“Despite the fact that African Americans make up only 13 percent of the nation’s population, almost 50 percent of those currently on the federal death row are African American.  And even though only three people have been executed under the federal death penalty in the modern era, two of them have been racial minorities.  Furthermore, all six of the next scheduled executions are African Americans.

The U.S. Department of Justice’s own figures reveal that between 2001 and 2006, 48 percent of defendants in federal cases in which the death penalty was sought were African Americans…

To the NAACP, the biggest argument against the death penalty is that it is handed out in a biased, racially disparate manner.”

June 28, 2007 - National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) 

"The color of a defendant and victim's skin plays a crucial and unacceptable role in deciding who receives the death penalty in America. People of color have accounted for a disproportionate 43% of total executions since 1976 and 55% of those currently awaiting execution. A moratorium of the death penalty is necessary to address the blatant prejudice in our application of the death penalty.

The jurisdictions with the highest percentages of minorities on its death row:
 

      U.S. Military (86%)
      Colorado (80%)
      U.S. Government (77%)
      Louisiana (72%) 
      Pennsylvania (70%) ...

The federal death penalty, like its application in the states, is used disproportionately against people of color. Of the 18 prisoners currently on federal death row, 16 are either African-American, Hispanic or Asian. From 1995-2000, 80% of all the federal capital cases recommended by U.S. Attorneys to the Attorney General seeking the death penalty involved people of color. Even after review by the Attorney General, 72% of the cases approved for death penalty prosecution involved minority defendants...

A systemic racial bias in the application of the death penalty exists at both the state and federal level. A moratorium on the death penalty is needed to address this miscarriage of justice."

Feb. 26, 2003 - American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) 

“The criminal justice system is controlled and dominated by whites, although the recipients of punishment, including the death penalty, are disproportionately black. The death penalty is a symbol of state control and white control over blacks. Black males who present a threatening and defiant personae are the favorites of those administering the punishment, including the overwhelmingly middle-aged white, male prosecutors who - in running for election or re-election - find nothing gets them more votes than demonizing young black men.”

Spring 1997 - Leigh Bienen, JD 

“There is today a substantial basis for concern about race discrimination in the administration of the death penalty. For example, research in Georgia in the 1970’s, and in Kentucky, New Jersey and Philadelphia in the 1980’s and the 1990’s, clearly documents the risk of race of defendant and race of victim discrimination. Specifically, our Georgia and Philadelphia research suggests that such discrimination can produce a 25 to 30% excess death sentencing rate compared to what we would see in an evenhanded system.”

Oct. 12, 2000 - David C. Baldus, LLM 

“A survey on the Federal death penalty system from 1988 to early 2000 was released by the U.S. Department of Justice in September 2000. That report showed troubling racial and geographic disparities in the Federal Government's administration of the death penalty. In other words, who lives and who dies in the Federal system appears to relate to the color of the defendant's skin or the region of the country where the defendant is prosecuted...

The Federal Government must do all that it can to ensure that no person is ever subject to harsher penalties because of the color of the defendants skin.”

Jan. 24, 2005 - Russ Feingold, JD 

“[T]he fact that blacks and Hispanics are charged with capital crimes out of proportion to their numbers in the general population may simply mean that blacks and Hispanics commit capital crimes out of proportion to their numbers. And, of course, they do. Randall Kennedy, an African-American Harvard Law School professor, and Professor Michael Tonry, a leading liberal expert on sentencing, acknowledge the high rate of black street crime. 

The fact is that capital criminals don’t look like America, and no one should expect them to. No one is surprised to find more men than women in this class. Nor is it a shock to find that this group contains more twenty-year-olds than septuagenarians. And if — as the left tirelessly maintains — poverty breeds crime, and if — as it tiresomely maintains — the poor are disproportionately minority, then it must follow — as the left entirely denies — that minorities will be 'overrepresented' among criminals.”

June 11, 2001 - Roger Clegg, JD 

“The issue of racial bias is one that has been extensively studied. The most important finding that we see in state after state, including studies sponsored by the defense side or done by defense-oriented researchers, is an absence of any discernible bias on the race of the perpetrator. This is the kind of bias that is of greatest concern because it is the only kind that indicates anyone is on death row because of his race. Absence of such an effect is a great accomplishment and one that should be celebrated. Yet when studies are announced, that finding is typically buried in the fine print…

Research we have to date does not prove or even raise a reasonable suspicion that race is a significant factor in either the charging decision or the sentencing decision in California capital cases. Further research can be done, but if any research is commissioned by the government, we should be very careful that the results will be properly analyzed and not distorted to serve a predetermined agenda.”

Apr. 11, 2008 - Kent Scheidegger, JD 

“As of December 2005, there were 37 prisoners under a sentence of death in the federal system. Of these prisoners, 43.2 percent were white, while 54.1 percent were African–American. The fact that African–Americans are a majority of federal prisoners on death row and a minority in the overall United States population may lead some to conclude that the federal system discriminates against African–Americans. However, there is little rigorous evidence that such disparities exist in the federal system…

Americans support capital punishment for two good reasons. First, there is little evidence to suggest that minorities are treated unfairly. Second, capital punishment produces a strong deterrent effect that saves lives.”

Aug. 28, 2007 - David B. Muhlhausen, PhD 

“[W]e state our conclusions: (1) there is no sustained, statistically significant evidence that the race of the defendant affects which cases advance to penalty trial; (2) there is no sustained, statistically significant evidence that the race of the defendant affects which cases result in imposition of the death penalty.”

July 8, 2002 - David S. Baime, JD 

“It is indeed the case that blacks are over-represented on death row. The Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics shows 41.7% of the death row population to be black, and 38.7% of all prisoners executed since 1977 have been black.  But then suppose we look a bit further. We come face to face with the reality…

The data…shows that forty-eight percent of murder victims are black. It also shows that the vast majority of murders are intraracial not interracial. Among murders involving black and white persons, ninety percent involve a white killing a white or a black killing a black. Almost three-quarters of the rest involve blacks murdering whites, and only a small handful involve whites murdering blacks. Knowing this, the number of blacks on death row and the number of blacks executed do not look far out of line…”

Autumn 1998 - John C. McAdams, PhD