Death Penalty Only for Negroes Raping White Women (Telegram)

Press Release
October 9, 1968

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- df89ff03-b992-ee11-be37-00224827e97b

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Press Releases, Volume 5. Death Penalty Only for Negroes Raping White Women (Telegram), 1968. df89ff03-b992-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/77cd096f-ed97-4b3c-a182-270866a2c446/death-penalty-only-for-negroes-raping-white-women-telegram. Accessed November 02, 2025.

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October 9, 1968

FOR THE FIRST TIME THE DEATH SENTENGE IN A RAPE CASE HAS BEEN CHALLENGED
IN THE U.S. SUPREME COURT BASED ON THE ONLY COMPREHENSIVE STUDY IN
AMERICA WHICH SHOWS THAT NEGROES WHO RAPE WHITE WOMEN ALMOST ALWAYS
RECEIVE THE DEATH SENTENCE BECAUSE OF THEIR RACE. THE CHALLENGE WAS
MABE TODAY BY NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. (LDF)
ATTORNEYS WHO IN A PETITION ASKED THE HIGH COURT TO REVERSE THE DEATH
SENTENCE OF ARKANSAS NEGRO INMATE WILLIAM L, MAXWELL ON GROUNDS OF
UNCONSTITUTIONALITY. MAXWELL WAS SENTENCED TO THE ELECTRIC CHAIR IN
1962 AFTER AN ALL-WHITE JURY FOUND HIM GUILTY OF RAPING A WHITE WOMAN...
THE STUDY USED IN THE CASE IS BASED ON 2,500 RAPE CASES IN 225 COUNTIES :
IN 11 SOUTHERN STATES. INFORMATION ON THESE CASES WAS GATHERED BY 28 i
LAW STUDENTS IN 1965 WHO FILLED OUT COMPREHENSIVE 28-PAGE QUESTIONNAIRES. —
NOTED CRIMINOLOGIST AND STATISTICIAN, DR. MARVIN E. WOLFGANG OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF PENNA., HEADED THE STUDY. St

Jesse DeVore
Director of Public Information
10 Columbus Circle
New York, N.Y. 10019

Telephoned to:

UPI - Washington
N.Y. TIMES - N.Y.

Fe pol Mr. Robert Baker
; WASHINGTON POST

1515-2" St... N.W.
W=shington, D.C.

National Desk
WASHINGTON STAR
U.S. Supreme Court Bldg-
Washington, D.C.

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Mr. Fred Graham
THE N.Y. TIMES
L701 "K"'SE., NW.
Washington, D,C.

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Death Penalty Only for Negroes Raping White Women (Telegram)

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