Melynda Price | University of Kentucky (original) (raw)

Papers by Melynda Price

The importance of mentoring relationships becomes evident as we recognize the value of networking... more The importance of mentoring relationships becomes evident as we recognize the value of networking and maintaining relationships throughout our professional career. The significance of good mentorship is immeasurable when it comes to learning how to navigate our profession as well as becoming connected to those in the know. Mentorship is crucial for recruitment and retention of quality female political scientists. However, it may be more difficult for women to establish effective mentorship relationships in our discipline due an unrealistic split between the professional and private sphere. Women often struggle with finding sufficient mentorship in graduate school and as junior faculty due to our male dominated profession. While there are several reasons that women are leaking from the academic pipeline, the APSA Committee on the Status of Women in the Profession 2004 Report found that women “at nearly every stage of an academic career—from securing a tenure-track position to achievi...

Race, Religion, and Citizenship in the Politics of the Death Penalty, 2015

The purpose of this Article is not to answer the question of whether the death penalty is an appr... more The purpose of this Article is not to answer the question of whether the death penalty is an appropriate punishment for genocide. One could safely argue that there is an emerging norm in international law against the death penalty, but individual countries have maintained their right to use the death penalty and continue to do so in code and in practice. This Article, using Rwanda as a case study, evaluates the real outcomes of such discrepancies in punishment at the domestic and international level, and the ability of both approaches to bring justice to the victims of genocide. Both domestic and international statutes articulate similar goals in prosecuting the perpetrators of genocide—eradicating a culture of impunity, and restoring law and order. This Article argues that the existence of conflicts over the propriety of the death penalty and the resulting punishment discrepancies provide continued opportunities for development of domestic and international responses to genocide. Part I summarizes the events in Rwanda that led to the establishment of the Tribunal and discusses the resulting statutes of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the domestic criminal statues of Rwanda. This section also discusses the additional legal and political issues that have arisen from the discrepancy in punishment regimes. Part II offers two case studies to illustrate the types of actors and the extent of participation in the genocide tried under each regime. This section also outlines the goals of punishment articulated in each statute and how well these case studies reflect those goals. Part III questions the appropriateness of death as punishment for individual participation in international crimes. On the one hand, a majority of nations have moved toward the abolition of the death penalty; however, under Rwandan domestic laws, the death penalty remains a codified and utilized component of the penal code. There is sufficient political will in the international community to bar its use in international tribunals, but abolition has not yet reached the level of international norm. At the core of international law is a necessity for consensus, which promotes higher levels of compliance. Since Nuremberg, there is consensus that genocide is a crime, but the appropriate form of punishment is highly contested. There is also discussion of the employment of pre-colonial methods of adjudication as a way of expediting trials and providing real opportunities for reconciliation on the ground in Rwanda. The Article concludes with a discussion of the prospects for resolution of the punishment paradox in genocide prosecution created by opposing policies on punishment in domestic and international law. The resolution of this paradox may be too late to prevent the negative political consequences of differences in punishment in the Rwandan genocide, but the looming presence of genocide and possible tribunals in other parts of Africa, most specifically in the Sudan, continues to make analysis of this tension between international and domestic law on the death penalty important. The final section outlines concrete lessons that both the international community and domestic authorities can learn from the adjudication of the Rwandan genocide and apply to other prosecutions of participants in genocide.

