Race and the Death Penalty

Race is the greatest predictor of who gets the death penalty in America, according to Bryan Stevenson, executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative. Dozens of studies from states around the country confirm the same conclusions — that African-American defendants are more likely to be executed. "It is that last fail safe for white supremacy that says that ultimately white life must be valued over black life," says The Rev. Raphael Warnock of Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, the spiritual home of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.