Alex Smith

Date of Award

2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Cottrell, Catherine

Keywords

Racial Bias, White Juror Bias, Courtroom

Area of Concentration

Psychology

Abstract

This study looked at two time frames in the legal process: time between arrest and sentencing (referred to as "sentencing time") and time between sentencing and execution (referred to as "execution time") as variables relevant to racial biases in the courtroom. Using the Texas and Florida Department of Criminal Justice archives, executed offenders with similar case features were analyzed. In both Texas and Florida, political affiliation of the governor and response to capital punishment were related; offenders spent more time on death row when the governors were Republican than when they were Democrats. In Florida, racial minorities spent an average of 3 years longer in execution time than White offenders. Longer waits in execution time were again found when the offender -victim race did not match. In Florida, an opposite result occurred in sentencing time; more time was spent on matched offender-victim pairs in this time frame. The application of White juror bias as pertinent to these findings is also discussed.

Rights

The author has granted New College of Florida the nonexclusive right to archive, make accessible, and distribute for educational purposes this work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The copyright of this work remains with the author.

Download

Share

COinS