From Lynch Mobs to the Killing State: Race and the Death Penalty in AmericaSituates the linkage between race and the death penalty in the history of the U. S. Since 1976, over forty percent of prisoners executed in American jails have been African American or Hispanic. This trend shows little evidence of diminishing, and follows a larger pattern of the violent criminalization of African American populations that has marked the country's history of punishment. In a bold attempt to tackle the looming question of how and why