I think that some things that studies like these can't really address are variables that are just different in the cases involved.
Were these trials/sentences all conducted in the same court with the same judge and jury? Of course not.
Were the murders in question all similar in the manner in which the victims were killed? Very doubtful. In the end, a life or lives were taken, to be sure. But that's not how juries and judges are going to evaluate them. Was a victim shot? Was a victim kidnapped/raped/killed? You get the picture...and I'm sure I don't have to go into more gory details. Different cases present details that juries and judges are going to evaluate both objectively (to the extent possible) and emotionally. We're all human.
That doesn't mean there's never a racial component in how justice is meted out, and I'm not making that argument. But statistics in and of themselves don't tell a full story. And yes, sometimes those full stories can further a study's conclusions. Sometimes, though, they might add more context where stats in and of themselves can't paint a clear picture of what happened.
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