Minorities are disproportionately sentenced to capital punishment causing more Minorities to be put to death than white offenders.

In the United States there are states that still practice capital punishment  index crimes. In many cases that are eligible for the death penalty the courts use a jury system. The people that are usually picked to be on a jury for the death penalty are predominantly white males and females. Some of these people may be racially discriminant against minorities and will often use the color of the inmates skin to decide if he or she is innocent or guilty of a crime. Statistics show that it is more likely for a minority inmate to be given the death penalty when the victim is white. A much lower rate of murderers are put to death when committing black on black crimes. The rate the death penalty is given is also lower when a white man kills a black man.

Many of the cases are left to a prosecutor to decide if the offense warrants the death penalty. In one examination of the race of many prosecutors in the states that use the death penalty it was found that 98% were white and the other 2% were minorities, leading to many cases be decided by a white male. In the states where the death penalty is practiced, black males make up significantly less of the population yet they make up more than half of the prison population. These states are so far behind when it comes to haveing a racially balanced court system and jury.

Many inmates do not have the money for legal expenses needed to have a knowledgeable lawyer, causing many to be found guilty in cases where they were actually innocent. Some inmates that are put to death are later found to be wrongfully convicted and were actually innocent. The death penalty is a biased form of punishment that needs to be done away with in our country.

“Race and the Death Penalty | Capital Punishment in Context.” Race and the Death Penalty | Capital Punishment in Context. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.

Dow, David R. “Death Penalty, Still Racist and Arbitrary.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 08 July 2011. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.