A study by the University of Louisville in Kentucky in 1996 showed that 100 percent of the people on death row were there for murdering a white person, despite the fact that more than 1,000 African-Americans had been murdered in the state since the reinstatement of the death penalty. A study by Iowa State University reviewed more than 600 death penalty cases over five years and found that black defendants and defendants who kill white victims are between four and 11 times more likely to receive the death penalty than other defendants. There have also been problems with the racial makeup of the jury. A study of jury selection in Philadelphia from 1983 to 1993 revealed that the prosecutor struck 52 percent of all potential black jurors, but only 23 percent of all other jurors. Finally, it is important to note that those who are making decisions to seek the death penalty are almost exclusively white, with 98 percent of chief district attorneys in the United States being white men.
Class is also a determinant in the application of the death penalty.
The innocent are executed The myth that only the guilty are executed goes back to the days of Salem Witch Trials, when women accused of being witches were weighted down and thrown in the river. If a woman floated, that proved she was a witch, and she was executed. If she drowned, that proved she was innocent of the charges. In other words, execution is irreversible and sometimes the innocent are executed. According to the ACLU, a large body of evidence from the 1980s and 1990s shows that innocent people are often convicted of crimes and that some have been executed.