The slightly higher overall sentencing  rate for white defendants was due to the fact  that cases with white victims were more likely  to elicit a death sentence than cases where the victim was black, and most murders occurred between people of the same race.
A taxa de condenação global levemente mais alta para os réus brancos devia-se ao facto de que os casos com vítimas brancas tinham mais hipóteses de levar à pena de morte do que os casos em que a vítima era negra, e a maior parte dos crimes ocorria entre pessoas da mesma etnia.