The death penalty in South Carolina has never been applied equitably. Capital punishment in this
country emerged from a history of slavery, racial terror, and legal systems built to enforce racial
hierarchy, and that history continues to shape outcomes in our courts today. Research consistently
shows that race, particularly the race of the victim, remains one of the strongest predictors of who
receives a death sentence. Black defendants convicted of killing white victims face dramatically
higher rates of capital prosecution, a disparity that has persisted across decades of attempted
reform. SCADP is committed to naming this history, confronting its ongoing effects, and
advocating for a legal system that does not perpetuate it.

Racial injustice and economic injustice are deeply intertwined in capital cases. The quality of legal
representation, often the single most decisive factor between a death sentence and a life sentence,
is profoundly shaped by a defendant's economic resources. Those on death row are
disproportionately people who lacked access to adequate counsel, mental health support, and
mitigation expertise. Poverty, histories of abuse, inadequate access to healthcare and education,
and lack of economic opportunity frequently characterize the backgrounds of those facing
execution. The death penalty punishes people for the circumstances of their lives as much as for
their actions.

We advocate for policies that address both dimensions of this injustice: racial justice legislation and
equity review of capital sentences; increased public funding for indigent defense; equitable access
to mitigation specialists and mental health experts; and broader reforms that attend to the root
social and economic conditions driving cycles of harm. Being anti-racist in our advocacy,
partnerships, and public education is not a peripheral commitment, it is central to our mission.
True justice must be equally available to all South Carolinians, not only to those who can afford it.