Bryan Stevenson - Racism and the Death Penalty

[Herculieas]

@fasfsdfasd No, I don't neglect that, sir. You are wrong.

[Herculieas]

@fasfsdfasd My god, you dipshit.

10 black men rape 10 white women = 10 executions

10 black men rape 10 black women = 5 executions

5 white men rape 10 white women = 1 executions

5 white men rape 10 black women = 0 executions.

In the scenario above, there were twice as many black men as there were white. They all committed the same crime. However, the color of their skin and who they raped was key in how many were executed. That's what the data shows, and that's what Stevenson is conveying.

[Dangerdoom68]

@Herculieas

If I were a individual of West sub-Saharan Afro-African "black" slave kin ancestry, and knew of this bias, I would rather migrate back to sub-Sahara Africa and embrace a Afro-tribes there, doesn't matter which one because they're all "black" anyways, than to live in Euro-dominant land in which the Indigenous "Native American" Indian's lands are squatted by foreign invaders and where a Afro-African "blacks" are forced to assimilate into the Euro-culture, etc.

[Herculieas]

This is my nigga.

[easports3015]

@fasfsdfasd u mean "commit"? is it possible? sure. is it likely? probably not.

[PTC483]

all too believable. They run the stats every way from backwards trying to make the disparity cause by something else, and can't. Race is IT. So, at 4.30, they say "ok but if we struck it, we'd have to go after the same thing w/everthing from drug crimes & violence on down"... making the supreme court of the United States of America "AFRAID OF TOO MUCH JUSTICE."

Stevenson's imperturbable sweet calmness about it all...

[IrvineMF]

@sydbaron it's not about sheer numbers of people who are given the death penalty, it's about probability. Baldus' study held other factors constant, and found that when you drop everything BUT race of the victim and the defendant, a white life is valued more than a black life.

If men over 30 were 11 times more likely to be sentenced to prison than men under 30, for the SAME CRIME, this would also be a travesty.

[momothekid47]

why havent more people seen this vid?

[SydBaron]

Is it so outrageous to believe young black men especially may be more prone to violence or even murder than young white men? If the death penalty were reserved for serial killers convicted on overwhelming evidence, there would be no more argument about this manufactured controversy.

[SydBaron]

All this "racial discrepancies" is baloney. How many men are there in America's gaols? About ten for every woman. How many women are on death row?

Men commit more crime than women. By the same token, young men commit more crime than old men, certainly violent crime. Why is this is?

[SydBaron]

That racial bias crap again. What is your argument against executing only serial killers who have been convicted on overwhelming evidence?

[EwoktheMoid]

@SydBaron So by retreating to such extreme cases, are you conceding that there are valid concerns about racial discrepancies in the majority of death penalty cases?

[TheAkatsuki10]

Seems as if the criminal is a minority and the victim is White, then the chances of death is increased. Seems as if the victim is a minority and the criminal is White, the chances of death is decreased. I'm willing to be if both of those were switched around, then it would probably stop. I am not the racist type because I love all people, and the only race I recognize is the human race. People who sentence based on race are the ones that need to die

[BryceVandergriftMOM]

@TheAkatsuki10

If the case will exspose massive corruption in the Judicial System and or they want to protect one of their own, then like the case of Bryce Vandergrift in Texas 2010

It's going to take a man or woman with massive courage and guts to take his case, prove what his mother says is true, in order to win his case at a high level

Bryce Vandergrift

[Kristin3030]

Religious arguments are irrelevant to the legality of Capital Punishment. The Bible does not support the death penalty. Bible's "an eye for an eye" does not support death penalty.

[KinglyNumbaOne]

I think this talk about racism and the death penalty is silly. I personally do not believe that the implementation of the death penalty is racist. Of course, racial disparity in the administration of the death penalty is very problematic, but so also is the fact that blacks are disproportionately represented on the wrong side of the criminal justice system.

To solve these problems, we need to address them from their roots, as opposed to pointing accusing fingers of racism at the government.

