STUDY: UB Law Scholes identify racial disappearances in the Law of Crime in New York

Buffalo, NY – studying a criminal justice system already criticized because he was a bias against black people and other marginalized populations, the University of Buffalo Legal Scholar Alexandra Harrington, now sheds light on racial disappearances in implementing the Crime Law of New York State of New York

Harrington and UB college colleague Guyora Binder, a national expert in crime murder legislationHe has gathered data on arrests and provisions for the murder of crime in the state of New York in 2008-2009. Finally, the pair compiled a set of data of approximately 1,000 arrests for murder murder and approximately 250 convictions for crime murder.

Harrington and Binder, who present their conclusions in an article soon published in Iowa Law Review, have come to the conclusion that black people are not only arrested for crime, but are disproportionately condemned for murder.

Moreover, black people were more likely compared to white people to be convicted for murder murder on the theory they participated in the basic crime, but they were not their own criminal.

“This theory of murder liability is disproportionately used against black and Latinxi in New York,” says Harrington, associate professor at the UB School of Law. “The biggest disappearances were for black people convicted of murder, without killing anyone.”

The problem is reduced to the two ways in which someone can be convicted for murder murder, a form of murder in second degree that has a life sentence. The first way someone could be convicted would be to kill someone during another crime such as robbery, kidnapping or rape, for example.

The second way a defendant can be convicted for this same crime is for participating in an offense during which someone else kills the victim.

Thus, the accomplices that were in a escapade machine or who did not know about the real crime or who had not intended to kill anyone could be accused of crime. And, regardless of the theory that one is convicted for murder murder, the sentence is the same: an indefinite life conviction.

“We know that there are prejudices throughout the criminal legal system,” says Harrington. “The studies document the racial disappearances in arrest and accusation, in the pleading transactions that the defendants are offered and during the sentences that the people in prison serve.

“The question we wanted to answer was if the disappearances are clearer in the context of the murder murder. In other words, we see the same type of racial disappearances that we do with the crime in the second degree in general, or is it more happening here? “

In the next article, “Disproportionate and disproportionate racial punishment of crime murder: Evidence in New York”, Harrington and Binder, a sun distinguished teacher in the UB School of Law, ends with an empathic yes.

“If we look at the beginning of the process, we see that black people disproportionately arrested for murder murder,” says Harrington. “Then, if we look at who is convicted of murder murder, regardless of the theory of liability, black people are disproportionately represented in that cohort. But They are even more surprised in the cohort of people convicted for murder murder on the basis of complicated liability; Black people have been 34 times more likely that white people would be convicted of murder of crime as participants who did not make real killing. “

In addition, explains Harrington, these disappearances regarding the conviction rates were higher for the crime murder than for any of the predicated offenses such as abduction, robbery, fire, sexual aggression and escape that can lead to a condemnation to murder.

Racial disappearances were also 60% higher for crime murder in general and 180% higher for crime as complicit than disappearances for other forms of murder, such as the intentional murder or the depraved indifference. According to Harrington, it rejects any suggestion that black people are disproportionately condemned for murder murder, simply because they have more chances to kill.

“These findings support the need for reform that would bring the punishment for the murder of offenses in accordance with what we would consider a proportional punishment,” says Harrington.

It is familiar with the opposite vision. “Other people will argue that if you participate in this truly insane and dangerous crime, you should be responsible for what should be the predictable result of your actions.

“But our answer would be that human beings do not work, especially young people who do not always provide for these consequences. And when they do not intend to cause the same evil, they should not be punished as harshly as people who commit crime with the intention of killing someone. “

Harrington says her investigations and Binder suggest that there are real reasons to believe that the law of murder in New York results in tougher penalties for black and Latinxi.

“The police arrested black and Latinxi for the murder of offenses in disproportionate number of their makeup in the general population, and prosecutors accuse them of this crime, often when the defendants did not kill anyone,” she says.

“Whether they are eventually convicted of murder or not, black and Latinxes who are arrested for crime murder are more likely to be convicted for an offense than white people. The second degree murder charge can be a strong negotiation chip for prosecutors who want to ensure a conviction. The impact of the law of crime murder of our state is large. “

Harrington directs the Advocacy clinic for the criminal justice of the Law School, as well as the project of innocence and justice of the Advocacy Institute.