walter c. farrell, jr. socio-cultural considerations in death penalty mitigation for african...

Walter C. Farrell, Jr.

SOCIO-CULTURAL CONSIDERATIONS IN DEATH PENALTY MITIGATION FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES

Walter C. Farrell, Jr., Ph.D., M.S.P.H.

Professor of Management and Community Practice

School of Social Work

Associate Director, Urban Investment Strategies Center

Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise

Kenan-Flagler Business School

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, NC 27599

(919) 962-8852

email: [email protected]


CONTEXT OF CAPITAL MURDER CHARGE

• Defendant Made a Conscious “Career” Choice to Engage In Crime– Gang activity– Drug dealing– Assault/murder– Rape– Burglary– Car jacking, etc.

• Prosecution’s Documentation of Defendant’s “Career” Choice– Defendant’s prior criminal history– Nature of the homicide

– Defendant’s emotional reaction or lack of thereofE

EExplanation will be offered in detail in breakout session.


CONTEXT OF CAPITAL MURDER CHARGE (Cont’d)

• Pressure from Voting Constituency

• Career Aspiration

• Likely Visibility of Capital Case

• Community’s Reaction


PROSECUTORIAL APPROACH

• Withholding or Suppressing Information of Use to Defense

• Plea Deals with Co-defendants

• Increasing Use of Minority Assistant DAs to Aid or Lead Prosecution

• Filing Cases Before Conservative Minority Judges


LIFE COURSE MITIGATION MODEL


DEATH PENALTY MITIGATION STRATEGY

• National Trends

– Overall increase in racial, economic, and social decline

– Increase in unemployment/changing demographics of entry level jobsE

– Decrease in earnings

– Increase in number of African American males under criminal justice supervision

(i.e., jail, prison, electronic monitoring, parole, in trial, awaiting trial, etc.)

The defense must present detailed data to contextualize the usually low-income African American capital case defendant in terms of national trends, and his local community, neighborhood, school, peer group, individual attributes, social and cultural capital, and his psychological assessment

It should be noted that there is no static African American culture; the culture of African Americans and other ethnic minority groups is shaped by access to social, economic, and cultural opportunities, and may differ from neighborhood to neighborhood, in different time periods

E Explanation will be offered.


DEATH PENALTY MITIGATION STRATEGY (Cont’d)

• National Trends (cont’d)– Reduction in federal and state funding for community-based organizations (CBOs)

that have served as mediating institutions for youth in low-income/underclass

communitiesE

– Refocus of job-training programs: emphasis on placement instead of training,

and reduction in funding

– Continuing media demonization of African American males

– Deindustrialization and employment deconcentration in urban and rural African

American communities - - movement of moderate- and high-wage jobs

overseas to Third World countries



• Local Community Context

– Policy orientation vis-à-vis the well-being of children

• availability of youth-serving agencies and recreational outlets

• after-school programs

• teen curfews

– Minority community’s relationship with the police department and criminal justice

systemE

Using data from the categories below, the defense should construct a chronology of “Critical Life Course Events” and a chronology of “Negative and Positive/Neutral Life Course Events” of the defendant.



• Neighborhood Context

– Level of concentrated poverty (40% or more of residents in a census tract living

below the poverty level)

– Geographic isolation from mainstream society

– Level of “social poverty:” isolation and re-enforcement of negative social,

economic, and behavioral factors in neighborhood, and lack of positive

intervenors.E



• Neighborhood Context (cont’d)

– Crime patterns

– Percent of in-home fathers

– Number of ex-offenders living in neighborhood

– Percent of female-headed households



• Family Context

– Percent of female-headed v. two-parent familiesE

– Whether or not family was teen-parented

– Percent of non-parent familiesE

– Intergenerational patterns of parenting in family

– Education level of family member(s), i.e., parent, guardian, etc



• Family Context (cont’d)

– Role Models

– Extended family support?E

– Family economic status

– Family values (ascertained via interviews)

– Family functioning

– Incarcerated immediate and extended family members



• School Context

– School resources in defendant’s v. other communities

– Representation of African American and other minority males in special

educationE

– Impact of higher standards and high stakes testing on African American and other

minority male students

– Disciplinary sanctions against Black and other minority malesE

– Suspension and Expulsion rates of Black and other minority malesE

– School district success in educating Black and other minority males over a

specified time period (e.g., 5 years)



• Peer Group Contexts

– Extent of being surrounded by peers who are grappling with the aforementioned

contexts

– Recruitment into negative peer groups (youth gangs, other youth engaged in

antisocial, illegal activities)

– Peer group influences in life of youth dislocated from family and school to

self-actualizeE



• Individual Attributes

– Emotional status?

– Physical neglect and abuse?

– Sexual abuse?

– Depression?

– Pre-natal deficits (if any)?

– Medical history?

– Mental health/psychological history?



• Social Capital Resources

– Receipt of emotional support

– Development of social identity

– Receipt of material aid

– Receipt of services (recreational, mentoring, social, etc.)

– Institutional support (churches, CBOs, etc.)

– Extended family support, neighborhood support

– Access to mainstream information for employment, etc.



• Cultural Capital ResourcesE

– Morals (how developed)

– Values (how shaped)

– Attitude (toward mainstream behaviors)

– Character (influences)

– Ability to code-switch between multiple environmentsE

• The foregoing context elements must be carefully documented

for the “defendant.”


DEATH PENALTY MITIGATION STRATEGY(Cont’d)

• The defense team must conduct its own psychological assessment in order to determine the Behavior, Affect, Sensation, Imagery, Cognition, Interpersonal Relationships, and Drug/Biology Background of the defendant.E

• The defense team should also be prepared, via its experts, to debunk the utility of the traditional psychological assessments for the African American male defendant. (e.g. MMPI, etc.)E


SUMMARY

These Life Course Elements can be summarized under four perspectives on African American males.

Spatial Isolation - asserts that he is geographically isolated and economically marginalized from mainstream society.

Social Capital - asserts that he lacks social support and positive social networks.


SUMMARY (Cont’d)

Search and Destroy - asserts that African American males are

being specifically targeted for discriminatory treatment in three

domains: education, job training and employment, and the

criminal justice system, in particular.

Cultural Capital/Employer Preference - asserts that Black

males’ joblessness reflects character deficiencies and deviant

inner-city values as perceived by employers. They lack the

appropriate cultural capital.


SOCIO-CULTURAL STATUS MODEL

Social/Economic Status

Culture Communication

Life Outcomes

Move to Mainstream Society

- Employment

- Stable Family

- Civic Participation

Anti-social/Illegal Lifestyle

- Criminal Justice Interface

- Increased Criminal Activity

- Increased Levels of Incarceration

Determines Determines

Positive Negative

walter c. farrell, jr. socio-cultural considerations in death penalty mitigation for african...

Documents

african american males

e e explanation

cultural capital

culture of african americans

social decline increase

terms of national trends

conscious career choice

earnings increase