A NEW STUDY LOOKS INTO THE NUMBER OF EXONERATIONS HERE IN
THE UNITED STATES, AND WHAT PERCENTAGE OF PEOPLE WHO GET
EXONERATED ñ THESE ARE INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE WRONGLY
CONVICTED AND THEN LATER RELEASED DUE TO DNA EVIDENCE
ñ WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THEM ARE BLACK VERSUS WHITE?
I'M SURE YOU KNOW THE ANSWER TO THAT, BUT THIS ñ
BUT THE STATISTICS ARE PRETTY INSANE.
A NEW REPORT FROM THE NATIONAL REGISTRY OF EXONERATIONS, A
JOINT PROJECT BETWEEN THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA,
IRVINE, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW SCHOOL AND MICHIGAN STATE
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF LAW, SHOWS THAT BLACK PEOPLE ARE MORE
LIKELY TO BE WRONGLY CONVICTED THAN WHITE PEOPLE, AND ARE ALSO
LIKELY TO SPEND LONGER IN PRISON BEFORE BEING EXONERATED FOR
THEIR CRIMES WELL THIS IS A STATISTIC THAT SHOULD NOT HAVE
SHOCKED ME, BUT IT DID BECAUSE THE NUMBERS ARE STARTLING.
"WHILE BLACK PEOPLE REPRESENT 13%
OF THE UNITED STATES POPULATION, THEY WERE PRESENT A WHOPPING
47% OF THE 1900 EXONERATIONS IN THE REGISTRY WILL THEY LOOK AT
THREE SPECIFIC CRIMES IN THEIR ANALYSIS, THE RESEARCHERS DID.
THEY LOOKED AT MURDER, RAPE, AND ALSO DRUG CRIMES.
THESE ARE PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN CONVICTED AND THEN
EXONERATED OF ALL THREE CRIMES.
HERE ARE THE NUMBERS: INNOCENT BLACKS ARE SEVEN TIMES MORE
LIKELY TO BE ADDICTED ñ
TO BE CONVICTED OF MURDER THAN INNOCENT WHITE PEOPLE.
THIS WAS PARTLY BECAUSE HOMICIDE RATES AMONG BLACK PEOPLE
ARE HIGHER THAN AMONG WHITE PEOPLE, AND INNOCENT BLACK
PEOPLE ARE THEREFORE MORE LIKELY TO GET SUSPECTED AND THEN
CONVICTED OF MURDER.
THIS HAS TO DO WITH CERTAIN BIASES.
IF YOU SEE THAT BLACK PEOPLE ARE MORE LUCKY TO GET CONVICTED
FOR MURDER, WELL THEN YOU ARE MORE LIKELY TO ASSUME THAT
A BLACK PERSON IS A SUSPECT, AND THAT PERSON IS MORE LIKELY
TO GET TRIED, AND THEN THE BIASES IN THE TRIAL SYSTEM
WILL LIKELY GET THAT PERSON WRONGFULLY CONVICTED.
AND IN SOME OF THESE CATEGORIES, BLACKS ARE CONVICTED AT
HIGHER RATES AND ARE IMPRISONED AT HIGHER RATES BECAUSE OF
SELECTIVE ENFORCEMENT.
DRUGS IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF THAT.
WHITES AND BLACKS DO DRUGS AT THE SAME RATES, AND FIRST OF
ALL, WE KNOW THAT BLACKS ARE PUT IN PRISON AT FOUR TIMES THE RATE
OF WHITES, EVEN THOUGH THEY DO IT AT THE SAME RATES.
PART OF THE REASON FOR THAT IS THAT THERE IS MORE
LAW-ENFORCEMENT IN POOR NEIGHBORHOODS, AND BLACKS
TEND TO LIVE ON AVERAGE IN MORE POOR NEIGHBORHOODS.
SO THERE'S COPS EVERYWHERE; WHEREAS, IN THE SUBURBS
WHERE PEOPLE ARE DOING POT, OR COKE, OR HILLBILLY HEROIN,
WHATEVER THEY ARE DOING, THERE'S NOT AS MANY COPS AND THEY ARE
NOT CONSTANTLY TRYING TO FILL QUOTAS FOR ARRESTS, OR WHATEVER.
AND THEN THERE ARE ASSUMPTIONS AND STEREOTYPES.
SO SELECTIVE ENFORCEMENT MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE.
NOW, WAIT UNTIL YOU SEE THE ONES THAT ARE DONE WRONG, AND HOW
MUCH THAT IS DISPARATE FOR BLACKS.
