Racial Disparities and the Death Penalty
The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.
The Latest
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North Carolina Judge Finds Racial Bias in Death Penalty in Landmark Case
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ACLU and Partners Challenge Death Qualification and the Death Penalty in Kansas
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Challenging Death Qualification and the Death Penalty in Kansas
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Closing Arguments Conclude in Landmark Lawsuit that Could Affect More than 100 People on North Carolina’s Death Row
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What's at Stake
“If society were indeed forced to choose between a racially discriminatory death penalty (one that provides heightened protection against murder ‘for whites only’) and no death penalty at all, the choice mandated by the Constitution would be plain.”
—U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, dissenting opinion in McCleskey v. Kemp (1987)
“If society were indeed forced to choose between a racially discriminatory death penalty (one that provides heightened protection against murder ‘for whites only’) and no death penalty at all, the choice mandated by the Constitution would be plain.”
—U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, dissenting opinion in McCleskey v. Kemp (1987)