Study Finds African Americans Convicted of Killing Whites Most Likely to Be Executed

Ohio State University sociologists David Jacobs and Zhenchao Qian examined outcomes of 1560 people sentenced to death in 16 states from 1973 to 2002. Noting that less than 10% of people sentenced to death ultimately are executed, Jacobs found that African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latinos who are convicted of killing whites are significantly more likely to be executed on death row than other offenders.