sigelphoenix

I'm also glad about the race of the defendant appearing to be irrelevant, and I wonder about the disparity. One possibility (just hypothesizing without data) is that it's easier to notice being racist when you punish more than when you protect less. That is, people know that reacting more harshly to a Black defendant would be bad (or, to take the cynical view, they know that they would get caught). But if you react strongly for the sake of a murder victim, well, that's justifiable, of course. But then it's harder to notice (cynical view: harder to get caught) when you happen not to feel quite as strongly for a Black victim.