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Black men are seven times more likely to be wrongfully convicted, according to DeathPenalty.org. Additionally, Black and Hispanic men are disproportionately on death row. Here are several cases that highlight the disparities in the justice system.

Photo By (Photos from left: Alabama Department of Corrections, Missouri Department of Corrections)

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Despite years of maintaining his innocence and advocates calling for a new trial, 58-year-old Leonard Taylor is scheduled to be executed by the state of Missouri on Feb. 7, 2022. He was convicted of murdering his girlfriend and three children in 2004. However, he claims he was 1,800 miles away visiting his daughter in California at the time of the murders. A murder weapon was never found and there were no eyewitnesses. An affidavit signed by forensic pathologist Jane Turner, said rigor mortis had set in, which wouldn’t be present after seven days when the victims were discovered. This suggests Taylor could not have committed the crimes because he had left for California eight days prior. Gov. Mike Parson denied Taylor clemency and the Missouri Attorney General’s office barred Taylor from having a spiritual advisor or any other requested guests at the death chamber.

Photo By Missouri Dept. of Corrections

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Troy Davis was convicted in 1991 for the murder of an off-duty police officer, Mark MacPhail, in Savannah, Georgia. The conviction baffled advocates in support of Davis. There was no murder weapon, DNA or fingerprints linking Davis to the crime — only eyewitness testimony. Making matters more contentious, all but two of the original non-police witnesses recanted or contradicted their testimony implicating Davis as the shooter. Troy Davis always maintained his innocence. He was executed on Sept. 21, 2011, at 42 years old.

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In March 2020, the state of Alabama executed 43-year-old Nathaniel Woods, despite pleas to reconsider the evidence against him. Woods was convicted for the June 2004 murders of three Birmingham, Alabama police officers. Woods did not kill the cops himself, prosecutors conceded, but he was labeled an accomplice to the crime — an offense punishable by death in Alabama. Woods' case gained nationwide attention with many calling for courts to review new evidence that could prove his innocence.

Photo By (ADOC)

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In 1951, seven Black men were executed Martinsville, Va., for allegedly raping a white woman. In September 2021,the men known as the "Martinsville Seven," were pardoned posthumously after the governor met with a dozen of the executed men’s descendants. Their names were Francis DeSales Grayson, 37, Joe Henry Hampton, 19, Frank Hairston Jr., 18, Booker T. Millner, 19, Howard Lee Hairston, 18, James Luther Hairston, and John Claybon Taylor, 21. They were convicted by an all-white, male jury and electrocuted.

Photo by @kelly_avellino via Instagram

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Carlos De Luna, executed 1989 - The state of Texas put Carlos De Luna to death in 1989 for the killing of a convenience store clerk in 1983. De Luna maintained his innocence throughout. In 2006, The Chicago Tribune reported testimony from five people who said another man, Carlos Hernandez, had bragged about killing the clerk and that De Luna went to death row in his place.(Photo: Corpus Christi Police Dept.)

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In 1984, Ruben Cantu was 17 he was accused by one witness for the murder of Pedro Gomez. He was convicted with no previous convictions. In 1993, at 26 years old, Cantu was put to death by legal injection. By 2005, the prosecutor and jury forewoman said the wrong man was executed. "We did the best we could with the information we had, but with a little extra work, a little extra effort, maybe we'd have gotten the right information," Miriam Ward, foreman of the jury, said. "The bottom line is an innocent person was put to death for it. We all have our finger in that."

Photo By (Photo: Texas Department of Criminal Justice)

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Mumia Abu-Jamal, convicted of the 1981 killing of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner, has become the face of capital punishment. He has maintained his innocence and has been on death row since the early 1980s. Abu-Jamal is 68 years old and is currently waiting to see if he will receive a new trial. (Photo: Steven M./REUTERS)

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The Scottsboro Boys were eight Black teenage boys (a ninth boy, only 12, was deemed too young for the electric chair) were sentenced to death for the rape of two white women on a Southern Railroad freight train on March 25, 1931. During the one-day trial in Scottsboro, Alabama, an all-white jury sealed the boys’ fate. Public outcry and demonstrations in Harlem, New York, prompted the Supreme Court to reevaluate the convictions. Charges were eventually dropped against four of the men. Three were re-sentenced to life in prison; a fourth man, Clarence Norris, was re-sentenced to death. That charge was later reduced to life in prison. In 1976, Alabama Gov. George Wallace, once known for his staunch pro-segregation views, pardoned Norris.