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Because a disproportionate number of people sentenced to death are non-white.



From the data:

  White    231 (44.9%)
  Black    190 (36.9%)
  Hispanic  92 (17.9%)
  Other      2 (0.4%)


As of the 2010 US Census, the racial distribution in Texas was as follows: 70.4% of the population of Texas was White American; 11.8% African American; 3.8%, Asian American; 0.7%, American Indian; 0.1%, native Hawaiian or Pacific islander only; 10.5% of the population were of some other race only; and 2.7% were of two or more races. Hispanics (of any race) were 37.6% of the population of the state, while Non-Hispanic Whites composed 45.3% [0]

The Hispanic portion is difficult to parse, but it certainly seems that African-Americans are very over-represented.

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Texas#Racial_an...


Just to clarify: you're providing this data to support the assertion you're replying to, right? Since 36.9% is about triple the proportion of African-Americans among US citizens in general? (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_Stat...)


It's also the case that a disproportionate number are male.


alternatively, a disproportionate number of people who can afford competent legal representation are white.




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