This case presents the question whether a complex statistical study that indicates a risk that racial considerations enter into capital sentencing determinations proves that petitioner mccleskeys capital sentence is. Kemp,6 and has since become the gold standard of such studies. Rethinking equal protection doctrine in the wake of. Kemp us supreme court, 1987 justice powell facts and procedural history. The latest versions of adobe reader do not support viewing pdf files within firefox on mac os and if you are using a modern intel mac, there is no official plugin for viewing pdf files within the browser window. Kemp audio transcription for oral argument october 15, 1986 in mccleskey v. The ohio supreme court stated that keenes argument regarding the racial disparity. National death penalty fact sheet death penalty 101. Marcus reymond robinson defendant inthe general court ofjustice superior court division file no. The court said the racially disproportionate impact in the georgia death penalty indicated by a comprehensive scientific study was not enough to overturn the guilty verdict without showing a racially discriminatory. An example of this standard can be seen in mccleskey v.
We normally assume that the jury will protect criminal defendants from racial discrimination and bias, not that it will be a primary medium through which such discrimination is practiced. The supreme courts decision in mccleskey protected criminal justice laws and policies from being challenged on the basis of racially disparate impact. This symposium reflects on the handiwork of the court in mccleskey. Kemp is a profound decision because it essentially shielded the criminal justice system, as a whole, from claims of racial bias. Ultimately, the mccleskey decision set the stage for more than 20 years of. One of mccleskey s main issues on appeal was that georgias death penalty, in its application, discriminated on the basis of race.
Mccleskey, a black man, was convicted of two counts of armed robbery and one count of murder in the superior court of fulton county, georgia, on october 12. Justice lewis powell, the author of the decision, later revealed to his biographer that it was the one decision in which he would change his vote jeffries 1994. Kemp, a 1987 supreme court decision regarding racial disparities in death penalty sentencing in georgia. White, supra stating that the court of appeals imposed a crippling and wholly unprecedented burden of proof. Carolina, utah and wisconsin move the court for leave to file an amicus brief in support of texas emergency application for stay. Kemp, went all the way to the supreme court, where the death penalty in georgia was upheld by a 54 vote. Mccleskey continued his postconviction attacks by filing a second state habeas corpus action in 1987 which, as amended, contained five claims for relief. May 20, 2017 an example of the 14th amendment being argued in a court of law features most prominently in the case of brown v. In a writ of habeas corpus, mccleskey argued that a statistical study proved that the imposition of the death penalty in georgia depended to some extent on the race of the victim and the accused. Kemp from asamst 141 at university of california, berkeley. Rethinking equal protection doctrine in the wake of mccleskey. Robinsons postconviction appeals in state and federal court were unsuccessful. Blackmunthe dashed line indicates the bottomedge of the book.
If you were sentenced to death and you wished to appeal your situation based on the holding in mccleskey v. Short of direct, smoking gun proof of racism, the racial bias in our criminal justice system, as proven by the baldus study, is shielded from scrutiny due to this case. Statistical evidence showing that one racial group receives a disproportionate amount of death sentences, as opposed to other groups, is not sufficient to challenge a state death penalty statute under the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment. Audio transcription for oral argument october 15, 1986 in mccleskey v. Gronhovd, social science statistics in the courtroom. In 1978, petitioner, a black man, was convicted in a georgia trial court of armed robbery and murder, arising from the killing of a white police officer during the robbery of a store. Constitution tackles the issues of equal protection under the law, and the rights of citizens. The supreme court also assumed the statistical validity of the baldus study. Furman, mccleskey, and a single county case study, 34 cardozo l.
Supreme court of the united states charles rhines, petitioner, v. Kemp 1987, the court returns to legalistic arguments. Mccleskey next filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in u. Rethinking equal protection doctrine in the wake of mccleskey v. Petitioner was charged with burglary and murder of a police officer in the state of georgia. In that case, a black male defendant was convicted of. Warren mccleskey offered a statistical study showing that defendants who, like him, were charged with killing whites were 4. Abstractthe litigation campaign that led to mccleskey v. Counsel for an africanamerican prisoner sentenced to death for killing a white police officer showed through sophisticated statistics that death sentences in georgia were racially biased based on the race of the victim.
