Mccleskey V. Kemp (1987)

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Racial Discrimination in Capital Sentencing: The central issue in McCleskey v. Kemp was whether statistical evidence of racial disparities in capital sentencing violated the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. McCleskey v. Kemp (1987) was a significant case concerning racial disparities in capital punishment in the United States. Warren McCleskey, an African American man, was convicted of armed robbery and murder in Georgia. His legal team argued that there were statistical disparities in the imposition of the death penalty based on the race of the victim, as evidenced by the Baldus study. McCleskey's legal team presented the Baldus study. The Baldus study, named after its lead researcher David Baldus, analyzed over 2,000 …show more content…

They contended that these disparities demonstrated a pattern of racial discrimination in the administration of the death penalty. However, the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, ruled against McCleskey. The Court held that statistical evidence alone was not sufficient to prove that McCleskey's death sentence was the result of racial discrimination in his individual case. The majority opinion, authored by Justice Lewis Powell, concluded that McCleskey failed to establish a constitutional violation because he did not demonstrate that the decisionmakers in his case acted with discriminatory intent. Application of Non-Legal Related Disciplines: Statistical Analysis: The case involved the application of statistical analysis to assess patterns of racial bias in capital sentencing. The Baldus study, conducted by social scientist David Baldus, provided empirical evidence of racial disparities in Georgia's death penalty system. Social Science Research: McCleskey's legal team relied heavily on social science research to demonstrate the existence of systemic racial bias in the criminal justice

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