Fifty-seven men of color were sentenced to death by the courts of England and Wales in the twentieth century and were less likely to receive mercy than white contemporaries. Though shocking, the data is perhaps unsurprising considering institutional racism and unequal access to justice widely highlighted by criminologists since the 1970s. We find discourses of racial difference were frequently mobilized tactically in nineteenth- and twentieth-century England and Wales: to support arguments for mercy and attempt to save prisoners from the gallows. Scholars have identified historically and culturally contingent narratives traditionally deployed to speak to notions of lesser culpability. These mercy narratives reveal contemporary ideals and attitudes to gender or class. This article is original in identifying strategic mercy narratives told in twentieth-century England and Wales that called on contemporary tropes about defendants' race. The narratives and cases we explore suggest contemporary racism in the criminal justice system of England and Wales has a longer history than previously acknowledged.

中文翻译：

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种族化慈悲：二十世纪英格兰和威尔士的死刑和种族

20 世纪，57 名有色人种被英格兰和威尔士的法院判处死刑，与同时代的白人相比，他们不太可能得到宽恕。尽管令人震惊，但考虑到自 1970 年代以来犯罪学家广泛强调的制度性种族主义和诉诸司法的不平等，这些数据或许并不令人惊讶。我们发现 19 世纪和 20 世纪的英格兰和威尔士经常在战术上动员种族差异的话语：支持宽恕的论点并试图将囚犯从绞刑架上解救出来。学者们已经确定了历史上和文化上的偶然叙事，这些叙事传统上被用来说明罪责较轻的概念。这些仁慈的叙述揭示了当代对性别或阶级的理想和态度。这篇文章在识别 20 世纪英格兰和威尔士所讲述的战略性怜悯叙述方面具有独创性，这些叙述呼吁当代对被告种族的比喻。我们探索的叙述和案例表明，英格兰和威尔士刑事司法系统中的当代种族主义比以前承认的历史要长。