Race norming doesn't just affect sports.

SCOTUS says it's unconstitutional to execute someone who is intellectually disabled. Prosecutors argue Black people score lower on IQ tests because they are biased, so they INFLATE their scores, making them eligible for the death penalty.
The courts use a threshold of 70 to decide whether someone is intellectually disabled. A Black person who scores just under 70, will have their score artificially inflated - in what's called an "ethnic adjustment. nytimes.com/2021/01/11/opi…
A White person who scores just under 70 will not have their score adjusted. So they will be ruled intellectually disabled.

The end result is that more Black people are executed. deathpenaltyinfo.org/news/is-racial…
The outrageous thing about this is that courts never adjust IQ tests in a way that advantages Black people.

They adjust them to say Black people are smarter so that they can be executed.
They adjust them to say Black people are less intelligent, so they experience less cognitive decline from playing football, so they are not eligible for as much compensation as White players. apnews.com/article/pa-sta…
Some states like California have moved to ban the use of "ethnic adjustments" in death penalty cases, but major associations of district attorneys have fought hard to maintain the practice.
There are scores of people who have been executed because they were borderline intellectually disabled, based on the application of ethnic adjustments.
It's the perfect illustration of systemic racism.

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More from @DrRJKavanagh

25 May
Daniel Pantaleo didn't get away with killing Eric Garner because there wasn't legislation in place to hold him accountable, but because the Staten Island DA deliberately didn't present a strong case to the grand jury.

He chose not to get an indictment.
Tish James herself could have indicted the cops who killed Daniel Prude under current legislation, but she chose to put on witnesses who argued the cops who killed him were justified.

She didn't want to get an indictment.
New legislation is not needed to hold cops accountable.

If prosecutors want to get indictments they can do it now. They're the ones who need to be held accountable for choosing not to do that.
Read 4 tweets
23 May
It's interesting the way people think when prosecutors are presenting cases against cops to a grand jury, they're meant to present all the evidence good and bad.

I promise you this is *not* what they do when they present against ordinary people. They try to get an indictment.
The only duty a prosecutor has is not to mislead a grand jury and to present what would be described as exculpatory evidence. For instance, if a defendant had a credible alibi a prosecutor would have to inform the grand jury.
But presenting a state witness who argues that the defendant was justified in killing someone, no. Absolutely not. Never ever.
Read 5 tweets
23 May
People celebrating @NewYorkStateAG's proposed legislation that supposedly makes it easier to prosecute cops, should remember James presented the case against the cops who killed Daniel Prude to a grand jury, but also called an expert who testified that the killing was justified. Image
In that case, AG James claimed that she presented the strongest possible case to the grand jury in an attempt to indict the police officers, but she called Dr. Gary Vilke as the state's expert witness and he concluded that the cops were not responsible for Mr. Prude's death.
He concluded that Mr. Prude died due to "excited delirium." This is a diagnosis that is not recognized by the American Medical Association or American Psychiatric Association and is used to justify police violence against Black and Brown people. brookings.edu/blog/how-we-ri…
Read 12 tweets
19 May
CW: Police violence

Today @AP published video that shows LA police killing Ronald Greene in May 2019.

Police told Mr. Greene's family he died in a car accident.

In fact, they choked, beat, kicked & tased him as they dragged him face-down along the road.apnews.com/article/us-new…
As in the case of Andrew Brown, the state refused to released bodycam footage of the murder, and only showed it to the family months after the killing.

It still has not been released, two years later. @AP obtained the video independently. apnews.com/article/john-b…
When police took Mr. Greene to the hospital after he died, they told the emergency room doctor he had been in a fight after the car accident, but the doctor found taser prongs still in his back. apnews.com/article/louisi…
Read 8 tweets
16 May
This is wild. Dude is regularly on CNN talking about how he has rejected the legacy of Robert E. Lee to become a symbol of racial reconciliation. Turns out it's all a grift.

washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/…
I mean dude is convincing. I heard him and thought, wow this is kinda cool. And this is his website. Image
When you do look at his website tho, the grift is kinda apparent - I thought he was just a pastor, turns out he's written three books. So there's that. Image
Read 4 tweets
15 May
Remember Trayford Pellerin, the young Black man who was shot and killed by Louisiana police, two days before Kenosha police shot Jacob Blake?

On Tuesday, a grand jury failed to indict the cops, despite the fact that they shot him 11 times in the back as he walked away from them. Image
DA Donald Landry says that he presented second degree murder charges to the grand jury, but that he feels their decision not to indict the officers was justified.

Which almost certainly means he charged the grand jury as to the defense of justification.
theadvertiser.com/story/news/202…
Grand jury proceedings are always secret. But the DA in this case has shown an extraordinary lack of transparency.

The names of the police officers have not been released. The body camera footage of the shooting has not been made public.

theadvertiser.com/story/news/202…
Read 8 tweets

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