Anytime that there is a white victim who is murdered, it is more than likely that whoever is convicted of murdering that white victim is going to be sentenced to death." "I think the most important factor that we cannot turn a blind eye to is that – the character of race, especially here in New Orleans. When asked what he thought led to his speedy conviction, during a recent interview with NPR, Cousins attributed his death penalty sentence, without hesitation, to his race: If you review the circumstances of his case – there was no DNA evidence linking Cousin to the crime and there was actual video footage of him playing in a basketball league at the time of the murder – it's almost impossible to see how he could have been found guilty, never mind sentenced to die. In 1989, the 16-year-old Shareef Cousins was convicted on eyewitness testimony of a murder he didn't commit, and was sentenced to death. more than half were black and male and their treatment by the criminal justice system, post release, is not a whole lot better than it was prior to their incarceration. What we do know, however, is that since 1989, more than 1,000 people, some of whom have spent decades in prison, have been exonerated (pdf). There's no way of knowing for sure how many of the over 2 million Americans who are currently incarcerated were wrongfully convicted, but studies estimate that somewhere between 2 and 5% of them, which would amount to up to 100,000 people, may be innocent of their crimes. I t's hard to imagine a worse fate than being sent to prison or even being sentenced to death for a crime you did not commit.
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