Yet, blacks have committed 47 percent of the murders, whites 38 percent. In fact, white murderers have been more likely to have been executed thatn black murderers since 1929. Furthermore, whites, on average, are executed 15 months quicker than blacks. Yet, blacks and whites make up about the same number of murder victims. A crucial point is that capital murders and noncapital murders are two very distinct categories.
Whites are, overwhelmingly, the primary victims in violent crimes relevant to capital cases.
When combining that fact with the level of aggravation of the murder and the criminal background of the murderer, there is nothing to indicate the race of the victim affected a juror or prosecutor preference to white victims. Predictably, the facts are contrary to Harris' statement. And the innocent, in those very rare circumstances when they are sentenced to death, are being rightly freed. Even with new habeas corpus laws, those now sentenced to death still have 16 levels of post-conviction review available to them. Indeed, the American death penalty has, by far, the greatest due process protections of any criminal sanction in the world.