1. More than half of death row exonerees are Black.

Of the 185 people exonerated from death row since 1973, about 53% are Black, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Historically the death penalty has been disproportionately applied to Black people in the U.S., and they are still overrepresented on death row. Today, the states that sentence the most people to death are those that once carried out the most lynchings.

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2. Nearly half the people currently on death row are Black

In 2020, about 42% of people on death row were Black including Innocence Project clients Rodney Reed and Pervis Payne, though Black people make up just 13% of the U.S. population overall.

Since 1976 — when the death penalty was reinstated after a four-year suspension — nearly 300 Black people accused of murdering white people have been executed, compared to 21 white people accused of murdering Black people, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

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3. Half of the 2,725 people exonerated since 1989 are Black.

According to the National Registry of Exonerations, 1,353 Black people have been exonerated since 1989, including Innocence Project client Jaythan Kendrick, who was exonerated last year. While these people have since regained their freedom, collectively, more than 10,000 years of freedom were stolen from them.

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The Lasting Legacy of Parchman Farm, the Prison Modeled After a Slave Plantation

https://innocenceproject.org/parchman-farm-prison-mississippi-history/

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4. Innocent Black people are seven times more likely to be wrongfully convicted of murder than innocent white people. 

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5. It takes longer to exonerate an innocent Black person. 

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6. Police misconduct occurred in more than half of all wrongful murder conviction cases involving innocent Black people.

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7. About one-third of unarmed people killed by police are Black.8. Black people are more likely to be stopped and searched.

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8. Black people are more likely to be stopped and searched.

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Studies have shown that Black people, Latinx people, and communities of color are more likely to be stopped, searched, and suspected of a crime — even when no crime has occurred. Data shows that when Black drivers are stopped, they are more likely to be searched, but contraband is less likely to be found 

Racial bias in policing contributes to the wrongful incarceration and conviction of innocent Black people and is also seen in arrest quotas, the use of surveillance technologies like facial recognition software to identify suspects, predictive policing tools, and gang databases. Research also shows that strong unconscious racial biases associating Black people with criminality persist — in an investigation these biases could result in officers locking in on a suspect who conforms to the stereotypes and assumptions they hold, instead of conducting a comprehensive investigation into all potential suspects. This often becomes the first step toward wrongful conviction.