BOOK REVIEW- Racial Disparities in Capital Sentencing

Author: Jamie L. Flexon

Racial Disparities in Capital Sentencing: Prejudice and Discrimination in the Jury is a

book centered around a study conducted by Jamie Flexon, which takes an
interdisciplinary approach to examine the ways in which racial biases may impact
racial disparities in capital sentencing decisions.

This study examines the psychology of stereotypes and attitudes to explain how racial
discrimination can operate undetected among death qualified jurors while producing
sentencing discrepancies. Chapter 1 discusses racial discrepancies in capital case
outcomes. Chapter 2 discusses the contours of prejudice and how capital jurors can
discriminate based on race. Chapter 3 explores racial bias in capital juries through the
stereotype activation and how it is liked to attitudes and the decision making process
for individuals and groups. Chapter 4 discusses assessing the nature of biases among
potential capital jurors. Chapter 5 analyzes the association between crime control
beliefs and racially biased beliefs and the connection the two belief structures have
with support for capital punishment. 

This book begins by providing the reader with national data on death penalty
decisions, racial combinations of defendants receiving the death penalty and their
victims, as well as juror characteristics in capital cases. Defendants who have
murdered white victims are more likely to be sentenced to the death penalty than
defendants who murder black victims. Black defendants, in particular, have greater
chances of facing the death penalty if they murdered a white victim. The existing
debate regarding this racial disparity in capital punishment is described in detail in the
opening of the book.
Flexon clearly explains the psychology of stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination
before testing the role of racial biases in the outcomes of capital cases. In selecting a
capital jury, measures are taken to ensure that possible jurors will follow the laws of
capital cases and thus apply the death penalty if the case so requires. In order to serve
on a capital jury, the selected jurors must be “death qualified” – willing to apply the
death penalty if they deem it appropriate in the particular case. Those who are not
willing to apply the death penalty are not allowed to serve on a capital jury. The book
asserts that it is important to understand the jury-selection process, but it is also
important to understand the decision-making process of these death-qualified
individuals once they are serving on a capital jury. Flexon warns readers about the
prejudices of death-qualified jurors since those who tend to be death-qualified may
share similar characteristics, such as crime control beliefs (as opposed to a due-
process mentality) and may also be more conviction prone. Flexon states that such a
group, sharing a crime control attitude and racial stereotypes, may reinforce their
racial biases and subconsciously enable discrimination. Thus, the research presented
in the book studies the possible link between a crime control mentality and the
presence of racial biases — and whether these factors influence individuals’ support
of the death penalty – serving as a proxy for death qualified jurors in the analysis.

As the book title hints, Flexon evaluates whether racial disparities in capital
sentencing are due to prejudices and racial discrimination in the jury. Using data from
the 1990 General Social Survey, Flexon found that the death qualification process of
capital juries reflects the presence of racial biases and crime control beliefs, impacting
jurors’ support of capital punishment in sentencing decisions. The book is a valuable
contribution to the literature on racial disparities in capital punishment. Flexon’s
interdisciplinary approach is a clever and unique method to examine how racial biases
may appear in the courtroom and may impact racial disparities in capital sentencing
decisions.
Flexon presents an interdisciplinary perspective to the problem of racial disparities in
capital case outcomes. In doing so, research from social and cognitive psychology
concerning stereotypes and attitude influence were bridged with other empirical
findings concerning racial disparities in capital sentencing. Specifically, the
psychology of stereotypes and attitudes are used to help explain how racial
discrimination can operate undetected among death qualified jurors while producing
sentencing discrepancies. The introduction of a potential source of bias information
concerning criminal justice and race also is offered. Results indicate that prejudicial
ideas are likely operating to influence capital sentencing decisions.