|
Deon Brock, Nigel Cohen, Jonathan
Sorensen
excerpted from: Deon Brock, Nigel Cohen, Jonathan
Sorensen, Arbitrariness in the Imposition of Death Sentences in Texas:
an Analysis of Four Counties by Offense Seriousness, Race of Victim, and
Race of Offender , 28 American Journal of Criminal Law 43-71, 64-70
(Fall 2000)
We compared the percentage of homicide arrests to the percentage of
death sentences from each of the major jurisdictions in Table 1. This
overall comparison illustrates the geographical disparities across
jurisdictions. In all of the jurisdictions except Houston, arrests are
under-represented among sentences. While not statistically significant,
the ratio of homicide arrests to death sentences is .78 in both Fort
Worth and San Antonio, meaning that there are approximately one-quarter
fewer death sentences than would be expected given the statewide
percentage of arrests from those jurisdictions. The figures showed only
one-half as many death sentences as expected for Dallas, given the
percentage of arrests from that jurisdiction.
Houston was the only jurisdiction with more death sentences than
expected. While Houston accounts for just over one-fourth of the
homicide arrests, nearly one-third of the death sentences issued
statewide were from that jurisdiction. Both proportionately and in the
overall volume of death sentences, Houston murderers are
over-represented among death-sentenced inmates. This disparity, however,
could be due to legitimate case characteristics. If the offenses
occurring in Houston were generally more severe, then the higher ratio
of death sentences to arrests within that jurisdiction may be justified.
In order to test this possibility, it is necessary to control for the
level of case seriousness when examining death sentencing rates.
In an effort to control for the levels of case seriousness within the
studied jurisdictions, we had to find those case characteristics that
were predictive of death sentences throughout the state. In Table 2,
arrests are compared to death sentences on all variables available in
the SHR. As expected, given the statutory definition of capital murder,
the presence of a contemporaneous felony was the best predictor of a
death sentence, with sexual assaults being over-represented among death
sentences by a ratio of twenty-five to one. The cause of death was also
consistently related to a sentence of death. Gun- related murders were
the least common among death sentences and murders resulting from
strangulation of the victims were over-represented by a ratio of ten to
one. The weapon used in inflicting death appears to be an indicator of
the brutality of the offense. Crimes committed by strangers and men were
more common among death sentences, as were those involving multiple
offenders and multiple victims. These case characteristics point to a
more premeditated or instrumental form of homicide. Characteristics
conveying innocence or physical weakness on the part of the victim were
also more likely to result in death sentences, with offenses perpetrated
against females, children, youths, and the elderly over-represented.
From the relationships discovered in Table 2, we constructed a simple
additive scale of case seriousness. First, the significant predictors
were grouped into categories by their common features. Second, the
presence or absence of these features was determined for each case.
Third, the cases were scored based on the number of the following
features they possessed: (1) contemporaneous felonies/murders committed
by strangers; (2) deaths resulting from weapons other than guns; (3)
deaths of multiple victims; and (4) helplessness of the victim as
indicated by the sex and age of the victim, or the presence of multiple
offenders.
The results, presented in Table 3, show that the scale is very good
at predicting death sentences. Less than 1% of the death sentences
scored "0" on the scale as compared to 28% of arrests. As the
levels of seriousness, the ratio of death sentences to arrests steadily
increases. Nearly 8% of the death sentences scored in the highest range
of severity, compared to less than 1% of the arrests.
In Table 4, the scale is used to compare the ratios of death
sentences to arrests by the seriousness of offenses among jurisdictions.
Other than some seemingly anomalous findings in the highest level of
severity, such as the zero ratio in Fort Worth or the extreme of
twenty-one to one in Dallas, which may have resulted from unreliably
small cell sizes, the overall patterns among jurisdictions was quite
similar to the statewide pattern. Of particular concern was Houston,
whose arrests were found to be over-represented among death sentences in
earlier comparisons. Once level of seriousness was considered, the ratio
of death sentences to arrests in Houston appeared similar to, or even
lower than, those of other jurisdictions. Rather than being attributable
to arbitrariness in sentencing practices within the jurisdictions, the
higher ratio of death sentences to arrests found in Houston in earlier
comparisons may be indicative of the seriousness of murders in Harris
County.
