Black Redemption

20 Pages Posted: 29 Mar 2021

See all articles by Daniel Harawa

Daniel Harawa

New York University School of Law

Date Written: March 26, 2021

Abstract

This Essay asserts that if Black lives matter, there needs to be a radical shift in our understanding of punishment. One necessary (but not sufficient) step must be a complete overhaul of current Eighth Amendment jurisprudence to make it reflect the notion that all people, particularly Black people, are redeemable. This requires giving teeth to the “grossly disproportional” standard for deciding whether punishment is excessive — particularly when reviewing harsh sentences imposed under habitual offender laws. It requires dispelling the idea that a child could be considered “permanently incorrigible” and thus worthy of being locked away for life. And it requires embracing the fact that stark racial disparities in the imposition of punishment, especially capital punishment, are enough to prove the punishment is arbitrary, or worse, purposefully discriminatory, and thus unconstitutional. This Essay concludes by calling for an anti-racist reading of the Eighth Amendment.

Keywords: criminal law, criminal procedure, race and the law

Suggested Citation

Harawa, Daniel, Black Redemption (March 26, 2021). 48 Fordham Urban Law Journal 701, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3813343

Daniel Harawa (Contact Author)

New York University School of Law ( email )

40 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012-1099
United States

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