"RACE AND DEATH PENALTY"

Professor Randolph.N.Stone,University Of Chicago

By Blake Gillespie
The Post

Students filled all available space in Bentley Hall room 227 to hear a lecture by University of Chicago professor Randolph N. Stone titled "Race and the Death Penalty." Stone described the overcrowded room as "a nice problem to have." Stone opened with several facts from throughout the history of discrimination towards African Americans being sentenced to the death penalty.

Most of the incidents he cited occurred in the southern regions of the United States, but he also focused on Illinois. Stone, a clinical law professor who also practices, spoke of the history and problems with law enforcement in Illinois. He cited several unjust and discriminatory instances such as the torture of suspects in the '80s by a Chicago police department and death penalty cases he has handled.

According to Stone, four situations defined African American history: slavery, reconstruction, Jim Crow laws and current mass incarcerations often referred to as "new slavery." He said the U.S. is the only democracy to still use the death penalty. He said 45 percent of 2 million incarcerated persons are African American. According to http://www.deathpenalty.org, as of August 5, 2003, however, 45.67% of the death penalty population was white and 42.27% was black.

He also tackled "two major myths" concerning the death penalty, the first being that the penalty is applied fairly. He said his own observations and research prove court decisions are discriminatory. The second myth is the idea that innocent persons do not get executed. Stone said that over time, there have been 350 known cases of innocent persons receiving the death penalty. Upon his own request, Stone witnessed the execution of Charles Walker in Illinois.

He said he "felt it was important for an opponent of the death penalty to witness an execution." He described the atmosphere of the execution chamber in great detail and paralleled the experience to anticipating a new movie release with a sacrificial mood. When asked if he would attend another execution, he responded with a solitary "no." Ohio University freshman Stephanie Bishop said, "I thought (the lecture) was very informative.

He spoke very well to the crowd and was not over anyone's head." OU's African Studies Department funded the lecture. Professor C. Michael Gray, associate director of the African Studies program, said, "Professor Stone appeared here tonight at no cost; we were only required to pay for his plane ticket." According to Gray, this was the first of three lectures sponsored by the African American Studies Department. There will be one speaker each quarter.