Why It Matters
California’s death penalty system faces a high-stakes legal challenge over whether racial bias has fundamentally skewed sentencing outcomes. The case could reshape how courts examine capital punishment decisions across the state and potentially affect dozens of inmates on death row.
What Happened
The California Supreme Court ruled in May that a racial bias challenge to the state’s death penalty system could proceed in Sacramento Superior Court. The challenge was filed two years earlier by the Office of the State Public Defender and civil rights organizations, following decades of inaction by lower courts on similar claims.
The case centers on documented disparities in capital sentencing. Every person sentenced to death in California over the last five years has been Black or Latino, according to court filings. The last white defendant received a death sentence in mid-2021. Research spanning four decades and involving more than a dozen empirical studies shows that Black defendants face up to eight times the likelihood of receiving a death sentence compared to other defendants, while Latino defendants face up to six times that likelihood.
Death sentences are also imposed more frequently when victims are white than when victims belong to communities of color, the challenge asserts. Since Governor Gavin Newsom imposed a moratorium on executions by executive order in 2019—citing a statement that “death sentences are unevenly and unfairly applied to people of color”—25 of the 29 inmates sentenced to death have been people of color.
The case highlights what courts have struggled to address. Eight Californians have been exonerated and released from death row since 1981, all of them men of color, underscoring concerns about the system’s reliability.
By the Numbers
100% — proportion of death sentences imposed in the last five years given to Black or Latino defendants
Up to 8 times — likelihood multiplier for Black defendants to receive death sentences versus other defendants
Up to 6 times — likelihood multiplier for Latino defendants to receive death sentences versus other defendants
8 — number of death row exonerations since 1981, all men of color
25 of 29 — people of color among those sentenced to death since the 2019 execution moratorium
Zoom Out
Racial bias challenges to capital punishment have emerged in other states, though California’s case is notable for its direct filing with the state’s highest court and the breadth of statistical evidence presented. The challenge reflects broader national scrutiny of whether the death penalty can be administered fairly, particularly as DNA exonerations have raised questions about the reliability of capital convictions.
What’s Next
The case will now proceed in Sacramento Superior Court, where attorneys will present evidence and arguments on whether systemic racial bias violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The outcome could influence how California reviews existing death sentences and whether the state continues capital prosecutions.