Racial Disparities in Capital Sentencing: Prejudice and Discrimination in The Jury Room

176 Pages·2012·0.78 MB·English

by  Jamie L. Flexon

Criminal Justice
Recent Scholarship

Edited by
Marilyn McShane and Frank P. Williams III

A Series from LFB Scholarly

Racial Disparities in Capital
Sentencing
Prejudice and Discrimination in the Jury
Room

Jamie L. Flexon

LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC
El Paso 2012
Copyright © 2012 by LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC

All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Flexon, Jamie L., 1972-
Racial disparities in capital sentencing : prejudice and discrimination
in the jury room / Jamie L. Flexon.
p. cm. -- (Criminal justice: recent scholarship)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-59332-485-8 (hbk. : alk. paper)
1. Discrimination in capital punishment--United States. 2. Jury--
United States--Decision making. I. Title.
KF9227.C2F549 2012
345.73'0773--dc23
2011036655

ISBN 978-1-59332-485-8

Printed on acid-free 250-year-life paper.

Manufactured in the United States of America.
Table of Contents
List of Tables vii
List of Figures xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Preface xv
CHAPTER 1: Racial Disparities and the Death Penalty 1
Introduction 1
Scope of Capital Cases and the Nature of the Racial
Discrimination Debate 5
An Interdisciplinary Approach 9
Formulating a Cognitive Based Theory of Racial Disparities 12
CHAPTER 2: Capital Punishment, the Court, and Racial
Discrepancy Research 15
Introduction 15
Death Qualification: Requirements for a Capital Jury 19
The Fundamentals of Crime Control v. Due Process 22
Juror characteristics 23
Conclusion 25
CHAPTER 3: The Psychology of Stereotypes and Attitude
Influence 29
Stereotypes 29
Attitudes 34
Sources Of Prejudice 36
CHAPTER 4: Assessing the Nature of Biases Among Potential
Capital Jurors 55
Introduction 55
Data: The 1990 General Social Survey (GSS) 57
Variables In The Model 62
v
vi Table of Contents
Methodology 75
CHAPTER 5: Analyzing the Data: The Nature of Capital
Jurors 85
Introduction 85
Regression Analysis 97
Conclusion 126
CHAPTER 6: Conclusions and Future Research 131
Review 131
Legal Considerations and Policy 133
General Policy Implications and Future Research 136
Conclusion 139
Bibliography 141
Cases Cited 155
Index 157
List of Tables
Table 1.1 Jurisdictions with the Death Penalty 4
Table 1.2 Death Row Inmates by State, 1996 - Dec. 1, 2010 6
Table 1.3 Number and Percent of Executions and Defendant/
Victim Racial Combinations by State, 1996 - Dec. 1,
2010 8
Table 4.1 GSS Questions for Race Based Beliefs 63
Table 4.2 GSS Questions for Criminal Justice Beliefs 68
Table 4.3 Breakdown of the US Census Bureau Regional
Designation by Division and State 72
Table 4.4 Variables Selecting for Whites; Not weighted 76
Table 4.5 Variables selecting for Whites; Weighted by
Totalweight 77
Table 5.1 Correlations 87
Table 5.2 Correlations for Criminal Justice Beliefs 90
Table 5.3 Correlations for Race Based Beliefs 93
Table 5.4 Correlations for Support for Capital Punishment 94
Table 5.5 Summary of OLS Regression Results for Whites,
White Males, and White Females on Race Based
Beliefs 98
Table 5.6 OLS Regression Explaining Race Based Beliefs
among Whites [male and female] 100
Table 5.7 OLS Regression Explaining Race Based Beliefs
among White Males 101
vii
viii List of Tables
Table 5.8 OLS Regression Explaining Race Based Beliefs
among White Females 102
Table 5.9 Summary of Differences for Sex on Racially Biased
Beliefs 104
Table 5.10 Logistic Regression Results for Whites to Explain
Support for Capital Punishment 106
Table 5.10a Logistic Regression results for Whites Explaining
Support for Capital Punishment 107
Table 5.11 Logistic Regression Results for Whites to Explain
Support for Capital Punishment with Centered
Interaction Term 108
Table 5.12 Logistic Regression Results for Whites to Explain
Support for Capital Punishment [with Race Based
Beliefs and interaction term, Centintact] 109
Table 5.13 Summary of Logistic Regression Results
Explaining Support for Capital Punishment for White
Males and White Females 111
Table 5.13a Logistic Regression Results Explaining Support
for Capital Punishment for Whites [excludes Race
Based Beliefs] 112
Table 5.13b Logistic Regression Results Explaining Support
for Capital Punishment for Blacks [excludes Race
Based Beliefs] 113
Table 5.14 Summary of Differences for Sex on Support for
Capital Punishment 115
Table 5.15 Summary of Logistic Regression Results
Explaining Support for Capital Punishment for
Whites and Blacks [Models exclude Race Based
Beliefs] 117
Table 5.16a Logistic Regression Results explaining Support
for Capital Punishment for White Males [with
interaction term, Centintact] 119
Table 5.16b Logistic Regression Results explaining Support
for Capital Punishment for White Males 120
List of Tables ix
Table 5.17a Logistic Regression Results Explaining Support
for Capital Punishment for White Females [with
interaction term, Centintact ] 121
Table 5.17b Logistic Regression Results Explaining Support
for Capital Punishment for White Females 122
Table 5.18a Logistic Regression Results Explaining Support
for Capital Punishment for Black Males 123
Table 5.18b Logistic Regression Results Explaining Support
for Capital Punishment for Black Females 124
Table 5.19 Support for Capital Punishment by Respondent's
Sex and Race 124
Table 5.20 Reduced Form Table Explaining Support for
Capital Punishment (Proxy for Death Qualification) 125