[AveolarD]

@KinglyNumbaOne - you must be non black.

[KinglyNumbaOne]

@AveolarD

What a brilliant counterargument. My goodness! I am totally stunned and floored. I simply don't know what to say in response to that erudite, well-crafted, and scholarly argument!

[AveolarD]

@KinglyNumbaOne - save your sarcasm

[KinglyNumbaOne]

@AveolarD

And spare me your idiocy. If you don't have a counterargument to the point I made, then don't bother responding. I haven't got time for witlings like yourself who try to throw out pithy one-liners. Although you think it makes you look smart, all you really look like is an idiot who cannot make refute and actual argument.

Have a nice day, buffoon.

[AveolarD]

@KinglyNumbaOne you must be an irregular ovulating species. your irregularity has cause you to stumble back to responses. get a life you pea size of a brain- woman.

[KinglyNumbaOne]

@AveolarD

What did I expect? Of course you can't formulate a counterargument. You are the definition of a "witling."

I have no time for your ilk.

Run along, idiot. I am done with you.

[AveolarD]

@KinglyNumbaOne - you can't formulate a life outside of being a TART. go away you poor excuse of a human being.

[KinglyNumbaOne]

@AveolarD

I know you don't have a life, but I said I was DONE with you.

Just for your information, if you bother replying, I'm not going to even read it. I'm sure that won stop you, though. RETARD.

[AveolarD]

@KinglyNumbaOne - go away you nut case! leave me alone, lady.  get your own man.

[AveolarD]

@KinglyNumbaOne you got issues chickslut!

[MrSyrett]

@KinglyNumbaOne - Oh dear. Its kindanumbaone again. Still trying to assert his pseudointellectualism on other people by picking up their grammar and labeling them "retard". Its good to see you've dropped your "Dr Seuss" comback.

"Im done with you, retard"

LMAO

[Darkside2205]

@KinglyNumbaOne agreed

[disk24]

I was under the impression that black people are more likely to commit crime than white people, therefor there are more of them getting the death penalty because there are more of them committing crimes worthy of said death penalty

[jimmybryght]

What a crock of shit.

[mamallama008]

he's my uncle!!! literally

[texastart]

Since 1976, 15 white men have been executed for killing a black person, but 243 black men have been executed for killig a white person. That should make you think!

[HOUSEOFFOURDOORS]

It does..

Cheers

[rippa17]

maybe you racist people will relize that crime has nothing to do with this video, its the statistic that a black man who rapes a white women rather then a coloured women is 11 times more likely to get executed and a white man who rapes a white women is 20 times less likely to get executed from that we get 30 times if she is coloured.

now u racist white men can ignore all of that and say look the niggers hiphop or u can accept ur hypocrasy and injustice.

[omniscient232]

exactly.

[ogazium]

... another thing that might play a big part in this unjust system is that most of these higher officials are older and more traditional. Most of their upbringing was during racial segregation....telling them to "stop being racist" is a waste of fucking breath and effort....they are too set in their ways of thinking. but ----thats all just MY psychotic opinions :)

[edavismookie25]

No you are right! Unfortunately, most of those people are just going to have to die because they will not change their minds.

[ogazium]

heres what i have noticed about the black people in MY community: most of them only admire the icons of hip hop culture and associate themselves with criminal peers and activity. Now, through this pathetic attempt to be hardcore gangsters...the black youths of my area only hurt themselves when they try to mimic what they see in the media. Basically what I am saying is that some people need to STOP FUCKING PROVING THEIR OWN STEREOTYPES!!

[edavismookie25]

Unfortunately, most black people have no one better to look up to. Unlike me and you we can look back to our history and say that we are the descendants of great people(which would be stretching the truth in some areas) but because black history has not been something that we have had to historically learn up until what the 1990's what decent black leaders are there to look up to besides the traditional ones King, Malcolm X,etc?

