You asked about racial disparities in the death penalty in Connecticut and other states, the population of death row in Connecticut and other states, racial disparities in Connecticut’s criminal justice system in general, and geographic disparities in the death penalty in Connecticut and other states.

SUMMARY

The Connecticut Commission on the Death Penalty compiled information on racial disparities in Connecticut in its January 8, 2003 report to the General Assembly. The commission used records from the Office of Chief Public Defender on 166 cases prosecuted between 1973 and the time of the study where the defendant was originally charged with a capital felony.

Of these 166 cases, the defendant was white in 66 cases or 40% of cases, black in 65 cases or 39%, and Hispanic in 35 cases or 21%. 91 cases involved a white victim or 55% of cases (with 72 actual capital offenses because this includes 17 co-defendants), 38 involved a black victim or 23% (with 29 actual offenses because this includes 9 co-defendants), 30 involved a Hispanic victim or 18% (with 14 actual offenses including 15 co-defendants), two involved “other” or 1%, and five were unknown from the records or 3%.

The report also provides statistics on other stages of the capital felony process including statistics on convictions, cases resulting in life imprisonment without release, death penalty sentencing hearings, and cases resulting in the death penalty.

Connecticut currently has seven people sentenced to death: four are white and three are black. A study from Fall 2004 by the NAACP shows the racial breakdown of death row nationwide. Overall, 3,478 people were on death row, 46% were white, 42% black, 10% Latino, 1% Native American, and 1% Asian.

The Connecticut Commission on the Death Penalty’s report states, “numerous studies conducted in the United States…suggest that, when significant non-racial factors are accounted for, race is a factor that influences the outcome of capital cases. ” Many states and organizations have conducted death penalty studies, looked at different types of data, used different types of analysis, and come to different conclusions. We provide information from studies on: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Philadelphia, Virginia, and the nation as a whole. If you would like additional information on these or other studies, please let us know.

The Connecticut Commission on Racial and Ethnic Disparity in the Criminal Justice System looks at the state’s criminal justice system overall. Its 2003-4 report provides many statistics and states that Connecticut ranks highest in the United States in its level of disparity in the rates of incarceration of whites, blacks, and Hispanics.

The Connecticut Commission on the Death Penalty’s report also includes information on geographic disparities from the public defender’s records. The report states that 40% of capital felony prosecutions were in the Hartford Judicial District and the next highest was Fairfield at 19%. Hartford had 17 death penalty trials with Waterbury second with eight trials. At the time of the report, of the eight cases that resulted in a death sentence, five were in Waterbury, one in Hartford, one in New London, and one in Windham. The report provides additional information but states that it cites raw numbers and does not account for a number of other factors such as the number of homicides in the district or the nature of the crimes involved.

A number of studies in other states have looked at geographic disparities. A study of Illinois cases found that the frequency of death sentencing shows a statistically significant relationship between regions of the state. A study of New York cases found that upstate homicides were more likely to be prosecuted as death penalty cases than downstate homicides. We also provide information on studies of Maryland, Nebraska, and Virginia cases. If you would like additional information on these or other studies, please let us know.

RACIAL DISPARITY—DEATH PENALTY

Connecticut

The Connecticut Commission on the Death Penalty provided the following information on racial disparities based on the Office of Chief Public Defender’s records.

*The victim’s race or ethnicity is unknown in 2 cases (5%).

*The victim’s race or ethnicity is unknown in 2 cases (5%).

Connecticut Inmates Under Death Sentences

The chart below shows inmates under death sentences in Connecticut.

Inmates Under Death Sentences in the United States

We obtained information on the racial breakdown of death row in the various states and the federal government from a report by the NAACP.

Source: NAACP, “Death Row U. S. A. , Fall 2004. ”

*Due to changes since Fall 2004, there are currently seven inmates sentenced to death in Connecticut with four white (57%) and three black (43%).

**The report lists one person in Oregon with unknown race, which is 3% of Oregon’s total and . 03% of the nationwide total.

Executions Nationwide

The table below displays information on the number of executions in the United States from 1976 though February 17, 2005, from the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC).

Studies in Other Jurisdictions

The sections below describe some of the findings in death penalty studies from other jurisdictions. The studies include much greater detail and we can provide additional information on request.

Arizona. A study by the Capital Case Commission found the following.

1. Of defendants sentenced to death, 69. 1% were Caucasian, 15. 7% were Mexican American/Hispanic, 11. 3% were African American, and 1. 7% were Native American.

2. 81. 9% of the victims of Caucasian defendants were Caucasian and 60. 9% of the victims of defendants of other races were of other races or ethnicities.

3. Of the 260 Caucasian defendants charged with 1^st degree murder in a five year period, 58% were noticed for the death penalty, 52% of those went to trial, 78% of those who went to trail were convicted, and 29% of those convicted received a death sentence.

