There is a long and direct connection between racial politics in the United States and the state-sanctioned executions of African Americans. From the racial profiling that occurs before arrest, to a prosecutor’s decision about whether to seek the death penalty, to the racially-tinged selection of jurors, to the decision about whether to impose the death penalty, opportunities for prejudice to infect the system abound. In this initiative, CHHIRJ’s overall goals are to:

1.  Develop strategies for more effectively incorporating knowledge and research about racial disparities and bias in the application of the death penalty—and throughout the criminal justice system—into legal, advocacy and public education campaigns;

2.  Identify and widely disseminate studies and other relevant data and research on racial bias and racial disparities —in accessible and understandable formats--to capital defense lawyers and to advocates working to reform the death penalty;

3.  Identify key research gaps in this body of literature, and commission new studies that can be specifically linked to advocacy, policy and public education efforts;

4.  Help to craft arguments that connect reform of the death penalty with broader reform agendas for communities of color; including discussions about public safety, about victims’ families rights, and about redirecting criminal justice funds used to prosecute death penalty cases toward social service and educational programs in communities hardest hit by crime;

5.  Work in specific states with advocates to strengthen the engagement of key African American constituencies in advocacy and public education efforts, and to sharpen the arguments needed to persuade these constituencies of the importance of reforming the death penalty.