[kakompo]

You do have a point. In my community people look at me and giggle or chuckle because I don't dress like how they do( Ghana made slippers, cargo shorts, jeans that fit...). Born and raised Ghanaian and now living in America, I find the "gangster" lifestyle distasteful and horrible. It only lands many youth in trouble. wearing oversized shorts with no belts is not fashion, it's ignorance.

[herbmysta]

All I can say is "MOVE OUT OF THE FUCKING GHETTO"!!! If those are the only types of Blacks that you associate with, then I guess that would explain your perspective here. Have you been to trailer parks and poor white communities? They are just as screwed up as your community appears to be. No community has the market cornered on good folks or fools. I know good responsible minority folks and dumb shit white folks, and vice versa. I'd suggest you move or at least travel more my friend!

[omniscient232]

even if you are right that this is more so with black people than white people, there is a reason for this. If black people would have gotten equal opportunities as white people, this wouldn't be the case.

Now aside from that. This has absolutely nothing to do with what the man in the video is saying. Black people that have already been convicted for rape are 11 times more likely to get the death penalty. this has nothing to do with whatever critique you can come up with against black people.

[herbmysta]

This is a moral challenge for our country as it relates to the value of life amongst all people. Are crimes against minorities less significant? Are minority offenders more deserving of the death penalty when compared to their white counterparts who commit the exact same crimes?

[herbmysta]

When the victim is white and the offender is a member of a minority group, the probability that the DA will seek the death penalty rises exponentially. On the other hand, when the offender is white and the victim a minority, the chances that the death penalty will be utilized goes down substantially.

[edavismookie25]

True. I am a white ex cop and I witnessed this shit first hand.

[redsox1006]

Can I please see your evidence of that?

[herbmysta]

Damn!!! You folks are really ignorant and uninformed. If you have half a brain, you'd realize that Mr. Stevenson is talking about how uneven the death penalty is applied. The vast majority of white victims are killed at the hands of white offenders. Most black victims are killed by black assailants, and the same for latinos and the list goes on.

[niksarass]

America and racism. Could it even be different?

[ranchai100]

this negros just mad because his kind commit the most violent acts imaginable and then have to pay for it.he,like the NAACP believe that its ok for a black to commit crime and get away with it but no one else.This has been going on since the 70s.anyone remember the zebra kilings and the Hi-Fi murders?In each case the NAACP demanded the blacks responsible not pay for their crimes according to the law of the land.The same things happening now with the eve carson and channon christian murders

[berlynn2]

i never knew race had anything to do with anything you commit the crime you gotta do the time.

[UdallIn72]

I'm much more amenable to the "arbitrariness" argument against the death penalty than I am to the Eighth Amendment argument.

Leaving aside the originalist argument, I think the Fifth Amendment clearly contemplates that the state has the authority to take away life, subject to due process of law.

[AirborneRooster]

As a criminal justice student I am open to research everyone's point of view. But I do not believe the assumption that our CJ system is racists. It's far from a Consensus model, but I don't think it's racists in this day.

Black males make up 6% of US pop. but make up 50% of corrections pop.

Maybe that's because they are committing more of the serious crimes. Yet if you put a black person in jail for their crimes as per law, then your a racists.

[ogazium]

actually, Airborne....they make up only 36 percent of the corrections population

[eCOREBMX]

one white washed nigger

[sdsunandfun]

This guy is of no value.

[flambeau9decoy]

100 percent of people executed between 1935 and 1972. idk about that fact. does anybody know where to look up info on this. during the the 30s, 40s, 50s, most blacks were probably hanged bc hate crimes were so bad. they prolly never made it to prison.

[mattito123]

he said 100 percent were convicted with the VICTIM being white

[eCOREBMX]

Looks like more whites are victims of black crimes, thats all that says to me...

[AirborneRooster]

Exactly what I'm thinking. Is it the fault of CJ system that black people target white victims?

[themiddlemanisbetter]

In that time, a white man wouldn't get the death penalty for raping a black woman. What affected the reports of incidents most though was that a black woman reporting rape would often be ignored.

