States with historically high lynching rates are the same states that have the highest number of modern day executions.

[link removed]
View in browser ([link removed])
John —

It’s no coincidence that the states with the highest historical lynching rates are the same states with the highest number of modern day executions.

Race has played an outsized role in determining who lives and who dies at the hands of the legal system in the South for decades. Today, the use of the death penalty in the South mirrors the lynchings of the past and is disproportionately reserved for those who are poor and Black.

As I write this, the state of Tennessee is set to execute a Black man with an intellectual disability named Pervis Payne on Dec. 3. Pervis was convicted and sentenced to death in 1987 for the murder of a white woman, even though he had no criminal history, no history of violence, and has always maintained his innocence.

Today, 51% of the people on death row in Tennessee are Black, and nationwide, the vast majority of people on death row are there for killing white people. In Pervis’ case, the prosecution leaned on racist stereotypes to secure a conviction and death sentence. They knew that they’d be able to prey on implicit and explicit biases of the jury to portray Pervis, known to be kind and respectful, as a violent person.

I’ve been working in the justice reform space in Tennessee for years, and I know that if we’re going to keep pursuing justice and reform in southern states, then we have to have an honest conversation about the role race plays in capital punishment.

I wrote a longer op-ed about Pervis Payne and the color of capital punishment in the South — check it out and please pass it on to help inject this issue into the national conversation. ([link removed])

Thanks,

Joia Erin Thornton
Just City
Program & Partnership Manager
Memphis, Tennessee
Read more ([link removed])


Shop ([link removed])




Donate ([link removed])


============================================================
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Instagram ([link removed])
** Twitter ([link removed])
** YouTube ([link removed])
The Innocence Project exonerates the wrongly convicted through DNA testing and reforms the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.
** www.innocenceproject.org ([link removed])

Copyright © 2020 Innocence Project, All rights reserved.
212.364.5340
[email protected]

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
.