Images Outside San Quentin While Stanley Tookie Williams Was Murdered

ANSWER statement:

Why we stand against the death penalty ...

So-called "justice" in the U.S. is far from being unbiased. Virtually all death row inmates are poor people. Those who can afford a good lawyer almost never end up on death row. There are no millionaires on death row.

Study after study shows that racism is a dominant factor in who gets death sentences. People of color, African Americans in particular, are greatly over-represented on death row, as they are in all levels of the criminal justice system. Since the death penalty was reinstated in the 1980's, 40% of those executed have been African American. Prior to that, over 50% were African American. While African Americans are six times more likely to be murdered in California than whites, when the victim of a homicide is white, the perpetrator is at least four times more likely to get the death penalty than if the victim is a person of color.

A small but important step toward true justice is the demand for a moratorium on the death penalty. Every time the state tries to execute another prisoner we must raise this demand.