The cases of Karla Faye Tucker and Gary Graham represent two examples of the renewed public debat... more The cases of Karla Faye Tucker and Gary Graham represent two examples of the renewed public debate about the death penalty in the State of Texas, and how religion and race affect that debate. This article explores how the Tucker and Graham cases represent opposing possibilities for understanding contemporary narratives of the death penalty. Though the juxtaposition of these two cases is not completely symmetrical, if viewed as a kaleidoscope—a complex set of factors filtered through the shifting identities of the person who is at the center of the immediate case—the hidden operations of race and religion can be examined. Tucker and Graham, both prosecuted in Houston's Harris County and executed in relatively close proximity, demonstrate the function that race, religion and gender play in current death penalty politics. Thus, the death penalty cases of Karla Faye Tucker and Gary Graham inform an understanding of the intersection of race and gender in current death penalty narratives and the connection of those narratives to past tropes employed to justify the use of the death penalty, in spite of its discriminatory impact on blacks. In attempting to untangle the continuing impact of race and gender, the increased reliance on religious narrative can be understood in relation to the pro-death penalty arguments of the past. These simple syllogisms, constructed above in the words of Karla Faye Tucker and George W. Bush, logically demonstrate how individual opinions on the death penalty can work in different cases. However, the peculiarity of the supporters who came forward to ask for mercy in Tucker's case contradicts the idea that, at least for some, the identity of the defendant has no bearing on whether one supports or opposes the death penalty. Commentator Julie H. Patton objected to the emphasis on Karla Faye Tucker's gender instead of what she perceived to be the more important issue: the inherent evil of capital punishment. Patton predicted, “The protester who supported her [Tucker's] clemency because of her religious conversion will most likely not be there when the next inmate is walked to the death chamber.” The cases of Tucker and Graham broke rank and captured the attention of both individual citizens as well as political and religious elites. However, the citizens, political and religious elites were not the same in the two cases, race being the clearest distinction. This article compares the Tucker and Graham cases and attempts to position them as opposing ends of a spectrum of possibilities of how religion may extend historical race and gender narratives into the present. By setting these cases at odds and adopting narratives that overlap gender and racial narratives, this article attempts to illuminate ways in which these cases help us understand how death row inmates may be able to rehabilitate themselves and, in a sense, cleanse their personas as if they were innocent. The reliance that contemporary narratives place on religion actually obscures or reiterates the more obvious racial and gendered character of past narratives to justify the death penalty. Religion is the new language of the death penalty, but it is not divorced from the old.

Research shows the mere presence if Blacks on capital juries-on the rare occasions they are seate... more Research shows the mere presence if Blacks on capital juries-on the rare occasions they are seated-can mean the d!fference between life and death. Peremptory challenges are the primary method to remove these pivotal participants. Batson v. Kentucky developed hearings as an immediate remedy for the unconstitutional removal if jurors through racially motivated peremptory challenges. 111ese proceedings have become rituals that sanction continued bias in the jury selection process and ultimately affect the outcome ifcapital trials. This Article deconstructs the role ofthe Batson ritual in legitimating the removal ifAfrican Americanjurors. These perfunctory hearings fail to meaningfully interrogate the reasons prosecutors ciffer as race neutral motivationsfor peremptorily striking Blackjurors.
In my examination if "race neutral" removals in Texas courts, I demonstrate how the focus on form has jailed to solve the substantive problem of racially discriminatory IIses i f peremptory challenges. Cases from these courts have been critical in the Supreme Court jurisprudence that developed the process for deciphering racially motivated uses ifthis legal tool. Although Batson hearings have proven to be a weak legal instrument, they nevertheless repeatedly remind us i f the persistence if racially discriminatory uses oj peremptory challenges and the jailure if current measures to prevent such discrimination. Building 011 the suggestioll by Akhil Amar to "preempt peremptories," this Article callsfor the reexamillation ifthe use ifthis practice, particularly in capital trials, ill a justice system that purports illterest in protecting that system from racial discrimillation.

Books by Melynda Price

Curing systemic inequalities in the criminal justice system is the unfinished business of the Civ... more Curing systemic inequalities in the criminal justice system is the unfinished business of the Civil Rights movement. No part of that system highlights this truth more than the current implementation of the death penalty. At the Cross tells a story of the relationship between the death penalty and race in American politics that complicates the common belief that individual African Americans, especially poor African Americans, are more subject to the death penalty in criminal cases. The current death penalty regime operates quite differently than it did in the past. The findings of this research demonstrate the the racial inequity in the meting out of death sentences has legal and political externalities that move beyond individual defendants to larger numbers of African Americans.

At the Cross looks at the meaning of the death penalty to and for African Americans by using various sites of analysis. Using various sites of analysis, Price shows the connection between criminal justice policies like the death penalty and the political and legal rights of African Americans who are tangentially connected to the criminal justice system through familial and social networks. Drawing on black politics, legal and political theory and narrative analysis, Price utilizes a mixed-method approach that incorporates analysis of media reports, capital jury selection and survey data, as well as original focus group data. As the rates of incarceration trend upward, Black politics scholars have focused on the impact of incarceration on the voting strength of the black community. Local, and even regional, narratives of African American politics and the death penalty expose the fractures in American democracy that foment perceptions of exclusion among blacks.

