David Andrew Price

Many death penalty opponents have argued that capital punishment is administered in the United States in a manner that discriminates against African Americans. In the following viewpoint, attorney and legal affairs journalist David Andrew Price rebuts this claim. He contends that little evidence exists indicating that blacks are more likely to receive death sentences than whites or that racism plays any role in the implementation of the death penalty. African Americans constitute a larger share of the death- row inmate population because blacks commit a disproportionate share of violent crimes. Price also responds to the argument that convicted killers of poor blacks are less likely to receive the death penalty than murderers of whites; he asserts that such disparities, if they exist, are a reason for pursuing more...