| McCleskey v. Kemp |
|
Supreme Court of the United States |
Argued October 15, 1986
Decided April 22, 1987
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| Full case name: |
Warren McCleskey v. Kemp, Superintendent, Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Center |
|
| Citations: |
481 U.S. 279; 107 S. Ct. 1756; 95 L. Ed. 2d 262; 1987 U.S. LEXIS 1817; 55 U.S.L.W. 4537 |
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|
| Prior history: |
Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit |
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| Holding |
| Despite statistical evidence of a profound racial disparity in application of the death penalty, such evidence is
insufficient to invalidate defendant's death sentence. |
| Court membership |
Chief Justice: William Rehnquist
Associate Justices: William J. Brennan, Byron White, Thurgood Marshall, Harry Blackmun, Lewis Franklin Powell, Jr.,
John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O'Connor,
Antonin Scalia |
| Case opinions |
Majority by: Powell
Joined by: Rehnquist, White, O'Connor, Scalia
Dissent by: Brennan
Joined by: Marshall; Blackmun, Stevens (in part)
Dissent by: Blackmun
Joined by: Marshall, Stevens; Brennan (in pertinent part)
Dissent by: Stevens
Joined by: Blackmun
|
| Laws applied |
| Equal protection clause, Title VII |
McCleskey v. Kemp, 481 U.S. 279 (1987)[1], was a United States court case, that eventually came before the Supreme Court of the United States, that Coenen [2] describes as being the "most far-reaching post-Gregg challenge to capital sentencing".
Background
Petitioner was convicted of two counts of armed robbery and one count of murder. At the penalty hearing, the jury imposed the
death penalty because petitioner did not provide any mitigating circumstances.
On appeal to Federal courts via a habeas petition, petitioner alleged the state's capital sentencing process was administered
in a racially discriminatory manner in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. Petitioner based his claims on the
Baldus study that indicated a risk that racial consideration entered into capital sentencing
determinations.
Opinion of the Court
The Court, in an opinion by Justice Lewis Powell, held that the
statistical study did not present substantial evidence that would require a reversal of petitioner's conviction. The Court
concluded that the lower court had properly applied Georgia law.
David Baldus, a law professor at the University of Iowa College of Law, studied twenty-five hundred murder cases in Georgia.
Baldus’ study established that African Americans convicted of murdering whites had a higher chance of receiving the death
penalty. He found that defendants accused of killing a white victim are 4.3 times more likely to receive the death penalty than
defendants who killed a black victim. Although many sided with Baldus’ study, the Court failed to accept McCleskey’s argument
that the findings documented by Baldus rendered the death penalty unconstitutional and racially discriminating.
Particularly salient to McCleskey's claim were figures from the study which showed that although only 9.2% of all Georgia
homicides involved black defendants and white victims, prosecutors sought the death penalty in 70% of those cases. Inversely,
over 60.7% of all Georgia homicides involved black victims, yet prosecutors sought the death penalty in those cases only 34% of
the time. The overall effect was the death penalty being applied to 22% of the black defendants convicted of killing white
victims(only 9.2% of all Georgia homicides), versus a roughly 12% death penalty application for all the other categories combined
(white defendant & white victim; white defendant & black victim; black defendant & black victim). Most notably, a
death penalty conviction was given in only 1% of the cases involving a black victim and a black defendant.
Dissenting opinions
Three dissenting opinions were filed, by Justices Brennan, Blackmun, and Stevens. The dissenters largely agreed with and
cross-joined one anothers' dissents, and Justice Marshall joined two of the
dissents.
Brennan's lengthy dissent noted at the outset the belief he shared with Justice Marshall that "the death penalty is in all
circumstances cruel and unusual punishment forbidden by the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments". Brennan further contended that, even if
capital punishment were constitutional, this could hardly be so where it was demonstratably biased against members of a
particular race.
Blackmun's dissent largely echoed Brennan's concerns regarding the evidence of racial bias in capital cases.
Stevens did not go so far as to suggest that the death penalty was inherently inappropriate under these circumstances, but
stated that the case should have been remanded to the Court of Appeals for a determination of the validity of the Baldus
study.
See also
References
- ^ 481 U.S. 279 (Text of the opinion from Findlaw)
- ^ "McCleskey v. Kemp (1987)". New Georgia Encyclopedia (on-line).
(2004).
Further reading
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