The importance of mentoring relationships becomes evident as we recognize the value of networking... more The importance of mentoring relationships becomes evident as we recognize the value of networking and maintaining relationships throughout our professional career. The significance of good mentorship is immeasurable when it comes to learning how to navigate our profession as well as becoming connected to those in the know. Mentorship is crucial for recruitment and retention of quality female political scientists. However, it may be more difficult for women to establish effective mentorship relationships in our discipline due an unrealistic split between the professional and private sphere. Women often struggle with finding sufficient mentorship in graduate school and as junior faculty due to our male dominated profession. While there are several reasons that women are leaking from the academic pipeline, the APSA Committee on the Status of Women in the Profession 2004 Report found that women “at nearly every stage of an academic career—from securing a tenure-track position to achievi...

Race, Religion, and Citizenship in the Politics of the Death Penalty, 2015

The purpose of this Article is not to answer the question of whether the death penalty is an appr... more The purpose of this Article is not to answer the question of whether the death penalty is an appropriate punishment for genocide. One could safely argue that there is an emerging norm in international law against the death penalty, but individual countries have maintained their right to use the death penalty and continue to do so in code and in practice. This Article, using Rwanda as a case study, evaluates the real outcomes of such discrepancies in punishment at the domestic and international level, and the ability of both approaches to bring justice to the victims of genocide. Both domestic and international statutes articulate similar goals in prosecuting the perpetrators of genocide—eradicating a culture of impunity, and restoring law and order. This Article argues that the existence of conflicts over the propriety of the death penalty and the resulting punishment discrepancies provide continued opportunities for development of domestic and international responses to genocide. Part I summarizes the events in Rwanda that led to the establishment of the Tribunal and discusses the resulting statutes of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the domestic criminal statues of Rwanda. This section also discusses the additional legal and political issues that have arisen from the discrepancy in punishment regimes. Part II offers two case studies to illustrate the types of actors and the extent of participation in the genocide tried under each regime. This section also outlines the goals of punishment articulated in each statute and how well these case studies reflect those goals. Part III questions the appropriateness of death as punishment for individual participation in international crimes. On the one hand, a majority of nations have moved toward the abolition of the death penalty; however, under Rwandan domestic laws, the death penalty remains a codified and utilized component of the penal code. There is sufficient political will in the international community to bar its use in international tribunals, but abolition has not yet reached the level of international norm. At the core of international law is a necessity for consensus, which promotes higher levels of compliance. Since Nuremberg, there is consensus that genocide is a crime, but the appropriate form of punishment is highly contested. There is also discussion of the employment of pre-colonial methods of adjudication as a way of expediting trials and providing real opportunities for reconciliation on the ground in Rwanda. The Article concludes with a discussion of the prospects for resolution of the punishment paradox in genocide prosecution created by opposing policies on punishment in domestic and international law. The resolution of this paradox may be too late to prevent the negative political consequences of differences in punishment in the Rwandan genocide, but the looming presence of genocide and possible tribunals in other parts of Africa, most specifically in the Sudan, continues to make analysis of this tension between international and domestic law on the death penalty important. The final section outlines concrete lessons that both the international community and domestic authorities can learn from the adjudication of the Rwandan genocide and apply to other prosecutions of participants in genocide.

