20th Century Racism in the 21st Century
The Legacy of Racism in the Southern Region of the United States of America
B. Criminal Justice
1. The death penalty
State governments may not fully count hate crimes in the South,
but they do count executions. Since 1976, 650 people have been
executed in the United States; 44 percent were people of color.
Only 27 percent of the total national population resides in the
South, yet this region has the grim distinction of accounting for
77.5 percent of these executions. Eight of the ten leading states
in executions are southern according to the Death Penalty
Information Center.10
Alabama sentences more people to death per capita than any other
state, followed by Texas. Equal Justice Initiative reports that
Blacks in Alabama account for two percent of prosecutors, four
percent of criminal court judges, 66 percent of those in prison
and nearly 70% of those executed in this state in the past two
decades.1
2. Incarceration and political disenfranchisement
Nationally the number of people in prison has increased
dramatically in the past decade. Between 1990 and 1999, the
number of sentenced prisoners per 100,000 residents increased 60
percent for men and 84 percent for women. The racial/ethnic
breakdown of inmates is extremely disproportionate to the
racial/ethnic breakdown of the US population, indicating
institutionalized racism in law enforcement. African Americans
only make up 12.1 percent of the total population, yet 45.7
percent of the prison population is Black.12
Over nine percent of the African American male population (aged
25-29) is in prison, versus one percent of white men in the same
age group and three percent of Latinos. Black women are twice as
likely as Latino women and eight times more likely than White
women to be incarcerated.
In the South the prison population jumped 87 percent overall
between 1990 and 1999, more than any other region of the United
States. Forty percent of all Federal and State prisoners in the
US are in the South. Eight of the top ten states in terms of
incarceration rates are Southern: Louisiana and Texas are the top
two.
Racism within the criminal justice system is causing the
political disenfranchisement of a significant number of African
Americans. In the United States, people in prison or with felony
convictions are not allowed to vote.13 According to the Sentencing
Project, nationally this means that 13 percent of all Black men
cannot vote.
The figures skyrocket in the South. In Alabama, 31 percent of the
Black male population has permanently lost the right to vote.
Florida is a close second with just over 30 percent
disenfranchised according to Human Rights Watch.4
10See w~w.deathpenaltyinfo.org
115ee \www.eji.org.
'Whites, 33 percent and Latinos, 17.9 percent.
"(exception of states of Maine, Vermont and Massachusetts where
convicted felons are allowed to vote). "Advocacy groups believe
this had an impact on the last presidential election,
particularly in the hotly contested state of Florida, where
nearly one in three black men could not vote. Election figures
show that 92% of black voters in the South backed Al Gore.
 
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