Throughout history, minorities have been ill-represented in the criminal justice system, particularly in cases where

the possible outcome is death. In early America, blacks were lynched for the slightest violation of informal laws

and many of these killings occured without any type of due process. As the judicial system has matured, minorities

have found better representation but it is not completely unbiased. In the past twenty years strict controls have

been implemented but the system still has symptoms of racial bias. This racial bias was first recognized by the

Supreme Court in Fruman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972). The Supreme Court Justices decide that the death

penalty was being handed out unfairly and according to Gest (1996) the Supreme Court felt the death penalty was

being imposed "freakishly' and 'wantonly" and "most often on blacks." Several years later in Gregg v. Georgia,

428 U.S. 153 (1976), the Supreme Court decided, with efficient controls, the death penalty could be used

constitutionally. Yet, even with these various controls, the system does not effectively eliminate racial bias.

Since Gregg v. Georgia the total population of all 36 dea

predominant race will be more concerned about crime victims of their own race," as stated by Welsh White of the

and instead focus on circumstances of the crime.

in the case of a black murderer" (As cited in Gest, 1986, 25).

According to Professor Steven Goldstein of Florida State University, "There are so many discretionary stages:

have been "devalued,' people who murder blacks are less likely to receive death sentences than those who

Because of the immense possibility of discrimination in sentencing in capital punishment cases, each stage of

system has to offer, prosecutors must be encouraged to consider the crime and not the race of the victim or

of them sounds no echoes beyond the chambers in which they die. Such an illusion is ultimately corrosive, for the

second example is of a black man, Jerry Walker, convicted of killing a 22-year-old white man while robbing a

reverberations of injustice are not so easily confined" (As cited in Lacayo, 1987, 80). With great effort, the judicial

Some common words found in the essay are:
Punishment Throughout, Justice Brennan, Florida University, Law School, Gregg Georgia, David Baldus, Katz Georgia, Snurkowski Florida, Legal Foundation, Supreme Court, death penalty, racial bias, smolowe 1991, supreme court, death row, cited lacayo 1987, lacayo 1987, 1986 25, discretionary stages, cited lacayo, gest 1996, lacayo 1987 80, gest 1986 25, cited gest 1986, smolowe 1991 68,
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Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)