Felony Murder Law - A Legal Form of Genocide

E. Paris Whitfield, one of the co-founders of the Prisoners Brain Trust, was recently published in Scalawag magazine for an impactful piece titled "Felony Murder Law: A Legal Form of Genocide." Whitefield, currently incarcerated at Eastern New York Correctional Facility, offers a powerful and critical analysis of the felony murder law and its devastating impact on marginalized communities.

Whitfield is a Black genderqueer student, writer and activist who remains incarcerated after 20 years because of the felony murder rule, which allows a defendant to be charged with first-degree murder for a killing that occurs during a dangerous felony, even if the defendant is not the killer. Even though Whitfield is innocent, they were convicted of murder in the 2nd degree and robbery in the 1st degree, with a sentence of 25 years to life. They have served 20 years, meanwhile the actual killers and their codefendants are free in society.

Excerpts from Whitfield's piece appear below.

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The felony murder law is psychological violence that severs family bonds, politicizes public and private spaces, and generationally restricts Black and Brown people's ability to procreate, due to long-term sentencing or death from poor health while incarcerated.

If you were to ask people to explain the felony murder law, they would not be able. Its definition, and criteria, depend on each state's legislative intent for how the felony murder law is defined and interpreted. It is subtle. It is misunderstood. And its evil passes for legal routine.

Each state shows that Black and Brown people are affected disproportionately by this law. In New York, 14 percent of the population is Black, yet Black folks make up 46 and 49 percent of the jail and prison populations, respectively. As a result, these people are subsequently shut out of ever obtaining political power, wealth, enlightenment, and other cherished values or capabilities, the most fundamental of which is respect and its constituent element of reciprocal tolerance under law. Senate Bill S6865 notes evidence indicating that "as many as one in five individuals serving prison sentences for murder have been convicted based on the felony murder doctrine. Studies have also found that prosecutors use the threat of felony murder charges to obtain plea deals for lengthy sentences, demonstrating felony murder doctrine's role in extreme sentencing and mass incarceration."

We must look for historical events of comparison, such as the Nazi atrocities, to remind us of those human rights that truly came of age internationally, when German high officials were tried not only for "crimes against peace" and "war crimes," but also for "crimes against humanity"—even while the crimes were in accordance with the laws of the country.

Michel Foucault asserts that with the advent of biopolitical control, or the political ability, through laws, to create a certain kind of populace, the state uses racism as a mechanism to differentiate between those worthy of living and those who are dispensable to the "healthy" activity of the state a biological warfare of sorts.

It is not hyperbolic to highlight this law as a form of genocide. According to the Conventions on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the United Nations Treaty Series 277, genocide is:

     "Killing members of the group; causing serious bodily harm or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately       

      inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing

      measures intended to prevent births within the group; forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."

The felony murder law is a legal genocide that does not assure justice or a safer society, since the actual killer(s) often avoid accountability because district attorneys offer the more culpable—and at times, the actual killers—sweetheart plea deals.

21 years ago, this law forever altered the course of my life. But that is a nice way of saying it. So let me be more explicit: I did not have an opportunity to have children, engage in political power, gain wealth, and other cherished values or capabilities, like the liberty to live free from "cruel and unusual punishment," the most fundamental of respect under the law.

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You can read the full piece, "Felony Murder Law - a Legal Form of Genocide," at the Scalawag magazine. Through journalism and storytelling, Scalawag works in solidarity with oppressed communities in the South to disrupt and shift the narratives that keep power and wealth in the hands of the few. Collectively, we pursue a more liberated South.

Prisoners Brain Trust is dedicated to ending carceral harm, organizing prisoners' voices, and shaping policy.