Racism has been central to the development of the U.S. death penalty. Despite changes in laws, procedures, and policies, capital punishment remains linked to race in a system that now promises equal justice for all. Though it is impossible to deny the mountain of accumulated evidence of racial bias in the death penalty, the United States Supreme Court has rejected challenges to the punishment based on this evidence. Attempts at addressing racial bias in the operation of the death penalty have gained renewed force in state legislatures and courts, but it remains to be seen whether the country is willing to recognize the full scope of the connections between longstanding systems of oppression and the foundations of the capital punishment system.
The historical throughline of differential treatment based on race can be seen in the deployment of capital punishment against a category of defendants who have universally been considered less culpable and more capable of redemption. The youngest children sentenced to death in U.S. history were African American and Native American boys. A ten-year-old Black boy whose name is unknown was reportedly hanged in Alexandria, Louisiana, in 1855. James Arcene, a Cherokee, was sentenced to death for participating in a robbery-murder when he was ten years old. Because he avoided capture for over a decade, his execution took place on June 26, 1885, when he was in his early twenties.
Young girls of color were also subject to the death penalty. In 1786 twelve-year-old Hannah Ocuish was executed in New London, Connecticut. Ocuish was executed for killing another child after a fight over strawberries. Ocuish had been abandoned by her mother and was likely intellectually disabled. She was described in local papers as “a fierce young savage,” reflecting prevalent stereotypes of Native Americans.
Mary was between twelve and sixteen years old when she allegedly killed her owner’s child in Washington County, Missouri. She was interrogated by a neighbor while tied to a log. The neighbor described what took place: “I then commenced pulling up [Mary’s] coat as if I was going to whip her. She then said if I would not whip her she would tell the truth. I told her then out with it. She then told me she had thrown [the child] in that hole of water.” Mary was tried and sentenced to death in 1837, and following a successful appeal and retrial she was resentenced to death. She was hanged in 1838.
Most of the children executed in U.S. history were Black, and most executions were for crimes against white people. At fourteen years old, George Stinney, Jr., was among the youngest to be executed in the twentieth century. After a three-hour trial followed by ten minutes of deliberation by an all-white jury, Stinney was sentenced to death in 1944 for beating two white girls to death. His lawyer filed no appeals, and Stinney was electrocuted by South Carolina three months after the crime occurred.