Suchergebnisse

Focuses on the three death penalty states of California, Florida, and Texas which have high concentrations of Latinos. The current study is unique since it disaggregates the Latino category, discusses Latinos executed during the time under study, and provides a sound framework that accounts for the differential treatment of the various racial and ethnic groups who were executed after being denied a commutation. The focus furthers knowledge of race and ethnic differences in the death sentence dispositions of African Americans, Caucasians, and the Latino population. By concentrating on the ultimate sanction, critical questions may be raised in the capital punishment debate. These have important social, economic and political implications in the twenty-first century, in which Latinos outnumber African Americans for the first time in U.S. history. (Original abstract - amended)

Within a historical & theoretical framework that accounts for the differential execution rates of various US racial & ethnic groups, the characteristics of Latinos executed 1975-1995 are analyzed, drawing on published & unpublished information from multiple sources. Of the 313 executions carried out during this period, 17 (+2 of uncertain origin) were of Latinos, & all but 1 of these was of Mexican heritage. All of the executions were in TX. Like their African American & white counterparts, all came from the lowest socioeconomic classes & lacked adequate legal representation; most had lengthy criminal histories, low intelligence, &, often, drug abuse problems. The crimes for which these men were convicted, their length of stay on death row, & their claims of innocence are discussed, along with the unsuccessful attempts on the part of the Mexican government to intervene in their sentences. 1 Table, 148 References. K. Hyatt Stewart