There were of course lynchings too and those didn't really stop until 1981 with the murder of Michael Donald. Among the guilty was Henry Hays, who finally got The Chair in 1997. Records show that was the first execution for white-on-black crime in Alabama since 1913.

Unsettling but true.

[PhatChick722]

yo momma so dumb, she stopped at a stop sign and waited for it to say go!

Inbred!

[coodaytah1]

You have probably never met your own mother. You people are fucking savages.

[PhatChick722]

who...Canadians? You have to be kidding me! The whole world makes fun of us cuz we never really do anythng wrong ...were fucking Canadians!

[coodaytah1]

Limp-wristed liberal bitch. Are you a fucking jew or what?

[PhatChick722]

I can't be a liberal and a jew at the same time ya dumb fucker

[coodaytah1]

Don't be fucking stupid, 'liberal' is a code word for jew!

Fuck off you ugly cunt.

[PhatChick722]

Do you not have a job or anything or are you on some sort of welfare that allows you to sit at home all day doing this kind of bullshit?

[coodaytah1]

Ooooh. If I was on welfare, wouldn't that entitle me to bleeding heart compassion from you you stinking liberal bitch. Cunt.

[PhatChick722]

I'm bored of you now!

Later

[coodaytah1]

Fuck off slag cunt!

[PhatChick722]

Plus there is no way you're a fan of the states if you fall under the Queen!

[coodaytah1]

Bullshit. Blood ties arestronger than any PC bullshit a fax marxist bitch like you could ever come up with.

[PhatChick722]

DO you have any idea how many human rights the States violates? That country is a joke! Pull your head out of your ass! That country commits war crimes for fuck sakes!

[coodaytah1]

War crimes? Are you referring to Abu Graib, an isolated incident where no-one died at the hands of the US? Or are you talking about Gitmo, where EVERY SINGLE detainee was caught armed to the teeth. Better blood has been spilt - OURS!

[936B]

Stevenson advocates abolition because of racial discrimination endemic in the justice system. He dismisses the possibility of reform of the system, and instead wants the penalty abolished completely. It's obvious the system should be reformed, possibly a moratorium imposed while a review is underway. However, there is no reason to abolish the death penalty, it should be used against the worst of the worst, the hideous psycho-sexual murders that have been proved beyond reasonable doubt.

[obstacle555]

an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth

[canucklehead74]

Calgary, Alberta!!! the best place to live in North America!! Today, we just received the great pleasure of being North Americas Capital of Hate Crimes!!! Gotta love Redneck Alberta!!! Yahooooo!!!!! We whites are the Minorities now...Look around North America...we let these Oriental pieces of shit in the Country and they start up gangs and are tax burdens...The blacks still cry afoul from their cotton picking days...get over it...boo fucking hoo. Alberta is giving Natives 2 billion for integrati

[ande1718]

I'm as white as they come and I think Bryan Stevenson is one of the most articulate, persuasive -and correct- people I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. He is not boring, he is a very important voice in public discourse. I am going to donate to the Equal Justice Initiative.

[coodaytah1]

Yes why don't you do that. MAybe they could fund research into why it is that white folk are more likely to be murdered by a black person than the other way round. I don't expect you care about facts though, like the one about white people putting an end to the slave trade. Slavery still goes on in muslim countries and is compatible with sharia law.

[ande1718]

Why am I not surprised that someone as racist as you is in favor of the death penalty

[coodaytah1]

I am against the death penalty unless it is for terrorism.

[PhatChick722]

Slavery still goes on in the states

[coodaytah1]

Oh really? Where abouts? I am sure the FBI would love to know about that what with the fact that the 13th amendment forbids it.

[PhatChick722]

Are you fucking crazy? They talk about this in my human rights class you moron!

[coodaytah1]

No I am not crazy. Can you provide the FBI of the exact location where slavery goes on in the states today, please. It is unconstitutional and will be punished by the full force of the law.