Audio transcription for opinion announcement april 22, 1987 in mccleskey v. The court denied mccleskeys claim, stating that the sole reliance on the baldus study does not provide ample evidence to prove the existence of racial discrepancies. Mccleskey, from a fulton county, georgia jail, sought relief from his death sentence on the basis that the georgia sentencing process was administered in a racially discriminatory manner in violation of the eighth and fourteenth. One of the claims again centered on evans testimony, alleging that the state had an. The supreme court of georgia denied mccleskeys application for a certificate of probable cause to appeal the superior courts denial of his petition, no. This case abolished the idea of separate but equal that the country had adhered to for the better part of a half century, and has been referred to as one of the greatest supreme court decisions of the 20th. Kemp file, thurgood marshall papers, the library of congress, washington, d. Kemp, superintendent, georgia diagnostic and classification center, 481 u. The court rejected the governments argument, based on mccleskey v. It held that the baldus study failed to contribute anything of value mccleskey v. The supreme court of georgia denied mccleskey s application for a certificate of probable cause to appeal the superior courts denial of his petition, no.
Kemp 2 was whether a complex statistical study which indicated racial considerations entered the capital sentencing process made a prima facie case to hold a capital sentence unconstitutional under the eighth or fourteenth amendment. Here the high court was provided huge amounts of the very best statistical evidence the baldus study that showed that black defendants were much more likely to be. Implications for racial, ethnic and other disparate impacts, pennsylvania interbranch commission for gender, racial and ethnic fairness, v 2017 8 lenza, michael et al. Warren mccleskey, an african american, committed armed robbery and killed a white police office.
Kemp audio transcription for opinion announcement april 22, 1987 in mccleskey v. One of mccleskeys main issues on appeal was that georgias death penalty, in its application, discriminated on the basis of race. This layout was established for the maximum spine width. Bollinger, chief justice rehnquistpart of the mccleskey majorityinvoked admissions data to support his conclusion that the university of michigan law school had unconstitutionally.
In support of the claim, petitioner proffered a statistical study the baldus study that purports to show a disparity in the imposition of the death sentence in georgia. The jury recommended the death penalty pursuant to the armed burglarymurder statute and a statute that permits the death penalty for. The united states supreme court found the defendants eighth amendment. United states reports volume 528 cases adjudged in the supreme court at october term, 1999 beginning of term october 4, 1999, through february 28, 2000.
As is now wellknown, the case bearing this evidence, mccleskey v. Since it is my view that the unconscious operation of irrational sympathies and antipathies, including. One study, the charging and sentencing study css, analyzed 2,484 georgia homicide cases, processed between 1973 and 1979, which had resulted in convictions for murder or voluntary manslaughter to determine the extent to which race influenced the decisions that lead to the imposition of a death sentence. This was due to the fact that the states that were once part of the confederacy were forced to ratify the amendment in order to regain representation for their states. Mccleskeys claim that these statistics are sufficient proof of discrimination, without regard to the facts of a particular case, would extend to all capital cases in georgia, at least where the victim was white and the defendant is black. He brought forth a study to show that his eight and fourteenth amendment rights had been violated because he was black. If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the persons given names to the link. Relief was denied, the state supreme court affirmed, and again the u. National death penalty fact sheet march 2007 5 racial bias mccleskey v. Carolina, utah and wisconsin move the court for leave to file an amicus brief in. Kemp 1987 case and the adverse impact of mccleskey on the subsequent judicial.
Mccleskey, a black man, was convicted of murdering a police officer in georgia and sentenced to death. Unsurprisingly, the 14th amendment was met with a great deal of contention at the time it was proposed. Few cases involving the intersection of race, criminal law, and procedure have had the reach and impact of mccleskey v. That challenge was based on a landmark study of race and capital sentencing in the state of georgia by the late professor david baldus and colleagues. Posted on november 10, 2012 constitutional law tags. Kemp in 1987, the united states supreme court decided the case of mccleskey v. This became a major constitutional challenge to the death penalty in the usa and resulted in the landmark ruling mccleskey v kemp, announced by the us supreme court on 22 april 1987. The court said the racially disproportionate impact in the georgia death penalty indicated by a comprehensive scientific study was not enough to overturn the guilty. Finally, mccleskeys statistical proffer must be viewed in the context of his challenge. Yes, your honor, it does allow more discretion, which also works to the benefit of the defendant in any given case. Mccleskey then filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in state court. Kemp, which upheld georgias death penalty despite uncontroverted statistical evidence that africanamericans convicted of murder were 22 times as likely to be sentenced to death if their victims were white rather than black, and city of richmond v. Kemp 1987 was a 54 us supreme court decision that upheld a death sentence for warren mccleskey, rejecting the claim that statistical evidence of racial bias in sentencing could prove an individuals death sentence unconstitutional. Kemp, the supreme court rendered statistical evidence of racial disparities doctrinally irrelevant to a criminal defendants equal protection claim.