500
Stevens, J., dissenting
that the Court's appropriate role is to review only for reasonableness a State's determinations as to which specific circumstances—within the broad bounds of the general categories mandated under Eddings—are relevant to capital sentencing.
Every month, defendants who claim a special victimization file with this Court petitions for certiorari that ask us to declare that some new class of evidence has mitigating relevance "beyond the scope" of the State's sentencing criteria. It may be evidence of voluntary intoxication or of drug use. Or even—astonishingly—evidence that the defendant suffers from chronic "antisocial personality disorder"—that is, that he is a sociopath. See Pet. for Cert. in Demouchette v. Collins, O. T. 1992, No. 92-5914, p. 4, cert. denied, 505 U. S. 1246 (1992). We cannot carry on such a business, which makes a mockery of the concerns about racial discrimination that inspired our decision in Furman.
For all these reasons, I would not disturb the effectiveness of Texas' former system.
Justice Stevens, dissenting.
Neither the race of the defendant nor the race of the victim should play a part in any decision to impose a death sentence. As Justice Thomas points out, there is reason to believe that this imperative was routinely violated in the
things, that race, sex, national origin, creed, religion, and socioeconomic status "are not relevant in the determination of a sentence." United States Sentencing Commission, Guidelines Manual § 5H1.10 (Nov. 1992). Congress has also concluded that a defendant's education, vocational skills, employment record, and family and community ties are inappropriate sentencing factors. 28 U. S. C. § 994(e). Thus, the Sentencing Guidelines declare that these and other factors "are not ordinarily relevant in determining whether a sentence should be outside the applicable guideline range." See USSG ch. 5, pt. H, intro. comment. Similar guidelines, it seems to me, could be applied in capital sentencing consistent with the Eighth Amendment, as long as they contributed to the rationalization of the process.
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