LET'S GO OVER THE OTHER 2.
VERY QUICK, BEFORE WE LEAVE THE TOPIC OF MURDER, MURDER
CASES WERE A BLACK DEFENDANT WAS WRONGFULLY CONVICTED WERE
22% MORE LIKELY TO INVOLVE POLICE MISCONDUCT THAN
THOSE INVOLVING WHITE DEFENDANTS.
THIS IS NOT A COMMENT, THIS IS NOT OPINION, THESE ARE FACTS
BASED ON ANALYSIS OF PEOPLE WHO WERE WRONGFULLY CONVICTED,
AND THE FORCES AT PLAY BEHIND THAT WRONGFUL CONVICTION.
YEAH, IT'S NOT LIKE THE RESEARCHERS LOOK AT IT AND
SAID, I THINK THE COP TO THE WRONG THING HERE.
NO, IT WAS A COURT CASE WHERE THE GUY WAS LET GO, AND THE
STATE SAYS, SORRY, WE WERE WRONG, BECAUSE USUALLY THEY
HAVE DNA EVIDENCE, BUT IN SOME CASES, POLICE MISCONDUCT.
WE FOUND THAT THERE WAS POLICE MISCONDUCT AND WE ARE NOW
LETTING YOU OUT OF JAIL.
SO THAT'S WHY IT'S AN ABSOLUTE FACT.
SO IF YOU ARE A WHITE PERSON IN AMERICA WHO DID NOT HAVE
THE POLICE EVER ABUSE YOU OR TREAT YOU WRONG, YOU ARE
RAPIDLY GOING, I DON'T GET IT, WHY DON'T THEY TRUST COPS?
BECAUSE THAT IS NOT THEIR EXPERIENCE.
22% OF THE CASES WERE BECAUSE POLICE DECIDED, I'M GOING
TO GO GET THIS GUY, EVEN THOUGH HE'S INNOCENT.
AND FOR WHITE INDIVIDUALS WHO DON'T UNDERSTAND THIS, AND
HAVEN'T EXPERIENCED IT, THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT, DARE I SAY
IT, WHITE PRIVILEGE IS.
THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU ARE A BAD PERSON, IT JUST MEANS THAT
THERE ARE CERTAIN OBSTACLES OR BIASES THAT YOU DID NOT
HAVE TO DEAL WITH.
DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE A BAD PERSON OR THAT YOU DID NOT
LEARN ANYTHING IN YOUR LIFE, IT JUST MEANS THAT YOU WERE
TREATED A LITTLE MORE FAIRLY BY THE SYSTEM.
DOESN'T MEAN YOU ARE A MILLIONAIRE DRIVING AROUND
BENTLEYS.
YOU CAN STILL BE DIRT POOR AND NOT BE AS MISTREATED AS
AFRICAN-AMERICANS, OR TREATED WRONGLY AS MUCH AS
AFRICAN-AMERICANS.
IT'S A PRIVILEGE THAT IS IN ñ IS A PRIVILEGE THAT IS INVISIBLE,
YOU CAN'T SEE IT.
THE COPS DON'T CRACK YOU OVER THE HEAD AND THROW YOU IN
JAIL, ONE OF THE GUYS THEY TALKED ABOUT,
15 YEARS FOR RAPE, HE DIDN'T DO IT.
SO THEY WERE LIKE, DNA PROVED YOU WERE INNOCENT, IT WAS THE
OTHER GUY, YOU ARE NOW OUT OF JAIL BUT YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN
DESTROYED.
IT'S A WEIRD THING TO CALL IT PRIVILEGE WHEN IT'S UP THAT DID
NOT HAPPEN TO YOU.
BUT AGAIN, THE NUMBERS, VERY STARK.
7 TIMES MORE LIKELY TO BE WRONGLY CONVICTED OF MURDER
IF YOU ARE BLACK.
NOW LET'S MOVE ON TO THE ISSUE OF
SEXUAL ASSAULT AND RAPE.
BLACK PEOPLE SERVING TIME FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT ARE 3 1/2
TIMES MORE LIKELY TO BE INNOCENT THAN WHITE DEFENDANTS THAT
HAVE BEEN CONVICTED OF SEXUAL ASSAULTS.
THE BULK OF THE RACHEL ñ OF THE RACIAL DISPARITIES IN
SEXUAL ASSAULT CONVICTIONS CAN BE DISPLAYED BY WHITE
VICTIMS WHO MISTAKENLY IDENTIFIED BLACK ASSAILANTS.
THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT, BECAUSE I THINK A LOT OF TIMES PEOPLE
PUT A LOT OF WEIGHT BEHIND WITNESS TESTIMONY, OR A WITNESS
IDENTIFYING THE SUSPECT, BUT IN A LOT OF CASES, ESPECIALLY IF
THE VICTIM WAS A WHITE PERSON, THEY WILL MISIDENTIFY THE
SUSPECT.
IT'S ACTUALLY ñ AND I'VE READ DIFFERENT STUDIES ABOUT THIS
ñ IF THE PERSON IS OF A DIFFERENT RACE.
SO, BLACK PEOPLE WILL HAVE ALMOST AS MUCH TROUBLE
TELLING WHITE PEOPLE APART AS WHITE PEOPLE HAVE TELLING
BLACK PEOPLE APART, ALSO ASIANS, ETC.
SO, WHEN IT'S TWO DIFFERENT RACES, THEY JUST HAVEN'T BEEN
COMMITTED ENOUGH TO DIFFERENT FACES OF THOSE RACES,
BECAUSE THEY DON'T LIVE WITH THEM ENOUGH, ETC.
SO YOU THINK, IT'S A WITNESS, IT MUST BE TRUE.
NOT NECESSARILY.
ESPECIALLY A VICTIM IN SEXUAL ASSAULT, HOW COULD THEY KNOW?
BUT THE DNA EXONERATED THEM IN A LOT OF THESE CASES, SO IN A
LOT OF THESE CASES IT IS MISTAKEN IDENTITY.
THAT'S WHAT THEY COULD PROVE, SO THAT'S WHY THEY WROTE THAT.
NOW, THIS IS MY OPINION: I THINK STEREOTYPES MAKE A BIG
DIFFERENCE HERE.
BECAUSE ONE OF THE UGLY STEREOTYPES THEY HAVE SET
UP A FOR ALL THIS TIME, THEY ARE VIOLENT AND THEY WILL RAPE
YOUR WOMEN.
THAT GOES ALL THE WAY BACK TO BIRTH OF A NATION, THE FIRST
FEATURE FILM EVER MADE, WHERE THERE IS A GUY, A WHITE PERSON
DRESSED UP IN BLACKFACE, GOING AROUND RAPING WOMEN.
WHEN WE HAVE THESE STEREOTYPES BUILT IN THE BACK OF OUR
HEADS, ISN'T THAT SURPRISING THAT BLACKS COULD CONVICTED
OF MURDER SEVEN TIMES MORE WRONGLY THAN WHITES?
AND 3 1/2 TIMES MORE SEXUAL ASSAULT CASES.
AND THEN YOU HAVE DRUGS, AND DRUGS ARE EVEN WORSE IN
THIS CASE.
KEEP IN MIND THAT WHEN IT COMES TO CERTAIN TYPES OF DRUGS, LIKE
MARIJUANA, AND WE STATED THIS ON THE SHOW REPEATEDLY,
BLACK-AND-WHITE USE MARIJUANA AT SIMILAR RATES, BUT BLACKS
ARE MORE LIKELY TO GET ARRESTED AND CONVICTED FOR
POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA.
ACCORDING TO THIS ANALYSIS, WHEN IT COMES TO DRUG CRIMES,
INNOCENTS BLACKS WERE 12 MORE TIMES
ñ 12 TIMES MORE LIKELY TO BE CONVICTED THAT INNOCENT WHITES.
NOT ONLY ARE THEY TARGETED MORE, BUT THEY ARE EVEN MORE
DISTALPORTIONITLY OF THE VICTIMS OF INJUSTICE.
AND SO, WHEN THEY BRING THAT ISSUE UP, OR WE BRING THAT ISSUE
UP, IT'S NOT A MATTER OF ASKING TO BE A VICTIM.
NOBODY ASKS TO BE PUT IN JAIL, AND WRONGLY CONVICTED OF EITHER
SELLING DRUGS, OR COMMITTING RAPE OR COMMITTING MURDER,
AND LOSING A BIG CHUNK OF THEIR LIVES.
IT WASN'T A GRAND STRATEGY TO HAVE A VICTIM COMPLEX.
THEY WERE ACTUALLY VICTIMIZED, AND IT WAS ACTUAL SIGNIFICANT
INJUSTICE, AT A DIFFERENT RATE THAN OTHER RACES IN THIS
COUNTRY.
SO LET'S JUST ACKNOWLEDGE IT SO THAT IF WE ARE DECENT HUMAN
BEINGS, WE'D ACTUALLY WORK TOWARDS A SOLUTION.