NCJ Number
113642
Date Published
1988
Length
68 pages
Annotation
This paper assesses the U.S. Supreme Court's response to three empirical issues central to the capital punishment debate: deterrence, racial discrimination, and the fairness of capital juries.
Abstract
In all three areas, the majority of the justices have been unwilling to acknowledge the implications of social science studies and the relevance of these studies to fundamental constitutional questions. In Lockhart v. McCree (1986), the Court considered the constitutionality of the removal for cause, prior to the guilt adjudication phase of a capital trial, of all prospective jurors whose opposition to capital punishment was strong enough to prevent or impair their willingness to impose the death penalty. Many legal scholars have advocated the use of different juries in the two phases of capital trials. In upholding the constitutionality of death-qualified juries for both phases of a capital case, most members of the Court indicate they may be unable or unwilling to understand and apply social science research in their decisionmaking. 9 notes, 31 references.