Are Race and Sex Related to Wrongful Convictions in the US?
Similar to exonerations by crime, there are different outcomes for people of different races and sex trying to get exonerated. Race has always been an issue in the United States, and poses real problems within the justice system.
To the left is a video discussing instutional racism in the judicial system, and the reasons as to why African Americans are wrongfully convicted at a higher rate than Caucasian Americans.
In Harris County, “52% of the wrongfully convicted defendants were African American, though they make up only 20% of the population in Harris County” . An article in Mother Jones also explains that women typically have a harder time getting exonerated than men, stating “women tend not to be convicted of the types of crimes that can be over-turned based on the results of DNA testing.”
Based on a chart provided by the National Registry of Exonerations, African Americans have the highest exoneration rate in the category of all crimes. When the chart is broken down by crime, the only category not lead by African Americans is child sex abuse. Author Joshua Jones explains the statistics related to African American defendants stating, “African-Americans make up 13% of the US population and 1/3 of the prison community, but are wrongfully convicted at a staggering rate”
A review of nearly 2000 exoneration cases showed that African Americans are more likely to be exonerated than White Americans. An article in the New York Times also explains, “black Americans spend an average of 3 more years than white Americans before being exonerated.” The National Registry of Exonerations explains that only about 15% or murders committed by African Americans have white victims, but 31% of innocent black murder exonorees were convicted of killing white people. These circumstances are believed to be directly correlated to the racial issues our country continuously faces.
Unlike race, gender is a little more complicated simply because women typically aren’t convicted of the same crimes as men. The article on Mother Jones talks about how a lot of women are discriminated against in court depending on the crime. Author Molly Reddin explains “men perpetrate the overwhelming majority of rapes and murders of strangers. These crimes are much more likely to leave behind DNA evidence that can rule out an innocent suspect.
During trial prosecutors often use career goals or moments of weakness against women. Reddin writes about this in her article stating, “a prosecutor suggested a mother had killed her son so she could pursue a career in modeling.” This was based off of one conversation a woman had with a friend stating she wanted her photo taken. Another woman convicted of Arson and Felony Murder (Kristine Bunch) was told in trial by a prosecutor that he didn’t think the blaze burned badly enough.” (Mother Jones, 2015)
In Bunch’s case, her legal team obtained raw evidence to test themselves for any discrepancies. They implied she poured accelerant all over the home including her son’s room, but when Bunch’s team examined the results they discovered someone recorded positive for accelerate in the bedroom where there wasn’t any. The false lab results made Bunch look guilty of a crime that just happened to be an accident. While on trial prosecutors Personally attacking her character as a mother creating a false motive in the minds of the jurors, making it easy to convict Bunch.
Women are often are given more severe sentences because they’re often convicted of a crime involving someone they know, such as a husband or child.
After a woman has already been convicted, it’s even more difficult to get a woman exonerated than a man. As previously stated, Women typically get convicted of crimes that never happened or can’t be easily proved through DNA. Innocence projects were created to help those serving jail time get there cases to appeal courts. Most innocence projects don’t work with cases lacking in DNA evidence, and most women are not convicted of crimes involving DNA, so these organizations typically don’t work with women.
It’s not enough to focus on the types of crimes someone can get wrongfully convicted for but who the person is as well. Sometimes race and gender can impact the way a court views the defendant, as well as resources available to an innocent inmate.
