Nor did it offer any explanation as to why it handled Jamal's case differently. The case raises many serious questions. Jamal's case needs to be understood in the broader context of injustices in the U.S. legal system. Only two of the more than 272 executions carried out since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976 have resulted from cases involving a black victim and a white defendant. Prison demographics are similar to those of death row.
Most prisoners are unemployed or underemployed when they enter the system.
Not surprisingly, most prison sentences are for economic crimes such as larceny and burglary. Put in a global context, the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world. The decision seemed expected by prosecutors, but stunned membersof the defense team, whose had ten days till death, and whoexpected nothing from the crusty, acerbic jurist. Observers believe that this was the first stay issued in the judges career. To simplify, a stay is a judicial stop sign, and in this case,stopped a death warrant.