McCleskey’s claim, taken to its logical conclusion, throws into serious question the principles that underlie our entire criminal justice system. The Eighth Amendment is not limited in application to capital punishment, but applies to all penalties . . . . Thus, if we accepted McCleskey’s claim that racial bias has impermissibly tainted the capital sentencing decision, we could soon be faced with similar claims as to other types of penalty. Moreover, the claim that his sentence rests on the irrelevant factor of race could easily be extended to apply to claims based on unexplained discrepancies that correlate to membership in other minority groups, and even to gender. Similarly, since McCleskey’s claim relates to the race of his victim, other claims could apply with equally logical force to statistical disparities that correlate with the race or sex of other actors in the criminal justice system, such as defense attorneys, or judges. Also, there is no logical reason that such a claim need be limited to racial or sexual bias. If arbitrary and capricious punishment is the touchstone under the Eighth Amendment, such a claim could—at least in theory—be based upon any arbitrary variable, such as the defendant’s facial characteristics, or the physical attractiveness of the defendant or the victim, that some statistical study indicates may be influential in jury decisionmaking. As these examples illustrate, there is no limiting principle to the type of challenge brought by McCleskey.”
Here are actual lawyers on the case. http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/students/groups/osjcl/files/2012/12/3.-Blume-and-Johnson.pdf
http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/students/groups/osjcl/files/2012/12/2.-Sundby.pdf
http://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1181&context=articles
Why quote a comment of mine from 2 years ago? How did you even find that? That's really creepy.
Sort by controversy, not that hard. Also you're the one who put it on a public space, not me.
But yeah I guess I have opinions about race. Sue me. That doesn't make anything I say automatically false.
It makes everything you say about race suspect.