Racial discrimination in the application of the death penalty

Racial discrimination is a fact that invades every facet of American culture. The purpose of this paper is to examine the presence of racial bias towards African-Americans in the application of the death penalty. A brief history of racial discrimination in the criminal justice system and the history of capital punishment is presented. Several studies that have focused on this discrimination will be summarized. Then a particularly influential court case, McCleskey v. Kemp, will be detailed along with its implications for the criminal justice system. Possible sources of bias within the criminal justice system are discussed, followed by an evaluation of proposed solutions for eliminating racial discrimination in the imposition of the death penalty.