Hannity, Elder omitted key stats when rejecting claim that race factors in capital punishment cases

SUMMARY: During a discussion of Stanley "Tookie" Williams's then-impending execution and whether race is a factor in how the death penalty is applied for murder, Fox News host Sean Hannity and guest Larry Elder noted that eight out of 12 people who had been executed in California since the state reinstated capital punishment were whites. They offered this figure to rebut suggestions that race is a factor in how the death penalty is applied for murder, but they left out far more significant figures. A study published in the Santa Clara Law Review shows that those who kill whites are far more likely to get the death penalty than those who kill either blacks or Hispanics.

Comments