STUDIO IN MARYLAND SVELA INFLUSSO RAZZA SU SCELTE GIUSTIZIA

(di Marco Bardazzi)

NEW YORK, 8 GEN - Se un nero uccide un bianco in Maryland, ha possibilita' quattro volte maggiori di venir condannato a morte rispetto ad un killer afro-americano che ammazza un altro nero. Uno dei piu' accurati studi scientifici mai svolti in America sulla pena di morte ha confermato quanto gli oppositori delle esecuzioni ripetono da tempo: la giustizia negli Usa non e' cieca, procuratori e giurie popolari sono influenzati dalla razza della vittima e del suo assassino.

   La ricerca ha preso in esame il caso di un solo stato, ma i suoi autori, all'Universita' del Maryland, ritengono che il campione sia significativo anche su scala nazionale. Lo studio ha subito avuto una vasta eco negli Usa, dove le camere della morte sono pronte a riaprire nei prossimi giorni per una raffica di esecuzioni programmate: prima della fine del mese in America dovrebbero morire 10 persone, sette delle quali in Texas.

   Il 2002 si e' chiuso con 71 esecuzioni, cinque in piu' rispetto all'anno precedente e il 2003 sembra avviato sui ritmi consueti. Ma intorno alla pena di morte il dibattito resta acceso. La Coalizione nazionale per l'abolizione della pena di morte (Ncadp) ha avviato una campagna per vietare le esecuzioni dei minorenni, rimaste legali tra i paesi di tutto il mondo, secondo gli attivisti, solo negli Usa e in Somalia. La Corte suprema dovrebbe pronunciarsi sullo stesso argomento e proprio la possibilita' che arrivi una sentenza del genere ha salvato per ora la vita a Ronald Chris Foster, un detenuto nero che avrebbe dovuto morire oggi nel Mississippi: quando aveva 15 anni, nel 1991, uccise il cassiere di un negozio durante una rapina. Il governatore dello stato gli ha concesso un rinvio.

   Con i giudici e forse anche il nuovo Congresso pronti a intervenire per possibili modifiche alle leggi sulla pena capitale, l'argomento e' tornato sulle prime pagine dei giornali americani in questi primi giorni del 2003. Usa Today ha riportato le preoccupazioni degli ambienti conservatori per il trend abolizionista che a loro dire sarebbe in atto nel paese ed ha riferito di studi secondo i quali non e' vero che i neri e gli ispanici vengono discriminati.

   La replica e' arrivata con lo studio dell'Universita' del Maryland - che ha ottenuto la prima pagina del Washington Post - commissionato dal governatore uscente, il democratico Parris Glendening, che aveva fatto del suo stato il secondo negli Usa (dopo l'Illinois) a decidere una moratoria sulle esecuzioni, ritenendo che la pena di morte sia amministrata in modo scorretto. Il suo successore, il repubblicano Robert Ehrlinch, si appresta ad insediarsi ed ha gia' promesso che annullera' la moratoria, ma lo studio compiuto dallo staff del professor Raymond Paternoster potrebbe fargli cambiare idea.

   I ricercatori hanno esaminato 6.000 inchieste per omicidio avvenute in Maryland nel corso di un ventennio ed hanno accertato che i procuratori sono molto piu' propensi a chiedere la massima pena quando il killer e' un nero che ha ucciso un bianco. Lo studio e' sceso fin nei dettagli delle scelte nelle varie contee e citta', mostrando per esempio che la contea di Baltimora e l'omonima citta' hanno scelte diverse: gli imputati nella contea hanno 26 volte piu' possibilita' di essere condannati a morte di quelli indagati dalle autorita' cittadine.

   Un trend che i ricercatori spiegano con il fatto che la citta' di Baltimora ha una percentuale di neri assai piu' alta della contea, dove quindi ci sarebbe un'occhio particolare per le vittime bianche.

