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Buck v. Davis: The Supreme Court Rejects Racist Stereotypes in Death Penalty Cases

A turn of events has occurred as a historically oppressive government has rejected racial stereotypes’ effectiveness in contributing to the sentencing of the death penalty on a 6-2 decision.

In 1995 Duane Buck was found guilty of capital murder after being tried for the killing of his ex-girlfriend and one of her friends. Commonly states then allow for jurors to use impact calculus between a sentenced felon’s harmful qualities such as past infractions, and their more crime assuaging qualities like being a victim of past abuse.

“Our laws punish people for what they do, not for who they are” – Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.

Unfortunately for Buck, Texas juries must scrutinize a convicted person further by resolving the question of whether or not the convicted will be a “continuing threat to society.”

Buck’s own counsel (Jerry Guerinot) referred to two psychologists to defend this question on the stand, and while both said individually Buck would not pose a continuous threat to society, Dr. Walter Quijano, stated that “It’s a sad commentary that minorities, Hispanics, and black people, are overrepresented in the criminal justice system.” 

Buck v. Davis now serves as a reason for African-Americans to be wary of a justice system that is supposed to protect them (if for some reason they already weren’t).

Quijano’s statements proved to be damning for Buck as they were used by the prosecution to prove that “a male is more violent than a female because that’s just the way it is, and that the race factor, black, increases the future dangerousness for various complicated reasons”

Wednesday, February 22, 2017, the Supreme Court found that Buck’s sentencing to death was to be deemed unconstitutional after deciding the fate of his appeal for his cases’ decision to be corrected. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority sentiment saying that:

“As an initial matter, this is a disturbing departure from a basic premise of our criminal justice system: Our law punishes people for what they do, not who they are.”  – Chief Justice John G. Roberts

The 6-2 decision marks the Supreme Court’s decision to ignore race as a factor for conviction within the continuation of the United States’ status-quo.

However, within the dissenting votes of Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. It should be noted that Justice Thomas, an African-American man agreed that Buck was given a proper sentencing and that “Having settled on a desired outcome, the court bulldozes procedural obstacles and misapplies settled law to justify it.

Justice Thomas is married to a woman who supports Trump, and was previously was accused and acquitted of the claims of sexually assaulting Anita Hill. 

It is has been a consistent puzzle of the American Justice system to explain how Buck’s own counsel seemed to turn their own case through one of their own witnesses’ racist rhetoric. Whether or not it was an accident or purposeful is beyond the horror of a warning that Buck v. Davis now serves as a reason for African-Americans to be wary of a justice system that is supposed to protect them (if for some reason they already weren’t).

Systematic oppression of minorities is apparent even in areas supposed to benefit all of the American people. This is not an abstraction but instead a candid look at reality.

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