Race and Capital Punishment: State Level Analysis of the Effects of Race on States' Capital Punishment Policies

Abstract

ABSTRACT This research examines the imposition of capital punishment on racial minorities by conducting a state level analysis of capital punishment systems. This is represented by three decisions of states to implement capital punishment systems: the decision to legislate capital punishment, the decision to sentence people to death and finally the decision to execute them. The research found that urbanized states characterized by higher concentrations of Black citizens and liberal populations and political elites are less likely to legislate capital punishment and execute fewer prisoners. States with higher concentrations of Black citizens and conservative populations and political elites, primarily in the South, and states with a high percentage of Hispanic population are more likely to have a high number of prisoners on death row and to execute a higher number of those prisoners.