4. Of 401 minority defendants charged with 1^st degree murder during the same five years, 36% were noticed with the death penalty, 47% of those went to trial, 66% of those who went to trial were convicted, and 24% of those convicted received the death penalty.

The report states that some commission members concluded that there does not appear to be racial bias in administering the death penalty, others concluded that there may be bias based on the race of the victim, and others found it impossible to draw conclusions.

The report states that the attorney general did not believe the statistics supported an allegation of racial bias, stating that statistics on the victim’s race are not necessarily informative and the statistics show that Caucasian defendants are treated essentially the same as non-Caucasian defendants, with the only significant statistical difference regarding the race of the defendant being that the conviction rate for Hispanic defendants is lower than for Caucasian and non-Hispanic minorities. A Caucasian defendant who commits a murder similar to that committed by a non-Caucasian defendant is slightly more likely to receive the death penalty than a non-Caucasian defendant. Seventeen of 22 people executed since 1973 were Caucasian.

The report states that, “Statistics relating to the race of the victim may be misleading because they may relate to the type of murder committed rather than to the way the defendant is treated in the death penalty process. Some types of murders are less likely to be pursued as a capital case, not because of the race of the victim, but because of the nature of the murder” (Office of the Attorney General, Capital Case Commission Final Report, December 31, 2002).

Florida. The Illinois study discussed below cites a study by the same authors (Pierce and Radelet) commissioned by the Florida Supreme Court’s Racial and Ethnic Bias Study Commission. The study looked at about 15,000 homicides from 1976 to 1987 and used a final sample of 10,142 cases with 3. 6% resulting in a death sentence. Overall, when all explanatory variables were assessed, the study found that the odds of a death sentence for those suspected of killing whites was 3. 42 times higher than the odds of a death sentence for those suspected of killing blacks.

Georgia. The Connecticut Commission on the Death Penalty cited a Georgia study submitted to the U. S. Supreme Court in McCleskey v. Kemp. The study of 2,400 cases from 1973 to 1980 found a pattern of racial bias in imposing the death penalty. After adjusting for hundreds of variables for case characteristics, the study found that defendants whose victims were white faced odds of receiving a death sentence that were 4. 3 times greater than similarly situated defendants whose victims were black.

Illinois. A study of cases in Illinois found:

1. holding aggravating factors constant, there is strong evidence that the victim’s race is a significant predictor of who is sentenced to death;

2. holding aggravating factors constant, there is no statistically significant evidence of disparate treatment based on the defendant’s race in the sample studied;

3. estimates of arbitrariness and discrimination may under-represent the effects of extra-legal factors because of the conservative methodology used (the study looked only at 1^st degree murder convictions and not earlier stages); and

4. information about a number of indicators of arbitrariness or discrimination were not available (Pierce and Radelet, Race, Region, and Death Sentencing in Illinois, 1988-1997, March 20, 2002).

Indiana. A study looked at 224 individuals given a determinate sentence, life without parole, or the death penalty for murders committed between July 1, 1993 and August 10, 2001 and found the following.

1. Since July 1, 1993, white offenders received more severe sentences than non-white offenders, but this may have more to do with the victim’s race than the offender’s race.

2. When the victim is white, white offenders and non-white offenders appear to be sentenced similarly. When the victim is non-white, non-white offenders appear to be sentenced less severely than white offenders.

3. In general, the majority of murders involve an offender and victim of the same race (Janeway, K. (Reporter), The Application of Indiana’s Capital Sentencing Law: Findings of the Indiana Criminal Law Study Commission, January 10, 2002).

Kentucky. The Illinois study discussed above cites a study by University of Louisville criminologists Thomas Keil and Gennaro Vito. The study looked at all 577 homicides from December 1976 to 1991 and found, after statistically controlling for legally relevant factors, black defendants charged with killing white victims were more likely to be charged with a capital crime and more likely to be sentenced to death than other homicide defendants.

Maryland. In Maryland, a study concluded that race affects the way death penalty cases are handled in the state, particularly the prosecutor’s decisions early in the process. It also found substantial variations depending on location. The study looked at every homicide prosecution where the death penalty might have applied between 1978 and 1999. It found that:

1. the offender’s race does not play a clear role in how cases are handled but the victim’s race makes a difference;

2. when the race of the offender and victim are both considered, black offenders who kill blacks are significantly less likely to face the death penalty while black offenders who kill whites are significantly more likely to face a death sentence than all other racial combinations;

3. prosecutors vary considerably in seeking the death penalty depending on their location; and

4. disparities occur in the early stages when prosecutors decide to seek the death penalty but not after conviction when prosecutors make the final decision to pursue a death sentence or in the final judgments of judges or juries.

