Executions of Prisoners 1

Executions of Prisoners by Civil Authority

Exections of Prisoners by Civil Authority From 1930 to 2008

Exercise #3:

Alicia C. Edwards

Social Work 300

J.L. McArthur

September 23, 2010

Executions of Prisoners 2
 Executions of Prisoners 3

Magnitude of the Problem

Descriptive

This chart shows what percent of black and white male inmates have been executed over

the years of 1930 through 2008. The pink section presents the white prisoners executed and the

green section represents the black prisoners that were executed. It is important to note that even

though there is some difference between the amount of white executions over black executions

there are equal amounts of blacks as whites on death row.

Interpretive

The issue is wide spread among the states that permit the death penalty has a sentence. In

my first supplementary data table gives the years 1977 through 2008 and Blacks prisoners

have a 38 percent rate of being executed and White prisoners have approximately a 57

percent rate of execution. The other ethnicities that were included in this data table were

Hispanic, Indian, and Asian. It is important to note that these races were included in the table

but held a significantly low percentage regarding execution rates

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Scope of the Problem

Descriptive:

This chart is specific to the year 2007. The states chose were the top four states in that

year that had the most frequency in executed prisoners. The green columns represent the amount

of white prisoners that were killed in that state and the pink column represents the amount of

black prisoners that were executed in that state. It is important to note that the states listed above

are below the Mason-Dixon line.

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Interpretive:

If you break up the states into regions the South has executed 1010, the West 69

prisoners, the Midwest 169 prisoners, the Northeast 4 and Virginia and Texas combined have

executed 570 prisoners1. To relate scope of the problem to the issue at hand table4 shows which

states African American males were executed: OK, TX, AL, and SC; all African American males

who were executed in 2007 were executed in Southern

1
These numbers include the dates of 1976, 2009 and 2010 unlike the data in table3 which only include up to 2008
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Change Over Time

Descriptive:

This graph shows how shows how the problem has changed over time. The green line on

the top represents the rate of white males being executed over the four years above. The pink line

above shows the rate of the execution of the black prisoners over time. It is important to point

out that these years were chosen because no female prisoners were executed during these years.

Interpretive:

Between the years of 1976 and 1982 the most prisoners that were executed in a

year was 5 which happened in 1982. After 1982 the amount of prisoners being executed

skyrocketed to 21 and continued to steadily rise until it reached its peak in 1999 at 98
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prisoners. Since 1999, the range has stayed between 85, being the highest in 2000, to 38,

being the lowest in 2010. Over the years, it seems that executing prisoners has become

more popular which makes my issue dire. If the rate of executions keep increasing with

no avail and Black males continue to account for roughly 35 percent of all prisoners

executed the government will slowly continue to kill off African American male.
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Disparities of the Problem

Description:

This graph shows the amount of males and how many of those males were black, who

were executed in the years above. The green columns are the total amount of males that were

executed in that specific year. The royal blue column illustrates of those males how many of

them were black. It is important to point out that the years above were chosen because they only

contained male inmates that were executed.

Interpretation:

As of 2000, according to the Census Bureau, the white male population accounts for

approximately 82.2 percent of the male population of the United States and black males only

account for only approximately 12.4 percent. With these percentages put against the fact that

between the years of 1976 and 2010 the race of the defendants that were executed 53 percent
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of them were white and 35 percent of them were black. According to the American Bar

Association over 76 percent of the victims of the crimes which the defendants were executed

for were white victims and 15 percent are black.

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Summary and Conclusion

As of 2000, according to the Census Bureau, the white male population accounts for

approximately 82.2 percent of the male population of the United States and black males only

account for only approximately 12.4 percent. With these percentages put against the fact that

between the years of 1976 and 2010 the race of the defendants that were executed 53 percent of

them were white and 35 percent of them were black. According to the American Bar

Association over 76 percent of the victims of the crimes which the defendants were executed for

were white victims and 15 percent are black.

Clearly, when presented the empirical facts, one can see that there is a disproportion among

the percentage of the population and the percentage of those who are being executed. There is

data that points to underlying racism that should be of concern to any analyst. This problem

affects the survival and the propagation of African American because if something is not done

about the rate of executed prisoners that are black males society will continue to slowly kill off

what is already rare in society. Looking also at Death Row Statistics the percentage of white

prisoners on death row currently is roughly 44 percent and the percent of black prisoners on

death row is roughly 42 percent.

These stats show that even though there is a slight difference in the statistics between the

rates of white prisoners being executed and the rates that black prisoners being executed, the

number of prisoners convicted to death is roughly the same. This is completely outrageous and

disturbing looking at the percentages of who makes up the population; the population dispersion

should be reflected in the execution rate done by civil authorities, and on death row because the

prison system should be a microcosm of society.

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References

US Census Bureau. November 2008. “Prisoners Executed by Civil Authority by Sex and Race:
1930-2008” September 19, 2010.
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/law_enforcement_courts_prisons/correctional_faci
lities_prisoners.html

U.S. Law Enforcement Assistance Administration. December 31, 2008 “Prisoners Executed by
Civil Authority by State” September 21, 2010 http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions

U.S. Law Enforcement Assistance Administration. “Number of Persons Executed by Method and
Race/Ethnicity , 1977-2008”September 21, 2010 http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions

U.S. Bureau of Justice “Executions in the United States in 2007”