Overkill? An Examination of Comparatively Excessive Death Sentences in North Carolina, 1990–2010

Authors

John K. Cochran, University of South FloridaFollow
Wyatt Brown, University of South Florida
Jocelyn Camacho, Old Dominion University
Wesley G. Jennings, University of South FloridaFollow
M. Dwayne Smith, University of South FloridaFollow
Beth E. Bjerregaard, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Sondra J. Fogel, University of South FloridaFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2017

Keywords

capital sentences, comparative excessiveness, propensity score matching

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2016.1162322

Abstract

This study examines death/life capital sentences in one southern state, North Carolina, during the period 1990 to 2010 to determine the extent to which they are comparatively excessive/lenient. The study employs data derived from a variety of official sources on the population of capital trials in the state during this timeframe and follows the analytic techniques developed by David Baldus and his colleagues and by Paternoster and Kazyaka in their studies of comparative excessiveness in capital sentencing in California, Georgia, and South Carolina, respectively. The results show a substantial number of death sentences that meet the standard for excessiveness, but the data also show a nearly equal number of life sentences that may be deemed too lenient. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Was this content written or created while at USF?

Yes

Citation / Publisher Attribution

Justice Quarterly, v. 34, issue 2, p. 297-323

Scholar Commons Citation

Cochran, John K.; Brown, Wyatt; Camacho, Jocelyn; Jennings, Wesley G.; Smith, M. Dwayne; Bjerregaard, Beth E.; and Fogel, Sondra J., "Overkill? An Examination of Comparatively Excessive Death Sentences in North Carolina, 1990–2010" (2017). Social Work Faculty Publications. 139.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/sok_facpub/139