Debates rage over the death penalty. Some states have it. Others don't. Connecticut is one that has it. Arguments over the morality of capital punishment are a given. But there are those who note it the discriminatory aspect in that it is used far more against black defendants than whites. There are studies from the past 30 years that go so far as to show that the death penalty is more likely to be imposed against blacks if the victims are white.

The response from death penalty defenders is that those sentenced to die are guilty of the most horrendous violent crimes. But now, a study of all Connecticut death penalty cases over a 34-year stretch ending in 2007 shows that even that standard isn't well applied much. Rather the study, by Stanford law professor John Donohue, found no explainable difference between the cases of defendants on Connecticut's death row and those of violent offenders who avoided the death penalty.

That's not the way it's supposed to work. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1972 that death penalty laws must include clear guidelines to make sure that only the worst of the worst defendants receive it. But what Donohue's study shows is that it is a luck-of-the-draw situation.

Additionally, as in previous studies, the review showed that cases involving black defendants and white victims have indeed led to more death penalty sentences. But geography proved to be a factor, too, with Waterbury cases trending higher in death penalty sentences than the rest of the state.

The conclusion drawn from this study, and others that looked at capital punishment across the country in 2011, is that the death penalty is applied randomly at best.

Clearly, a violent crime charge and conviction brings with it great risks. And apparently it's impossible to anticipate how cases will play out. Anyone facing such charges should contact an experienced criminal defense attorney.

Source: The New York Times, "The Random Horror of the Death Penalty," Lincoln Caplan, Jan. 7, 2012