I think you are a self-hating & silly little bitch.

[PhatChick722]

and I think you put a little too much powder in your smoke there buddy!

You lack serious knowledge of the world around you!

I'm referring to Maher Arar ya bozo!

Pick up a Chomsky sometime!

[coodaytah1]

Who cares about some shitty little arab? What about all the soldiers we have lost? Better blood has been spilt.

Chomsky is just a shit-stirring jew who hates Christianity.

Fuck off cunt.

[PhatChick722]

ahaha! Your arguments have now gone to shit!

You know who cares about those arabs? Your country! THEY HAVE ALL THE FUCKING OIL!

What are you inbred or something?

[coodaytah1]

No they don't. There is more oil in Canada and Russia than all of the arab countries put together, you cunt.

[PhatChick722]

There is more oil between your fucking ears then all of the middle east you fuckin' honkey!

[coodaytah1]

There is more shit in your mouth than my arse. Fuck off you nigger bitch.

[PhatChick722]

nipple!

[coodaytah1]

Cunt.

[PhatChick722]

penis licker!

[coodaytah1]

Muff diver! Clam jouster! Know-Nothing Negress!

[PhatChick722]

Negress? I'm fucking white!

scum infested cum bubble!

[coodaytah1]

White? Race traitor more like, you mountain of cellulite and guilt.

Your ass and mouth are both so big they have different time zones and weather systems. Fuck off cunt.

[PhatChick722]

Your ego is so big it has it's own gravitational pull you defective kinder egg surprise!

[coodaytah1]

Your brain is the size of a singularity!

White traitoress!

Cunt!

[Lee3750]

this guy bores the shit outa me

[crackermustgo]

that because your a demon! and race of Red Devils!Rev2:10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

[jahdallah]

Everybody is racist because everybody believes that some races are better than other races and that some races are worse than other races.

[cooperemi91]

agreeing with ptsmmrs, if people just stopped committing crimes, this wouldnt even be an issue.. but our system seems to fail people that are born into poverty. we must figure out how to change tihs. perhaps make college mandatory? not just high school.. force people to be educated and therefore have more opportunities to succeed in life...

[ptsmmrs]

whaaaaaa!!!stop commiting the crimes.

[thatoneguy1121]

I wish that one day people will look at the color of someones skin and see it like the color of someones hair. It wont really matter.

[WGST475]

It's not the color I'm judging. It's behavior.

[ande1718]

No its the color, because you're judging a group of millions of people you've never met and whose "behavior" you know nothing about. Its ok to admit you're racist, that way you can grow out of it, like you grew out of not liking lima beans when you were a kid.

[nigerianchic19]

lol...and ...last i checked native americans were in america first..if u htink everyone shud return to their respective countries..u can go haul ur ass to europe.. thanks.

[JameField]

scoooba doooba hooba kloooba poopa poooooo!!!!! HAHAHA AHAHAHAHA POO ON YOU

racism is wrong!!! White power

[ande1718]

This is a good illustration of how intelligent the argument for "white power" is.

[coodaytah1]

Do you condemn black power too?

[DOVERMAN999]

Its just another balck dude looking to talk about racism again!!!!

[Allorio]

What he forgets to mention is that 60% of everyone executed since 1976 has been white. White people are executed at a rate 50% ABOVE their involvement in murder. Black people are executed at a rate 20% below their involvement murder.

[ande1718]

I have no idea what the second part of your comment means, but I'll just point out that whites (like me) make up 74% of the population, so if there is really no discrimination in death penalty cases, 74% of death penalty convictions should be for white people.

[coodaytah1]

Only if you assume that whites account for 74% of the most heinous crimes committed. You need to remember also that we are necessarily dealing with the subset of cases where the perpetrator is caught. That in turn depends on the intelligence of the person who commits the crime.

[PhatChick722]

Where are you getting this statistic from? Not that I'm disagreeing however I'm interested to know?

