RT Article
T1 The Powell Hypothesis: Race and non-capital sentences for murder in Kentucky, 1976–1991
JF American journal of criminal justice
VO 24
IS 2
SP 287
OP 300
A1 Vito, Gennaro F.
A2 Keil, Thomas J.
LA English
YR 2000
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1764204395
AB The 1987 U.S. Supreme Court decision McCleskey v. Kemp ruled, in part, that the findings of the Baldus study, offered by the petitioner to support a claim of racial bias in death penalty cases, were insufficient to demonstrate unconstitutional discrimination under the Fourteenth Amendment. Justice Lewis Powell offered additional justification for the ruling when he wrote, “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. ” This statement has become labeled as the “Powell Hypothesis. ” This paper tests the “Powell Hypothesis” to determine whether race has an impact on sentences levied in noncapital murder cases in Kentucky between 1976 and 1991. The results indicate racial factors influenced sentence length in these cases.
K1 Homicide Case
K1 Life Sentence
K1 Racial Discrimination
K1 Criminal Justice System
K1 Death Penalty
DO 10.1007/BF02887599