481 U.S. 279 (1987)
In 1978, Warren McCleskey, a black man, was convicted in the Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia, of two counts of armed robbery and one count of murder arising from the robbery of a furniture store in which a white police officer was killed.1
McCleskey and three accomplices, all armed, planned and carried out the robbery.2 McCleskey secured the front of the store, forcing customers to lie down, while the others tied up employees and took receipts, a watch, and six dollars.3 When a police officer responding to a silent alarm entered, two shots were fired, both striking him, one fatally in the face.4
At trial, the State introduced evidence that at least one of the bullets that struck the officer was fired from a .38 caliber Rossi revolver matching the gun McCleskey had carried.5 The State also introduced the testimony of two witnesses who had heard McCleskey admit to the shooting.6 The jury convicted McCleskey of murder.7
At the penalty hearing, the jury found two statutory aggravating circumstances beyond a reasonable doubt: the murder was committed during armed robbery and upon a peace officer engaged in the performance of his duties.8 McCleskey offered no mitigating evidence.9 The jury recommended death on the murder charge and consecutive life sentences on the robberies.10 The court imposed the death sentence.11
The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and sentences in 1980.12 This Court denied certiorari.13 After state habeas relief was denied, McCleskey filed a federal habeas petition in the Northern District of Georgia raising 18 claims, one of which was that the Georgia capital sentencing process is administered in a racially discriminatory manner in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.14
He supported this with the Baldus study, a statistical analysis of over 2,000 murder cases from the 1970s examining more than 200 variables.15 The raw numbers showed defendants charged with killing white victims received the death penalty in 11% of cases, compared to 1% for killing black victims.16 When divided by race combinations, black defendants killing white victims received death in 22% of cases, white defendants killing white victims in 8%, black defendants killing black victims in 1%, and white defendants killing black victims in 3%.17
After controlling for 230 nonracial variables, one model showed defendants killing white victims were 4.3 times as likely to receive death, and black defendants 1.1 times as likely.18 The District Court held an evidentiary hearing and found the study statistically valid but flawed in methodology and insufficient to show racial considerations in McCleskey's case or a prima facie case.19 The Eleventh Circuit, en banc, assumed the study's validity but held the statistics insufficient to demonstrate discriminatory intent or unconstitutional arbitrariness.20 The Supreme Court granted certiorari in 1986, limited to the equal protection claim.21
Whether the Baldus study establishes that the Georgia capital sentencing process violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment?22
No. Warren McCleskey, a black man convicted in 1978 in Fulton County, Georgia, of armed robbery and the murder of a white police officer during a furniture store robbery, offers no evidence specific to his own case that racial considerations played a part in his sentence.25 Instead, he relies solely on the Baldus study, a statistical analysis of over 2,000 Georgia murder cases.26 The Baldus study is insufficient to support an inference that any of the decisionmakers in McCleskey's case acted with discriminatory purpose.27 The District Court found the study statistically valid but concluded it failed to demonstrate that racial considerations actually entered into any of the decisions in McCleskey's case.28
The Court of Appeals affirmed.29
The Baldus study does not establish that the Georgia capital sentencing system violates the Equal Protection Clause.30
Related opinions on this issue
Joined by Justice Marshall
The Baldus study demonstrates that the Georgia capital sentencing system is infected with racial bias.31 The study shows that black defendants who kill white victims are substantially more likely to receive a death sentence than are other defendants.32 This racial disparity violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.33
The Court's decision today allows the state to impose the death penalty in a racially discriminatory manner.34 This is inconsistent with the principles of equality and justice embodied in the Constitution.35
Joined by Justice Marshall And Justice Stevens
The Baldus study provides compelling evidence that the Georgia capital sentencing system is infected with racial bias.36 The study shows that defendants charged with killing white victims are 4.3 times as likely to receive a death sentence as defendants charged with killing blacks.37 This racial disparity cannot be explained by nonracial factors.38