[coodaytah1]

74% was the figure for the number of people who are put to death who are blacks. It was given in the video.

74% is only disproportionate if they commit fewer than 74% of murders etc.

[ilikeminties]

"When the murder suspect is

white, 48% of the time they are are permitted to enter into plea

agreements. When the suspect is black, that rate drops to 25%

Of the 823 executions that have occured since the dp was re-

instituted, only 12 has involved a white defendant and a black

victim; 176 involved a black defendant and a white victim. The

race of the victim in cases resulting in execution is white, 84%;

black, 12%."

[ilikeminties]

" 80% of the cases

submitted by federal prosecutors for death penalty review in the

past 5 years have involved racial minorities as defendants -

about 50% of the time, the defendants are African-American. Even

more disturbing is that 42% of all cases submitted came from only

5 of the 94 federal jurisdictions. Over 80% of death penalty

cases seeking the death penalty are when the victims are white."

[llamo666999]

omg that ws in the 1930's who cares

[Folgerung]

I just finished watching the complete video on this fora site. Very interesting.

[cgmcmillan]

The only white's I've seen beaten up lately are the ones being brutalized by the police - all them vidoes of police using tazers...bar brawls, you know...what about the woman killed at the airport? Yep, when it happens to whites its on the news, when it happens to blacks it's call "justified."

[RaechelMW]

Most people on death row are white? Where are you getting your information? It is a fact that black people are more likely to get sentenced for killing a white person than a black person. Pretty much if any person kills a white person, they are more likely to get the death penalty. It is race biased, and does not serve the purpose it was intended for.

[mst3k4evur]

So execute more white people, simple solution.

[RaechelMW]

That is not a simple solution. Why aren't we executing those who kill blacks? Your reply didn't even make sense to my post.

[mst3k4evur]

We are executing people who murder Blacks including-including Whites who kill minorities(Gary Heidnik, Henry Hayes, Brandon Hedrick). The problem is that more Blacks kill whites than the other way around, poverty is higher among Blacks and Hispanics and if a minority kills a white it is likely a predatory crime, such as rape/robbery homicide, which makes it eligable for the death penalty.

[RaechelMW]

So why don't you go ahead and explain the reasons why a white person would kill a black (because you implied that it was different). Naming 3 whites that have been executed does not really give you any credit for your argument. Also, you mention that blacks kill whites more than the "other way around," exactly where did you get this information? Also, these "predatory" crimes you mention does not make one necessarily eligible for the death penalty. Only first degree murder is.

[mst3k4evur]

"So why don't you go ahead and explain the reasons why a white person would kill a black (because you implied that it was different)... Also, these "predatory" crimes you mention does not make one necessarily eligible for the death penalty. Only first degree murder is. "

1. I get my stats from the US Dept of Justice

2. Whites are far less likely to commit predatory crimes.

3. Yes predatory crimes ARE first degree murder. Most people on death row are there for Rape-Murder or Robbery-Murder.

[Allorio]

What a load of crap! 60% of everyone executed in the U.S in the last 30 years has been white. White people are executed at a rate 50% ABOVE their involvement in murder. Blacks on the other hand are executed at a rate 20% BELOW their involvement in murder. Who is the system biased against?

[cgmcmillan]

Yes! We did it! THIS JUST IN -

Gov. Perry, State of Texas,has commuted the death sentence of Kenneth Foster who was scheduled for execution today. Foster, an African-American man was sentenced based on Law of Parties for the death of a white male. Texas already executed the man who pulled the trigger. Foster was a bystander. Abolish the DP!

[mst3k4evur]

He wasn't a bystander you moron-he was the getaway driver in that shooting and previous armed robberies.

[lionkiller56]

Bryan Stevenson - Racism and the Death Penalty

[cgmcmillan]

Dude, 50% of all murder victims are black and yet they represent 14% of the total population. Bryan makes the point that studies show you're more likely to end up on death row if the victim is white. Racist? You bet.