Blacks and Capital Punishment: An Assessment of Latent Discriminatory Justice in the United States

Authors

Laurence French, University of Nebraska, Omaha

Abstract

A major consideration in interethnic relations is the control factor and how this is maintained in minority/ majority situations especially those occurring within heterogeneous societies. Granted numerous subtle control processes operate at both the primary and secondary levels of interethnic interaction but a critical measure of the effectiveness of minority subjugation is reflected in judicial discrimination. This formal legal control apparatus has a legal mandate to deny social members their freedom, to punish and even to execute them. In the United States the criminal justice system's avowed mandate is to provide 'equal justice' for all citizens without discrimination due to race, ethnic origin, sex, class or age. However, in reality, a distinctive latent process of discriminatory justice actually operates. This paper looks at the nature and extent of discriminatory justice and how it effects the nation's single largest racial minority- - American blacks.

Recommended Citation

French, Laurence (1979) "Blacks and Capital Punishment: An Assessment of Latent Discriminatory Justice in the United States," The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare: Vol. 6: Iss. 2, Article 8.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15453/0191-5096.1345
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol6/iss2/8