The Baldus study took into account over 200 variables, including the seriousness of the crime, the defendant's prior record, and the strength of the evidence.39 Even after controlling for these factors, the racial disparity remained.40 The Court's insistence that McCleskey must prove that racial considerations played a part in his case ignores the reality of the statistical evidence.41
Statistics are the only way to prove systemic discrimination.42 The Court's decision today will make it virtually impossible to challenge racial discrimination in the criminal justice system.43
Joined by Justice Blackmun
Justice Stevens joined Justice Blackmun's dissent and emphasized that the Baldus study demonstrates the race of the victim is a significant factor in the imposition of the death penalty in Georgia.44 This racial factor violates the Equal Protection Clause because it introduces an impermissible consideration into capital sentencing decisions.45 The Court's decision permits Georgia to continue administering its capital sentencing system in a racially discriminatory manner.46
Such an outcome is inconsistent with the requirements of the Constitution that demand evenhanded application of the law without regard to race.47 Stevens stressed that the statistical evidence reveals a substantial risk that racial bias influences outcomes, undermining the fairness and integrity of the process.48
Whether the Baldus study demonstrates that the Georgia capital sentencing system is arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Eighth Amendment?49
The Constitution does not require that a state eliminate all arbitrary or discretionary factors from its capital sentencing process.50 Since Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153 (1976), the Georgia system contains sufficient safeguards to ensure that the death penalty will not be imposed in an arbitrary and capricious manner.51
No. The Baldus study shows a discrepancy in the imposition of the death penalty based on the race of the victim.52 This discrepancy, however, does not establish that the system is arbitrary.53 The Constitution does not require that a state eliminate all arbitrary or discretionary factors from its capital sentencing process. The study does not demonstrate that the Georgia system is so arbitrary as to violate the Constitution.54
The Baldus study does not demonstrate that the Georgia capital sentencing system is arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Eighth Amendment.55
Related opinions on this issue
Joined by Justice Marshall
The Baldus study demonstrates that the Georgia capital sentencing system is infected with racial bias. The study shows that black defendants who kill white victims are substantially more likely to receive a death sentence than are other defendants. This racial disparity violates the Eighth Amendment because it creates an unacceptable risk that the death penalty will be meted out arbitrarily or capriciously.
The Court's decision today allows the state to impose the death penalty in a racially discriminatory manner. This is inconsistent with the principles of equality and justice embodied in the Constitution.
Joined by Justice Marshall And Justice Stevens
The Baldus study provides compelling evidence that the Georgia capital sentencing system is infected with racial bias. The study shows that defendants charged with killing white victims are 4.3 times as likely to receive a death sentence as defendants charged with killing blacks. This racial disparity cannot be explained by nonracial factors.
The Court's insistence that McCleskey must prove that racial considerations played a part in his case ignores the reality of the statistical evidence. Statistics are the only way to prove systemic discrimination.
Whether the death penalty is unconstitutional under any circumstances?56
No. McCleskey's argument that the Constitution prohibits the imposition of the death penalty under any circumstances is without merit.59 The Court has held that the death penalty is not per se unconstitutional. It has a long history of acceptance both in the United States and in England.60 Legislatures have reenacted capital punishment statutes after Furman.61
The specific facts of McCleskey's murder during an armed robbery fall within the class of cases for which the death penalty may constitutionally be imposed under the Georgia statute upheld in Gregg.62
The death penalty is not unconstitutional under any circumstances.63
Whether the death penalty is imposed more frequently on black defendants than on white defendants?64
No. The Baldus study does not establish that the death penalty is imposed more frequently on black defendants.67 The study shows that the death penalty is imposed more frequently when the victim is white, regardless of the race of the defendant.68 McCleskey, a black defendant who killed a white victim, therefore cannot prevail on a claim that black defendants as a class receive the death penalty more often than white defendants.69
The death penalty is not imposed more frequently on black defendants than on white defendants.70