The cases of Karla Faye Tucker and Gary Graham represent two examples of the renewed public debat... more The cases of Karla Faye Tucker and Gary Graham represent two examples of the renewed public debate about the death penalty in the State of Texas, and how religion and race affect that debate. This article explores how the Tucker and Graham cases represent opposing possibilities for understanding contemporary narratives of the death penalty. Though the juxtaposition of these two cases is not completely symmetrical, if viewed as a kaleidoscope—a complex set of factors filtered through the shifting identities of the person who is at the center of the immediate case—the hidden operations of race and religion can be examined. Tucker and Graham, both prosecuted in Houston's Harris County and executed in relatively close proximity, demonstrate the function that race, religion and gender play in current death penalty politics. Thus, the death penalty cases of Karla Faye Tucker and Gary Graham inform an understanding of the intersection of race and gender in current death penalty narratives and the connection of those narratives to past tropes employed to justify the use of the death penalty, in spite of its discriminatory impact on blacks. In attempting to untangle the continuing impact of race and gender, the increased reliance on religious narrative can be understood in relation to the pro-death penalty arguments of the past. These simple syllogisms, constructed above in the words of Karla Faye Tucker and George W. Bush, logically demonstrate how individual opinions on the death penalty can work in different cases. However, the peculiarity of the supporters who came forward to ask for mercy in Tucker's case contradicts the idea that, at least for some, the identity of the defendant has no bearing on whether one supports or opposes the death penalty. Commentator Julie H. Patton objected to the emphasis on Karla Faye Tucker's gender instead of what she perceived to be the more important issue: the inherent evil of capital punishment. Patton predicted, “The protester who supported her [Tucker's] clemency because of her religious conversion will most likely not be there when the next inmate is walked to the death chamber.” The cases of Tucker and Graham broke rank and captured the attention of both individual citizens as well as political and religious elites. However, the citizens, political and religious elites were not the same in the two cases, race being the clearest distinction. This article compares the Tucker and Graham cases and attempts to position them as opposing ends of a spectrum of possibilities of how religion may extend historical race and gender narratives into the present. By setting these cases at odds and adopting narratives that overlap gender and racial narratives, this article attempts to illuminate ways in which these cases help us understand how death row inmates may be able to rehabilitate themselves and, in a sense, cleanse their personas as if they were innocent. The reliance that contemporary narratives place on religion actually obscures or reiterates the more obvious racial and gendered character of past narratives to justify the death penalty. Religion is the new language of the death penalty, but it is not divorced from the old.

Research shows the mere presence if Blacks on capital juries-on the rare occasions they are seate... more Research shows the mere presence if Blacks on capital juries-on the rare occasions they are seated-can mean the d!fference between life and death. Peremptory challenges are the primary method to remove these pivotal participants. Batson v. Kentucky developed hearings as an immediate remedy for the unconstitutional removal if jurors through racially motivated peremptory challenges. 111ese proceedings have become rituals that sanction continued bias in the jury selection process and ultimately affect the outcome ifcapital trials. This Article deconstructs the role ofthe Batson ritual in legitimating the removal ifAfrican Americanjurors. These perfunctory hearings fail to meaningfully interrogate the reasons prosecutors ciffer as race neutral motivationsfor peremptorily striking Blackjurors.
In my examination if "race neutral" removals in Texas courts, I demonstrate how the focus on form has jailed to solve the substantive problem of racially discriminatory IIses i f peremptory challenges. Cases from these courts have been critical in the Supreme Court jurisprudence that developed the process for deciphering racially motivated uses ifthis legal tool. Although Batson hearings have proven to be a weak legal instrument, they nevertheless repeatedly remind us i f the persistence if racially discriminatory uses oj peremptory challenges and the jailure if current measures to prevent such discrimination. Building 011 the suggestioll by Akhil Amar to "preempt peremptories," this Article callsfor the reexamillation ifthe use ifthis practice, particularly in capital trials, ill a justice system that purports illterest in protecting that system from racial discrimillation.

Curing systemic inequalities in the criminal justice system is the unfinished business of the Civ... more Curing systemic inequalities in the criminal justice system is the unfinished business of the Civil Rights movement. No part of that system highlights this truth more than the current implementation of the death penalty. At the Cross tells a story of the relationship between the death penalty and race in American politics that complicates the common belief that individual African Americans, especially poor African Americans, are more subject to the death penalty in criminal cases. The current death penalty regime operates quite differently than it did in the past. The findings of this research demonstrate the the racial inequity in the meting out of death sentences has legal and political externalities that move beyond individual defendants to larger numbers of African Americans.

At the Cross looks at the meaning of the death penalty to and for African Americans by using various sites of analysis. Using various sites of analysis, Price shows the connection between criminal justice policies like the death penalty and the political and legal rights of African Americans who are tangentially connected to the criminal justice system through familial and social networks. Drawing on black politics, legal and political theory and narrative analysis, Price utilizes a mixed-method approach that incorporates analysis of media reports, capital jury selection and survey data, as well as original focus group data. As the rates of incarceration trend upward, Black politics scholars have focused on the impact of incarceration on the voting strength of the black community. Local, and even regional, narratives of African American politics and the death penalty expose the fractures in American democracy that foment perceptions of exclusion among blacks.