One of the authors stated that it is incorrect to conclude that the results show racial animus in the death penalty system because other explanations are possible and they cannot get inside prosecutors’ heads. But he added that the record shows that race and geography play a role in prosecutors’ decisions. The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services sponsored the study under a grant to the University of Maryland at the General Assembly’s direction.

Nebraska. The Nebraska Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, acting under state legislation, studied that state’s death penalty by looking at all criminal homicides between 1973 and 1999. It concluded that:

1. there is no significant evidence of disparate treatment of defendants based on their or their victim’s race;

2. compared to other jurisdictions Nebraska’s charging and sentencing system appears reasonably consistent and successful at limiting death sentences to the most culpable offenders; and

3. there are no statistically significant disparities in treatment based on the socio-economic status of defendants, but defendants whose victims have a high socio-economic status have significantly higher risk of advancing to a penalty trial and receiving a death sentence (The Disposition of Nebraska Capital and Non-Capital Homicide Cases (1973-1999): A Legal and Empirical Analysis, October 11, 2002).

The report found disparities based on location which are described below.

New Jersey. The latest report to the New Jersey Supreme Court, the 2004 annual study, found that neither the defendant’s nor the victim’s race played any significant role in death sentencing. But it states that some evidence suggests that those who kill whites are more likely than those who kill blacks to advance to the penalty phase. It attributes this to (1) the concentration of white victim cases in counties with historically high capital prosecution rates and (2) that white defendant cases almost always involved white victims.

“Because a greater percentage of white defendant cases were capitally prosecuted and advanced to the penalty phase than minority defendant cases, a larger percentage of white victims cases were similarly capitally prosecuted and progressed to the penalty phase than minority victim cases. ” The report concluded that race and ethnicity did not play a role in capital sentencing, similar to the finding in previous studies (“Supreme Court Accepts Death Penalty Report,” New Jersey Judiciary website, February 9, 2005).

North Carolina. The Illinois study discussed above cites a study by University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill researchers Isaac Unah and Jack Boger finding that race “infects and undermines” the capital punishment system. The study looked at 113 potential factors in 502 cases in which the death penalty was imposed from 1993 to 1997 and found that the “odds of receiving a death sentence rose by 3. 5 times or more among defendants (regardless of the defendant’s race) who murdered white persons. ”

Philadelphia. The DPIC website discusses a Philadelphia study by Professor David Baldus, statistician Professor George Woodworth, and Philadelphia colleagues. The study found:

1. in Philadelphia, the odds of receiving a death sentence are 3. 9 times higher if the defendant is black;

2. more than half of death sentences in Pennsylvania are from Philadelphia, which has only 14% of the state’s population;

3. 83% of those on death row from Philadelphia are African American;

4. looking at a large sample of murders eligible for the death penalty in the state between 1983 and 1993, controlling for case differences, blacks in Philadelphia were substantially more likely to get the death penalty than other defendants who committed similar murders;

5. the racial combination most likely to result in a death sentence was a black defendant with a non-black victim, regardless of how severe the murder committed;

6. black defendant and black victim crimes were less likely to receive a death sentence, followed by crimes by other defendants, regardless of the victim’s race; and

7. after controlling for levels of crime severity and the defendant’s criminal background, death sentencing rates in Philadelphia for blacks were 38% higher.

Virginia. A study by Virginia’s Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission found that race plays no role in decisions made be local prosecutors to seek the death penalty in eligible cases. The study looked at cases from 1995, when the state abolished parole, to 1999. It found the following.

1. Indictments rates for capital-eligible crimes were highest for white defendants, people charged with murdering females, and defendants who allegedly committed their offense in non-urban locations. When all these factors are considered together, only defendants charged with murdering females and those arrested for capital murder in non-urban areas faced a higher probability of being indicted for capital murder.

2. Overall, white defendants arrested for capital-eligible crimes are more likely to be indicted for capital murder, more likely to face the death penalty, and, once convicted, more likely to be sentenced to death (Review of Virginia’s System of Capital Punishment, Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, January 2002).

The study found disparities based on location which are discussed below.

Nationally. A 1990 U. S. General Accounting Office report synthesized 28 studies since 1972. It found that in 82 percent of the studies, the victim’s race influenced the likelihood of being charged with capital murder or receiving the death penalty, “i. e. , those who murdered whites were found to be more likely to be sentenced to death than those who murdered blacks. ” But if found that “evidence for the influence of race of defendant on death penalty outcomes was equivocal,” and “the relationship between race of defendant and outcome varied across studies. ”

RACIAL DISPARITY—CONNECTICUT’S CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM GENERALLY

The Connecticut Commission on Racial and Ethnic Disparity in the Criminal Justice System provides many statistics on Connecticut’s criminal justice system.

