versus those who are death penalty eligible. Here is where the arguments of death penalty opponents are condemned to failure.

A little analysis of the DOJ study shows that, since 1995 (when an enhanced federal review process was instituted), U. S. Attorneys have faced the decision of whether or not to seek the death penalty for 682 defendants. The racial makeup of this group was 20% white and 80% minority. This is not surprising. Sadly, minorities are almost always over-represented in crime statistics — both as defendants and as victims.

After a three-stage process, including a final review by Attorney General Janet Reno, the death penalty was sought for just 159 of those defendants, and this group was 28% white and 72% minority. You read that correctly — the probability of federal prosecutors seeking the death penalty was lower for minority defendants (80% of defendants, but just 72% of those for whom a death sentence was sought).

Stated a different way, the death penalty was sought for 33% of the white defendants and 21% of the minority defendants — federal prosecutors were actually one-third less likely to seek the death penalty for minority defendants.

Death penalty opponents don't cite those numbers. Nor do they address the flawed logic of trying to force the square peg of crimes committed by individuals into the round hole of thinking of people only as members of a group.

Yet, death penalty opponents have never been known for letting the facts get in the way or for worrying about logic. They just continue to scream unfairness, whether it's unfounded cries of racism or unsupported claims that innocent people are being executed. And, they'll continue their false arguments as long as they are aided and abetted by members of the press who are either lazy or gullible (or both), or who possess an agenda.

In the end, Janet Reno has it right when she says it's not about bias in the federal government, it's about socio-economic conditions and the fact that minorities still suffer disproportionately from society's ills. The sad fact is that minority kids are the ones disproportionately sentenced to failed schools by the education bureaucracy. Minority families are the ones who disproportionately suffer when the constant attacks of demagogues hurt police in their war against crime and drugs.

Now there's something liberal editorial writers, pontificating elected officials, and politically-correct Hollywood do-gooders should be up in arms about.