"The Racial Geography of the Federal Death Penalty" Article Discusses Geographic and Racial Distortions in the Federal Death Penalty

It is well known that Blacks and other minority group members are disproportionately over-represented on death rows across the US. Defendants are more likely to be sentenced to death for killing a white victim, and Black defendants are disproportionately executed. Less often discussed are the geographic disparities in the death penalty. Indeed, application of the federal death penalty is concentrated in just a few districts.

A new article in the Washington Law Review addresses this geographical disparity and identifies a possible explanation. In The Racial Geography of the Federal Death Penalty, by G. Ben Cohen and Robert Smith, the authors discuss how federal prosecutors, in an effort to avoid trying death penalty cases in state jurisdictions with substantial minority populations, are increasingly taking cases to federal court. The decision to prosecute federally often alters the racial composition of the jury pool, generally resulting in a lower percentage of minority venirepersons. Research indicates the changed racial make-up of the venire also affects jury deliberating and outcomes. The authors also suggest strategies to combat this effort to change the jury pool, including returning to a county-based jury pool.