ks comprise only 26 percent of AlabamaÆs population (Ross 32). Clearly the ôdeath is differentö doctrine has not removed unfairness, arbitrariness, racism or discrimination in the application of capital punishment.
The belief that the death penalty is racist and prejudiced against African Americans has strong support, both from numerical evidence and in lawmakers and politicians. In 1990, the Government General Accounting Office found ôa pattern of evidence indicating racial disparities in the charging, sentencing, and imposition of the death penaltyö (Dieter 2). Statistical evidence also includes the fact that 16 of 20 inmates on death row are minorities (Baldauf 2). Aside from such evidence, lawmakers and politicians continue to fight against the death penalty. In Illinois, Governor George Ryan commuted the death sentences of all 167 inmates on death row. Even though Ryan was a longtime advocate of the death penalty, exposure of its unjust appli
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