Is There Racial Bias in “Stand Your Ground” Laws?

[RedCappedBandit]

...Whites who kill blacks in Stand Your Ground states are far more likely to be found justified in their killings. In non-Stand Your Ground states, whites are 250 percent more likely to be found justified in killing a black person than a white person who kills another white person; in Stand Your Ground states, that number jumps to 354 percent....

More: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/criminal-justice/is-there-racial-bias-in-stand-your-ground-laws/

..I really can't understand people who continue to push the idea that we live in some sort of post-racial society, and that race has "nothing" to do with these cases.

[PDJane]

1. That's a rhetorical question, right?

[RedCappedBandit]

3. There are plenty of people who act like race doesn't play into these things.

It's definitely useful to have numbers, in this case significant and powerful numbers, to refute their bullshit.

[Honeycombe8]

2. I don't know, but it's a bad law, whether it is biased or not. nt

[Hoyt]

5. Racism is the reason most gun people support more guns and stand your ground type laws.

[stranger81]

6. More here on the evident racial bias in the application of SYG laws.

Among the findings of this most comprehensive study of the use of SYG in Florida to date:

"Defendants claiming Stand Your Ground are more likely to prevail if the victim is black. Seventy-three percent of Those who killed a black person faced no penalty, compared to Fifty-nine percent of those who killed a white."

http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/florida-stand-your-ground-law-yields-some-shocking-outcomes-depending-on/1233133

[RedCappedBandit]

7. Those numbers are shocking

SYG by itself is quite disturbing. Throw race into the mix and it's a travesty.

[savalez]

8. Your post reminds me of the case of black businessman John McNeil

The case relates to events on December 6, 2005, when McNeil received a distress call from his teenage son that a man was lurking around in their backyard.

“John called 911 and told the police he was on his way home,” said his wife, who is living with advanced stage cancer. According to testimony, the man, Brian Epp, a hired contractor with whom McNeil had past disagreements, had already pulled out a knife on McNeil’s 19-year-old son.

When McNeil returned home, Epp, who is white, refused to leave, despite being asked several times. McNeil and eye-witnesses testified that he fired a warning shot but when Epp charged towards him with his hand in his pocket he shot out in self-defense.

Despite the conclusion of Kennesaw police detectives that McNeil committed no crime, Cobb County District Attorney Pat Head decided nearly a year later to charge him with murder. As a result, McNeil was sentenced to life in prison in November 2006.

http://thegrio.com/2012/09/18/family-activists-demand-release-of-man-in-prison-for-defending-his-property/

[RedCappedBandit]

9. Wow, that's chilling.

I wonder if, when that story was in the news, there were people arguing that race was not a factor in that case.