I don't have the link available at the moment so I'm relying on memory. The article was printed several years ago when even Jesse Jackson was talking about black-on-black violence.

Blacks make up 12-13% of the US population. According to the article, they make up over 55% of homocide victims. The article stated that according to FBI crime statistics, the overwhelming percentage of those who murder blacks are other blacks.

If those statistics (and my memory of them) are correct, then perhaps the reason why a disproportionate percentage (population wise) of people convicted of murder (and sentenced accordingly) are black is that they represent a disproportionate number of the murderers. That isn't racism - it's statistics.

I see valid complaints about capital punishment in areas such as disproportionate prosecution for equal crimes and the ability of those with better means to avoid capital punishment. Those with connections or the ability to hire good legal representation are very unlikely to get the death sentence. I fully support requiring full access to DNA evidence when it exists, especially when there is even a possibility of doubt as to the killer's identity.

Back in early 1988, I was TDY in Sunnyvale, CA working at Onizuka AFB. Our group visited a Lockheed facility that morning to see some of the technology being built there, including the Hubble Space Telescope. A couple hours later, a man named Richard Farley entered a building across the street and killed 7 people. He had been fired for being obscessed with a woman who worked there, so he went on a rampage. He later surrendered for a sandwich. There was absolutely no doubt as to his identity nor to his guilt. To be best of my knowledge, he's still sitting on California's death row almost 15 years after the killings. Why?

As for Europe, I was talking to an American who lives in Holland a couple years ago. He told me that someone convicted of murder in Holland would probably only spend a year in prison. If true, it sounds like they don't place much value in the victim's life when they let the killer off so easily.