Death Row Days:Factors Affecting the Rate of Execution in the State of Texas

Rebekah KopskyUniversity of North Texas

McNair Scholars Program, Honors CollegeDepartment of Political Science

College of Arts and SciencesKimi Lynn King, J.D./ Ph.D.

Capital Punishment in the U.S.Furman v. Georgia (1972) 8th Amendment Cruel and Unusual punishment On its face As appliedGregg v. Georgia (1976) New state laws Bifurcated systemMcCleskey v. Kemp (1987) Statistical evidence of widespread discrimination Capital Statutes 35 and U.S. government and U.S. military 15 and District of Columbia

Capital Punishment in Texas

Current population 337

Life without paroleRoper v.

Simmons (2005)

Law of partiesClemencies

Bowers (1983)Society’s worst offenders

Prosecutorial bias

White-victim effect

Ekland-Olson (1988)Texas bifurcated system

Paternoster (1984), Radelet (1981)Racial bias from indictment to sentence

Prior Research

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

H1: White offenders whose victims were white will spend more days on death row than minority offenders, regardless of the race of their victims.

H2: Offenders with multiple victims will spend fewer days on death row than offenders with a single victim.

H3: Offenders whose victims were strangers will spend more days on death row than offenders who knew their victims.

Hypotheses

Independent Variable

Victims' Offenders

Minimum Length of Time

Maximum Length of Time

Awaiting

Execution (by victim)

Race of Offender / Victim        

Black / Black 75 1242 5739 65Black / Hispanic 28 2597 6333 17Black / White 90 931 9126 50Black / Other 9 1869 4647 9Hisp/ Hisp 42 1769 6591 105Hispanic / Black 3 1980 3926 1Hispanic / White 37 252 7529 33Hispanic / Other 2 1093 5852 3White / White ✜ 250 263 8982 107White / Black 4 1202 3145 6White / Hispanic 14 1392 11575 15White / Other 0 0 0 2Other / Other 3 2750 4065 4Other / Black 0 0 0 0Other / Hispanic 0 0 0 0Other / White 0 0 0 1

Summary Statistics on Racial Relationship

  CoefficientRobust Standard

Error P > | t |

Race of Offender / Victim      

Black / Black -80.373 203.170 0.693

Black / Hispanic 233.808 272.860 0.392

Black / White 619.979 193.816 ***0.001

Black / Other -1025.926 362.660 **0.005

Hispanic / Hispanic 57.666 245.857 0.815

Hispanic / Black -1335.866 723.525 0.066

Hispanic / White -108.688 290.409 0.708

Hispanic / Other -12.065 1449.951 0.993

White / Black -839.818 1471.652 0.569

White / Hispanic 80.370 470.304 0.864

Other / Other 57.537 315.145 0.855

Results on Racial Relationship

Independent Variable Victims' Offenders

Minimum Length of Time

Maximum Length of Time

Awaiting Execution

(by victim)

Reason Death Eligible      

Child Under Six 40 1555 8081 18

Officer or Firefighter 34 1114 11575 29During Escape From Prison 7 2464 5837 4Murder Plus a Felony 445 252 9126 274

For Hire 26 1875 8081 9While Serving a Life Term 2 1392 4548 3

Multiple Murders ✜ 293 263 8982 237

Summary Statistics on Death Eligibility

  CoefficientRobust Standard

Error P > | t |

Reason Death Eligible      

Child Under Six 987.091 557.819 0.077

Officer or Firefighter -455.430 381.630 0.233During Escape From Prison 895.748 325.710 **0.006During the Commission of a Felony 576.897 240.251 **0.017

For Hire 561.267 424.214 0.186While Serving a Life Term 571.765 1158.742 0.622

Results on Death Eligibility

Independent Variable Victims' Offenders

Minimum Length of Time

Maximum Length of Time

Awaiting Execution

(by victim)

Nature of Relationship      

Child of Offender 15 518 6145 21

Parent of Offender 11 2498 5508 6

Intimate Partner 24 263 6291 19Other Family Member 22 263 5508 15Friend or Acquaintance 208 263 8569 88Officer Responding to Crime 28 1114 11575 26

Stranger ✜ 315 252 9126 288

Summary Statistics on Nature of Relationship

  CoefficientRobust Standard

Error P > | t |

Nature of Relationship      

Child of Offender -1253.802 474.676 **0.009

Parent of Offender -876.510 375.676 *0.020

Intimate Partner -1008.228 358.752 **0.005

Other Family Member -1048.651 276.014 ***0.000

Friend or Acquaintance -472.043 175.676 **0.007Officer Responding to Crime 1225.421 461.473 **0.008

Results on Nature of Relationship

Acknowledgements

McNair ProgramDiana Elrod, Ph.D.Twila Farrar, M.S. Candidate

Honors CollegeGloria Cox, Ph.D.Susan Eve, Ph.D.

Kimi Lynn King, J.D./Ph.D. Department of Political ScienceCollege of Arts and Sciences

Bowers, W.J. (1983). The Pervasiveness of Arbitrariness and Discrimination Under Post-"Furman" Capital Statutes. The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (1973-), 74(3): 1067-1100.

Ekland-Olson, S. (1988). Structured Discretion, Racial Bias, and the Death Penalty: The First Decade After Furman in Texas. Social Science Quarterly (University of Texas Press), 69(4): 853-873.

Paternoster, R. (1984). Prosecutorial Discretion in Requesting the Death Penalty: A Case of Victim-Based Racial Discrimination. Law & Society Review , 18(3): 437-478.

Radelet, M. L. (1981). Racial Characteristics and the Imposition of the Death Penalty. American Sociological Review 46(6): 918-927.

Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. Title 1. Art. 37. 071. Code of Criminal Procedure. Chapter 37, The Verdict.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/penalty/813783.html http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/deathrow.htm

References