z45\doc\web\2000\10\deathpe.txt La Griffe du Lion
[il_leone_uno@yahoo.com] concludes that most states match death
penalty with race of murders, most southern states actually have too
many whites, only Pennsylvania has too many blacks. See map at dp.gif





Griffe:


Lately, I have been thinking some about the death penalty, and have
some results that I cannot interpret. Perhaps someone could offer an
explanation.


From differential murder rates and state demographics, it is easy to
estimate the probability that the racial composition of a state's
death row could be obtained (within say 20%) by random selection from
the pool of murderers. Doing this, I found the following geographic
pattern to emerge:


1) Most states (not in the South) apply the death penalty fairly,
that is without regard to race.


2) Southern states (with one exception) apply the DP with a strong
bias _against_ whites.


2a) The lone exception is North Carolina, which applies the DP
without regard to race.


3) Pennsylvania is the only state demonstrating a bias against
blacks; it is a huge bias.


I am attaching a map to illustrate the geographic pattern.


Questions: What is it about the South that distinguishes it from the
rest of the US in the application of the death penalty? Is there
something unsouthern about North Carolinians? Attitudes? Beliefs? Why
Pennsylvania?






La Griffe du Lion http://www.lagriffedulion.f2s.com