   ''Nei casi di pena di morte, la vita dei bianchi vale piu' di quella dei neri'', ha commentato Richard Dieter, direttore del Death Penalty Information Center. ''A questo punto qualcuno deve intervenire, che siano i giudici, il Congresso o il presidente, per riconoscere che la razza gioca un ruolo significativo. E una volta riconosciuto questo, o risolvono il problema, o fermano tutto''. 

Maryland Study Finds that Race and Geography Play Key Roles in Death Penalty      According to the findings of a Governor-commissioned death penalty study conducted by researchers at the University of Maryland, the state's death penalty system is tainted with racial bias, and geography plays a significant role in who faces a capital conviction. The study, one of the nation's most comprehensive official reviews on race and the death penalty, concluded that defendants are much more likely to be sentenced to death if they have killed a white person. (DPIC)The report is available at: http://www.urhome.umd.edu/newsdesk/pdf/finalrep.pdf 

Death Penalty Injustice

January 8, 2003

MARYLAND GOV.-ELECT Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. promised to lift his state's moratorium on executions regardless of what scholars at the University of Maryland found concerning the influence of race and geography on the imposition of the death penalty. He should have waited, and maybe now he will reconsider. For the report, requested by Gov. Parris N. Glendening -- who froze executions while the study was underway -- makes clear that capital punishment is applied in a fashion that sends a deeply corrosive message: Maryland cares more -- a great deal more -- about the deaths of white people, particularly when killed by black people, than it does about the deaths of blacks. If Mr. Ehrlich carries out his promise, he will be saying, in effect, that this doesn't bother him.

 The study, led by criminologist Raymond Paternoster, found that the race of the defendant alone plays little role in death penalty decisions. The race of the victim, however, plays an enormous role. Even controlling for other factors in cases that were potentially eligible for the death penalty -- including such factors as jurisdiction -- the study found prosecutors more likely to seek the death penalty against those who killed whites than against those who killed nonwhites. Prosecutors were also less likely to compromise on a penalty other than death. And though jury behavior wasn't influenced by the race of the victim, this disparate use of prosecutorial discretion created an effect that held up through sentencing: "Offenders who slay white victims are significantly more likely to be sentenced to death than those who slay all non-white victims."

 The effect only grows more dramatic when the race of the perpetrator is figured in as well. Even correcting for other factors, "blacks who kill whites are two and one-half times more likely to be sentenced to death than are whites who kill whites, . . . three and one-half times more likely than are blacks who kill blacks, . . . and almost eleven times more likely . . . than 'other' racial combinations."

 The study also identified gross geographic disparities. A prosecutor is 13 times as likely to seek the death penalty for a comparable murder in Baltimore County as in Baltimore City, five times as likely as in Montgomery County and three times as likely as in Anne Arundel County.

 Mr. Ehrlich has said that the study won't affect his decision, because he means to review death sentences rigorously on a case-by-case basis. But that misses the point. These data demonstrate that a given case can be rock solid and still be no more worthy of death than one in which capital punishment was never even sought. It is possible, in other words, for the state to be both rigorous and discriminatory. Is this really the Maryland that Mr. Ehrlich wants?

Large Racial Disparity Found in Study of Md. Death Penalty

By Susan Levine and Lori Montgomery

January 8, 2003

Maryland prosecutors are far more likely to seek the death penalty for black suspects charged with killing white victims, a racial disparity that mirrors national trends and raises questions about whether capital punishment is being administered fairly, University of Maryland researchers said yesterday.

 An analysis of nearly 6,000 Maryland homicide cases over two decades, the most comprehensive examination ever of how the state applies capital punishment, also found a marked geographic disparity among the state's 24 jurisdictions.

 Concerned about possible bias, outgoing Gov. Parris N. Glendening (D) last May halted all executions pending the study's completion. Gov.-elect Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) has pledged to lift the moratorium regardless of the findings and to review cases on an individual basis.

 The study's conclusions that race and location appear to greatly influence application of the death penalty are likely to renew the intense debate. Principal investigator Raymond Paternoster, a criminal justice professor, said yesterday that it would be premature to end the ban without first addressing the issues raised.

