Death Penalty Moratorium Project
In March 2006, The National Black Law Students Association unanimously passed a resolution urging the federal and state governments to enact a nationwide moratorium in order to asses the growing body of evidence showing that race, geography, wealth, and personal politics can be factors at every stage of capital cases.
According to a new report issued by Amnesty International, race continues to play a strong role in U.S. death penalty cases. In “US: Death by Discrimination - The Continuing Role of Race in Capital Cases,” Amnesty states that:
- Even though blacks and whites are murder victims in nearly equal numbers of crimes, 80% of people executed since the death penalty was reinstated have been executed for murders involving white victims.
- More than 20% of black defendants who have been executed were convicted by all-white juries.
The NBLSA Moratorium Project was created to assist the American Bar Association Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project, and to encourage and assist associations, organizations, or movements to educate the public or advance the moratorium movement in their jurisdictions, and to encourage state government leaders to establish moratoriums and/or undertake detailed examinations of capital punishment laws and processes in their jurisdictions.
NBLSA is the largest student-run organization in America and has over 200 chapters at law schools throughout the country. NBLSA’s societal impact is enormous. In its effort to remain responsive to the needs of the Black community in general and the Black law student in particular, the NBLSA has initiated many worthy programs, including this latest project on the dealth penalty moratorium. At this year’s convention in Atlanta, NBLSA will host a “Reversible Error Rally” to call a nationwide halt to all executions. This rally, to be held on March 23, 2007, will be the largest death penalty moratorium rally in history. For a list of speakers and more information on the Reversible Error Rally, click here. You can also contact Eddie L. Koen Jr., the NBLSA Death Penalty Moratorium Chair, at deathpenalty@nblsa.org.
“And so in my mind this issue should not be just a question of whether people deserve to die, but whether we deserve to kill”
- Bryan A. Stevenson
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Comment by JC on 31 January 2007:
The 20% figure doesn’t jump out at me nearly as much as the 80%. I guess I need to know the overall percentage of convictions by all-white juries. Maybe then I will clearly understand the disparity… That 80% is bananas, though! I wonder how many of those convictions involved non-white murderers.
Comment by Fredric on 31 January 2007:
What’s weird about statistics like that is that they probably only paint half the picture. I think one of the more landmark actions regarding the disparity of the death penalty enforcement is how governors are putting a ’stay’ on all executions in some states because of the bias that was so blatant 10 to 40 years ago….i.e. former Illinois Governor George Ryan.