A comparison of death-sentenced and incarcerated murderers in pre-Furmantexas

The conditional effects of victim and offender ethnicity and victim gender on sentences for non-capital cases

“…As previously mentioned, empirical work on the impact of victim race/ethnicity and its interaction with offender race/ethnicity focuses primarily on capital homicide cases. The most consistent finding from this research is that capital sentences are more likely for murderers of Whites (Garfinkel, 1949;Arkin, 1980;Radelet, 1981;Baldus et al, 1983Baldus et al, , 1990Smith, 1987;Ekland-Olson, 1988;Gross and Mauro, 1989;Ralph et al, 1992;Brock et al, 2000;Holcomb et al, 2004;Williams, 2004;Stauffer et al, 2006;but see Keil and Vito, 1990;Baldus et al, 2001). Evidence of an interaction between victim and offender race/ethnicity is somewhat less consistent, although a majority of efforts find that the White victim/African American offender combination yields the highest probability of getting a death sentence (Johnson, 1941;Garfinkel, 1949;Wolfgang and Reidel, 1973;Bowers and Pierce, 1980;Smith, 1987;Keil and Vito, 1989, 2006; but see Radelet, 1981;Baldus et al, 1990Baldus et al, , 2001.…”

The News Value of African-American Victims: An Examination of the Media's Presentation of Homicide

“…The influence of the race of the victim, however, is quite clear. Defendants who murder white victims are significantly more likely to receive the death penalty than defendants who murder African-Americans (Arkin, 1980;Baldus et al, 1990;Bienin et al, 1988;Bowers and Pierce, 1980;Ekland-Olson, 1988;Gross and Mauro, 1984; Keil and Vito, 1989;Nakell and Hardy, 1987;Paternoster, 1983Paternoster, , 1984Radelet, 1981; Radelet and Pierce, 1985;Ralph et al, 1992;Smith, 1987). Ralph et al (1992:201-202, 207), for example, found that the victim's race was the primary extralegal variable affecting death penalty sentencing decisions, and "jurors perceived interracial killings of Anglo-Americans as much more serious than intraracial homicides."…”

Sentencing disparities by race of offender and victim: Women homicide offenders in Alabama, 1929–1985

“…A study comparing male homicide offenders sentenced to death in pre-and post-Furman Texas (similar to this study's use of pre-and post-Civil Rights Act eras) concluded that the victim's, not the defendant's, race was the primary extralegal factor affecting these sentencing decisions (Ralph et al 1992). Paternoster (1984), however, noted that "victim-based discrimination may be accentuated or attenuated when considered in conjunction with the race of the offender" (p. 452).…”