The Color of Justice 5th Edition by Samuel Walker,Cassia Spohn,Miriam DeLone

Exercise 4

The procedures adopted by the U.S. Department of Justice to govern death penalty decisions in federal cases (the so-called "death penalty protocol") are designed to ensure that the federal capital sentencing process is fair and equitable. But studies conducted by the Department of Justice revealed that racial minorities were overrepresented in federal capital criminal cases and among those sentenced to death in U.S. District Courts. How did the Department of Justice interpret these findings? Why did the American Civil Liberties Union conclude that the 2001 study was "fatally flawed"?