Another possible source of arbitrariness may result from the
consideration of inappropriate criteria in the sentencing process within
jurisdictions. In Table 5, the ratios of death sentences to arrests are
presented for racial categories across the entire state of Texas.
Regarding the race of the defendant, Whites appear to be
over-represented, while Hispanics are under- represented. Regarding the
victim's race, cases involving Whites are over- represented at a rate
exceeding two to one, while cases involving Blacks and Hispanics are
under-represented by as much. The combination of offender/victim racial
categories reveals a more insidious portrait of racial disparities
within the state. Killers of whites are always over-represented among
death sentences, but the extent of over-representation depended on the
race of the offender. While the ratio was one and a half to one for
Whites who killed Whites, the ratio for Hispanics who killed Whites was
nearly two and a half to one and exceeding four to one for Blacks who
killed Whites. In contrast, killers of minorities were
under-represented. Killers of Blacks were under-represented, especially
if the killer was White. Killers of Hispanics were over-represented
among Blacks, but severely under-represented when the offenders were
also Hispanic.
The nature of these killings may account for much of these apparent
disparities. Inter-racial crimes involving White victims are likely to
be of a more serious nature than those involving intra-racial murders
among minorities. In Table 6, the level of seriousness is controlled to
determine if racial disparities still exist statewide. Because of the
consistency of findings and due to relatively small cell sizes within
jurisdictions, comparisons are limited to those based on the race of the
victim. Also due to small cell sizes that make comparisons unreliable in
the extreme levels of severity, the scale is collapsed into three
categories, the least serious and most serious categories being combined
into their closest respective categories. As shown in Table 6,
disparities based on the race of the victim remain regardless of the
level of case seriousness. The amount of disparity, however, decreases
as the level of seriousness increases, from about two and a half to one
in the lowest levels to about one and a half to one in the highest
levels of offense seriousness.
In Table 7, the ratio of death sentences to arrests involving White
victims across different levels of seriousness is presented for each of
the selected jurisdictions. With some exceptions, the results show that
racial disparities in death sentencing based on the race of the victim
follow the overall pattern for the state shown in Table 6. In general,
as the level of seriousness of the crime increases, the disparities
decrease. Dallas and Houston display similar patterns, with levels of
disparity decreasing from nearly three to one in Houston and three and a
half to one in Dallas in the lowest level of seriousness to under one
and a half to one in the highest level. The results for San Antonio are
somewhat unexpected in that the ratios remain at about two to one
regardless of the level of seriousness. Compared to the other
jurisdictions, Fort Worth displays the greatest disparity in the mid-
level cases, with less disparity in the lowest and highest levels of
seriousness.
Initial geographical disparities among jurisdictions appear to be
related to the level of case seriousness, and not to result from
arbitrary sentencing practices across these jurisdictions. Across the
state, and within each of the major jurisdictions, however, the
prevalence and consistency of disparities based on the race of the
victim indicate a pattern of arbitrary sentencing. These findings are
consistent with other studies performed in Texas and elsewhere, and
represent one of the most enduring and tragic consequences of capital
punishment in the United States--prospective candidates for execution
are screened and selected to a large extent on the basis of race.
. Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, University of Texas at
Brownsville; B.S. 1987, M.S. 1991, Central Missouri State University;
Ph.D. 1998, Sam Houston State University College of Criminal Justice
. Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, The University of Texas-
Pan American; B.A. 1992, Brandeis University; J.D. 1995, University of
Pittsburgh School of Law; M.A. 1998, Rutgers-The State University of New
Jersey, School of Criminal Justice, Campus at Newark.
. Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, Fitchburg State College;
B.S. 1986, Pan American University; M.A. 1987, Ph.D. 1990, Sam Houston
State University College of Criminal Justice. |