As an overview, the 2003-4 report states that:

1. one in 11 African American men between age 18 and 64 was incarcerated in 2000;

2. the incarceration rate for African American men was 9% in 2000, 18 times higher than the rate for non-Hispanic white men;

3. Caucasians have a lower incarceration rate in Connecticut than African Americans or Latinos/Hispanics and the Caucasian rate (190 per 100,000 of the population) is also significantly below the national average (366 per 100,000 of the population);

4. the African American incarceration rate (2,427 per 100,000) is above the national average (2,209 per 100,000);

5. the Latinos/Hispanics incarceration rate (1,439 per 100,000) is above the national average (759 per 100,000);

6. Connecticut ranks highest in the United States in its level of disparity in the rates of incarceration of whites, blacks, and Hispanics; and

7. almost 50% of the male prison population in 2000 came from Hartford, New Haven, and Bridgeport.

The report provides many detailed analyses, including looking at differences in sentencing, geographical difference, types and number of charges against defendants, socio-economic data, and an analysis of underreporting of Hispanics in the data.

GEOGRAPHIC DISPARITY—DEATH PENALTY

Connecticut

The Connecticut Commission on the Death Penalty’s report also presents information on geographic disparities from the public defender’s database of 166 capital felony cases from 1973 until the time of the study. It provides the following information.

The report states that 24% of cases statewide went to trial while in Hartford 26% (17 of 66) cases went to trial and in Waterbury 62. 5% cases went to trial (although the data suggests that eight of 11 or 72. 7% went to trial). At the time of the report, of the eight cases that resulted in a death sentence, five were in Waterbury, one in Hartford, one in New London, and one in Windham.

The report states that this provides raw numbers and does not take into account the number of death-eligible homicides in each jurisdiction or compare the nature of the crimes, strength of prosecution evidence, venue, or nature of the trier of fact. The report also includes a discussion of the authority of state’s attorneys and decision making processes.

Studies in Other States

Illinois. A study of Illinois cases found that, holding constant the level of aggravation, the frequency of death sentencing shows a statistically significant relationship between regions of the state. For cases with a 1^st degree murder conviction, 8. 4% from rural counties, 3. 4% from urban counties, 3. 3% from collar counties, and 1. 5% from Cook County resulted in a death sentence. These geographic regions are the four standard sub-regions used by the Illinois Criminal Justice Authority, with Cook County as its own region because of its size and the collar counties being the 5 counties bordering Cook county (Pierce and Radelet, Race, Region, and Death Sentencing in Illinois, 1988-1997, March 20, 2002). The study also looked at racial disparities and those results are discussed above.

Maryland. In Maryland, a study found substantial variations in death penalty cases depending on location. The study looked at every homicide prosecution where the death penalty might have applied between 1978 and 1999. It found that prosecutors vary considerably in seeking the death penalty depending on their location. The study also looked at racial disparities and those results are discussed above. The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services sponsored the study under a grant to the University of Maryland at the General Assembly’s direction.

Nebraska. The Nebraska Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, acting under state legislation, studied that state’s death penalty by looking at all criminal homicides between 1973 and 1999. It found that:

1. the system has sharp differences in charging and plea bargaining in major urban counties compared to greater Nebraska, and

2. geographic disparities in death sentencing rates since the mid-1980s have tended to neutralize the effect of geographic disparities in the rates that prosecutors advance cases to a penalty trial (The Disposition of Nebraska Capital and Non-Capital Homicide Cases (1973-1999): A Legal and Empirical Analysis, October 11, 2002).

The study also looked at racial disparities and those results are discussed above.

New York. The Connecticut Commission on the Death Penalty’s report cites a New York study that found that upstate homicides were more likely to be prosecuted as death penalty cases than downstate homicides (“Capital Punishment in New York State: Statistics from Six Years of Representation (1995-2001),” A Report from Capital Defender Office).

Virginia. A study by Virginia’s Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission found that whether a defendant charged with a capital eligible crime actually faces the death penalty is more related to the location where the crime was committed than the actual circumstances of the capital murder. Looking at cases from 1995, when the state abolished parole, to 1999, the study found that the location of the crime (in non-urban areas) and whether the defendant was related to the victim were the factors most strongly associated with prosecutors’ decisions to seek the death penalty. Cases that are similar on other key facts are handled differently by some prosecutors across the state.

The overall rate that local prosecutors in high-density jurisdictions sought the death penalty in capital-eligible cases was 200% lower than in medium-density localities. After statistical controls were used for other factors related to the specifics of the cases in which there was at least one aggravator, the location appeared to be the most strongly associated with the prosecutors’ decisions to seek the death penalty (Review of Virginia’s System of Capital Punishment, Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, January 2002).

The study also looked at racial disparities and those results are discussed above.

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