 "The kind of disparities we're finding are systemic. They cannot be identified on a case-by-case analysis," Paternoster said.

 Twelve men, eight of them black, sit on Maryland's death row. In each case, the murder victim was white, and that specific factor strongly influenced a prosecutor's decision to pursue a capital case, the report suggests.

 But the researchers went beyond cases in which defendants were sentenced to death. They looked at all cases eligible for capital punishment � and at whether prosecutors chose to pursue those cases to trial or resolved them with a plea agreement.

 "Offenders who kill white victims, especially if the offender is black, are significantly and substantially more likely to be charged with a capital crime," the report states. The probability is "twice as high as when a black slays another black."

 In at least nine states, researchers have found compelling statistical evidence that victims' race plays a major role when prosecutors decide whether to seek the death penalty or, less often, when judges and juries decide to impose it, said University of Iowa law professor David C. Baldus. Less rigorous studies in 10 other states also show disparities based on the victim's race, Baldus said.

 In each of the states studied, killers of whites were more likely to be targeted for execution than killers of blacks, regardless of the circumstances of the crime.

 The Maryland study has national significance because "it builds on this record," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington. At this point, he said, "it's incumbent on someone � the courts, the Congress, the president � to say race plays a significant role and that should not be the case. Either we fix it, or we stop it."

 In Maryland, geography proved as significant as race because of widely different practices by the state's attorneys in various jurisdictions. "Jurisdiction matters, it matters a great deal," Paternoster said.

 In Baltimore County, for example, a death sentence was 26 times as likely as in Baltimore City and 14 times as likely as in Montgomery County, the study found.

 Paternoster said the explanation for the disparities lies with state's attorneys, not juries, although he was careful not to impugn the prosecutors' motives.

 "Let me be clear," he told a news conference. "It doesn't mean there is racial animus involved." Rather, he said, it illustrates how "the product of their action does result in racial disparity."

 Nearly 6,000 homicides occurred in Maryland from 1978 through 1999 � 1,311 of them potential capital cases. A death sentence was sought in 353 cases and was obtained nearly 20 percent of the time.

 As part of the analysis, prison, court, prosecution, defense and police records were studied for detailed information about the crime and those involved. The researchers tried to control variables by considering 123 factors, such as whether the victim was bound or gagged or whether the perpetrator showed any remorse.

 Ehrlich said yesterday that he would review Pasternoster's methodology and findings but reiterated that his administration would make determinations on a case-by-case basis. He said race would be one of many points considered, though he declined to specify how he would factor it in when deciding whether to stay an execution.

 He announced that Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele would review death warrants that reach his desk. Steele, the first African American elected statewide in Maryland, opposes the death penalty.

 In Baltimore County, which has sent more men to Maryland's death row than any other jurisdiction, Assistant State's Attorney Ann Brobst was skeptical of Paternoster's findings concerning race because of differences in policy and practice between jurisdictions.

 The vast majority of black murder victims in the state die in Baltimore City and in Prince George's County, two jurisdictions where prosecutors rarely seek the death penalty because local juries are reluctant to impose it. But in Baltimore County, which has a much higher percentage of white murder victims, the policy is to seek the death penalty whenever legally possible.

 "If you have one jurisdiction which seeks the death penalty in every eligible case and two massively larger jurisdictions that never do, ever, yet have the vast majority of African American victims � well, you see the problem," Brobst said.

Still, others called on Ehrlich to respond to the study. In Annapolis, about a dozen lawmakers joined representatives of the Catholic Church and Amnesty International to urge him to continue the moratorium until the General Assembly can review the report.

"This is a matter of racial justice," said Del. Salima Siler Marriott (D-Baltimore). "If he does ignore the study, clearly he's sending us a message that he is discounting racial justice, no matter how many people he's including in his administration."

 If Ehrlich lifts the moratorium, as many as seven men could be put to death during his first year in office. Four have exhausted their appeals and could be executed immediately; officials expect three others to reach that point this year.

Staff writer Jo Becker contributed to this report.

The Washington Post