It has been found that one decision that affects whether or not a person gets the death penalty is the race of the victim. In South Carolina, if a victim was white and the attacker black, the attacker is 8 times more likely to receive the death penalty than if the victim was black (Allen, Latessa, Ponder, 2016). In my opinion, this seems a little messed up, one life is as important as another regardless of the color of your skin. When the race of the defendant is added to the analysis, the following pattern appears: 22% of black defendants who kill white victims are sentenced to death; 8% of white defendants who kill white victims are sentenced to death; 1% of black defendants who kill black victims are sentenced to death; and 3% of white defendants who kill black victims are sentenced to death (CPC, 2017). Although, it is apparent that it is discrimination based on race the Supreme Court says that a defendant on death row cannot challenge his sentence as a violation of the constitutional requirement of “equal protection of the laws” by showing that it is consistent with a system-wide pattern of racial disparity. To make out an equal-protection violation, a defendant is required to prove that some specific person or persons in his or her individual case intentionally discriminated against them on the grounds of race in making a decision that resulted in the death sentence (CPC, 2017). Seems to me as if it is a no win situation is you are a black person that attacks a white victim. Civil rights advocates say that more value is placed on the lives of whites rather than on blacks (Elkhom, 1995) and from what I read I have to agree but I do not understand why.
