Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/14pdf/14-7955_aplc.pdf
Page Number: 63

Cite as:  576 U. S. ____ (2015) 

13 

BREYER, J., dissenting 

Thaman,  Place  Matters  (Most):  An  Empirical  Study  of 
Prosecutorial Decision-Making in Death-Eligible Cases, 51
Ariz.  L. Rev.  305  (2009)  (analyzing  Missouri);  Donohue,
An  Empirical  Evaluation  of  the  Connecticut  Death  Pen- 
alty  System,  at  681  (Connecticut);  Marceau,  Kamin,  & 
Foglia,  Death  Eligibility  in  Colorado:  Many  Are  Called,
Few  Are  Chosen,  84  U.  Colo.  L. Rev.  1069  (2013)  (Colo- 
rado);  Shatz  &  Dalton,  supra,  at  1260–1261  (Alameda
County).

Others  suggest  that  the  availability  of  resources  for 

defense  counsel  (or  the  lack  thereof)  helps  explain  geo­
graphical  differences.  See,  e.g.,  Smith  258–265  (counties
with  higher  death-sentencing  rates  tend  to  have  weaker
public  defense  programs);  Liebman  &  Clarke,  Minority 
Practice,  Majority’s  Burden:  The  Death  Penalty  Today,  9 
Ohio  S.  J.  Crim.  L.  255,  274  (2011)  (hereinafter  Liebman
&  Clarke)  (similar);  see  generally  Bright,  Counsel  for  the 
Poor: The Death Sentence Not for the Worst Crime but for 
the Worst Lawyer, 103 Yale L. J. 1835 (1994). 

Still  others  indicate  that  the  racial  composition  of  and 
distribution within a county plays an important role.  See, 
e.g.,  Levinson,  Smith,  &  Young,  Devaluing  Death:  An
Empirical  Study  of  Implicit  Racial  Bias  on  Jury-Eligible 
Citizens  in  Six  Death  Penalty  States,  89  N. Y. U.  L. Rev.
513, 533–536 (2014) (summarizing research on this point);
see  also  Shatz  &  Dalton,  supra,  at  1275  (describing  re­
search finding that death-sentencing rates were lowest in 
counties with the highest nonwhite population); cf. Cohen 
&  Smith,  The  Racial  Geography  of  the  Federal  Death 
Penalty,  85  Wash.  L. Rev.  425  (2010)  (arguing  that  the 
federal  death  penalty  is  sought  disproportionately  where
the federal district, from which the jury will be drawn, has 
a dramatic  racial difference from the county in which the 
federal crime occurred).

Finally,  some  studies  suggest  that  political  pressures, 
including pressures on judges who must stand for election,