Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/14pdf/14-7955_aplc.pdf
Page Number: 45

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

5 

THOMAS, J., concurring 

this  factor  to  be evidence  of  arbitrariness.    See  ibid.    The  
constitutional  provisions  just  quoted,  which  place  such
decisions  in  the  hands  of  jurors  and  trial  courts  located
where “the crime shall have been committed,” seem delib-
erately designed to introduce that factor.

In any event, the results of these studies are inherently
unreliable  because  they  purport  to  control  for  egregious-
ness  by  quantifying  moral  depravity  in  a  process  that  is 
itself  arbitrary,  not  to  mention  dehumanizing.    One  such 
study’s explanation of how the author assigned “depravity 
points”  to  identify  the  “worst  of  the  worst”  murderers 
proves the point well.  McCord, Lightning Still Strikes, 71
Brooklyn  L. Rev.  797,  833–834  (2005).    Each  aggravating 
factor  received  a  point  value  based  on  the  “blame-
worth[iness]” of the action associated with it.  Id., at 830. 
Killing  a  prison  guard,  for  instance,  earned  a  defendant
three  “depravity  points”  because  it  improved  the  case  for 
complete  incapacitation,  while  killing  a  police  officer 
merited  only  two,  because,  “considered  dispassionately,” 
such  acts  do  “not  seem  be  a  sine  qua  non  of  the  worst 
criminals.”  Id.,  at  834–836.    (Do  not  worry,  the  author 
reassures  us,  “many  killers  of  police  officers  accrue  de-
pravity points in other ways that clearly put them among 
the  worst  criminals.”  Id.,  at  836.)    Killing  a  child  under 
the  age  of  12  was  worth  two  depravity  points,  because
such  an  act  “seems  particularly  heartless,”  but  killing 
someone over the age of 70 earned the murderer only one, 
for although “elderly victims tug at our hearts,” they do so
“less”  than  children  “because  the  promise  of  a  long  life  is
less.”  Id.,  at  836,  838.    Killing  to  make  a  political  state-
ment  was  worth  three  depravity  points;  killing  out  of 
racial  hatred,  only  two.  Id.,  at  835,  837.  It  goes  on,  but 
this  small  sample  of  the  moral  judgments  on  which  this 
study rested shows just how unsuitable this evidence is to
serve as a basis for a judicial decision declaring unconsti-
tutional  a  punishment  duly  enacted  in  more  than  30